Subject: SMML07/01/98VOL052 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX 1: Re: lighting TITANIC 2: Re: Big E 3: HMS Ajax 1941 Camouflage 4: Re: Titanic, Titanic, Titanic.... 5: Floquil paints ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: SantMin Subject: Re: lighting TITANIC I'd go with fiber optics. You can get all you need at Radio Shack and there is even a new hobby set/kit out from AMT/ERTL (called a Firer Optics Lighting Kit). It's supposed to let you light all the ports in a spacecraft model but it will work just as well in a ship model. It contains all you will need. Trying to light a large Titanic model with "Lightsheet" will blow your budget, just like the movie! Bob Santos ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: BEN8800 Subject: Re: Big E You guys and gals talked me into dumping my Revell Big E since I had not got very far. I bought the Tamiya 1:350 Big E. Now, would appreciate any pointers on changes I need to make. I am not going to detail the hanger deck. All elevator hangar doors will be closed. What rails, other details need to be removed in favor of the photo etched set. Appreciate any help. Ben ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 From: Michael Eisenstadt Subject: HMS Ajax 1941 Camouflage Folks: Would anyone be able to help me with the following research project? I am looking for any information concerning camouflage schemes worn by the Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Ajax in 1941.I know that she wore at least two light gray/dark gray schemes that year, and am looking for information on these. The Polish language mongraph by Slawomir Brzezinski, "Profile Morskie: British Light Cruiser HMS Ajax" (Wyszkow, Firma Wydawniczo-Handlowa, 1994), pp. 6-7, has a photo and drawing of her in one of her 1941 schemes (port side only) which was a combined "checkerboard/splinter" pattern (this is the only way I can think of describing this very unconventional scheme). (The same photo was previously published in Gregory Haines, "Cruisers at War" {London: Ian Allen, 1978}, on page 80.) It is unclear whether she wore the same scheme on both sides. Would anyone be able to answer this question? There is another photo of the HMS Ajax in profile (port side) during the Battle of Matapan (March 1941) in A.B.C. Whipple, "World War II: The Mediterranean," (Chicago, Time-Life Books, 1981), p. 94. The photo is somewhat fuzzy, but clear enough to show that Ajax is wearing a different light gray/dark gray scheme than the one described above. Finally, there is a photo of HMS Ajax in Peter C. Smith and John R. Dominy, "Cruisers in Action: 1939-1945," (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1981) which shows her from the starboard quarter, wearing a scheme consisting of rectangular and/or trapezoidal dark gray panels against a light gray base. It is unclear whether this is the starboard pattern for the first or second scheme mentioned above. Could anyone point me to any other published photos of HMS Ajax in these or other schemes worn in 1941, or would anyone have personal photos of her in these or other schemes worn in 1941 that I could borrow/duplicate? (I would of course cover all expenses.) Thanks for your help! Yours truly, Michael Eisenstadt ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: TANewell Subject: Re: Titanic, Titanic, Titanic.... Hi Greg... There seems to be a lot of interest in the Titanic lately, both here and on rec.models.scale...maybe Jim Cameron's movie will break even.... On the Revell 1/570(?) scale Titanic...son Ryan built one of these many years ago so I got it out to take a look at it. Actually, the hull is the best part...the different sizes of portholes are well represented and the square windows and openings on the promenade decks are well done. The overlapping plating on the hull looks pretty good. Now for the bad news...On the decks, almost all of the details are molded on, except for the ventilators, lifeboats (molded together in groups of four), cranes, docking bridge, compass platform, funnels and masts. All of the upper structures are molded onto the boat deck, except for the roof of the bridge/grand staircase structure. The raised "planking" on the decks is fairly heavy-handed. The worst feature are the infamous Revell molded-on railings...made worse in this case by the fact that the bulkheads are totally devoid of any detail, so you can't tell where the bulkhead is supposed to end and the railing should start. It looks like they would be very difficult to remove to replace with PE. As to the fit of the kit, it looks like Ryan has trouble getting the decks to settle down into the hull, but he was probably 8 or 9 when he built it, so it's hard to say...Gaps don't seem to be a problem. As for the 1/350 scale Titanic, there was a post on rec.models.scale from a guy who indicated that he worked for Minicraft, and he said that there has always been just one set of 1/350 molds for the Titanic...so the old Entex, Academy/Minicraft and Gunze Sangyo offerings are all essentially the same kit. I would say to Bill Gerlach that $45 is about $5-$10 less than the normal "on sale" price for this kit...go for it! Tim Newell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: robin Subject: Floquil paints Hello people, I was reading an article about the model of the USS Arizona made by Loren Perry, & it mentions Floquil model railroad paints, he uses them to paint the deck the correct colors (actually stain), the colors are: 1. "Mud" (a model railroad weathering paint) 2. "Driftwood" (a light gray stain) 3. "Walnut" (a brown stain.)....... I rang my local hobbyist store & they said that they don't stock it, nor can they obtain any, because the suppliers cannot get it, I was wondering where can I get some, & if I can't, what would be a good substitute.... anybody help?? The internet site I was at is http://www.navismagazine.com, its a great model ships site.... Cheers & 73's, ordrazz Web Page: www.ne.com.au/~ordrazz/WELCOME.html Have A Nice Day "It's not the thought that counts, it's the calculator" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume