Subject: SMML VOL 1616 Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 12:14:09 +1100 SMML is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http://sandlehobbies.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1: Re: .50 Browning Cooling Jackets 2: Re: new manufacturer? 3: Re: Newbie question about magnifiying binoculars 4: Re: Scales 5: Re: paper rulers vs metal 6: Re: Paper Rulers vs Metal 7: Re: Scale rulers 8: Re: Newbie question about magnifiying binoculars 9: Re: paper rulers vs metal 10: Scales 11: Magnifying Devices 12: Re: Scale rules 13: Friends, Romans, countrymen, send me your email 14: MG Cooling 15: Re: Magnifying binoculars 16: Rulers and .50 cal 17: Re: Mystery Picture 18: Re: Scale Rulers 19: Re: HMS Fearless 20: Scale Rulers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: New kits and old favorites from WSW/B-Resina -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS Hi all, Just a short note to wish everyone a safe and happy Easter. Regards, Shane & Lorna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: AAA Hobby Subject: Re: .50 Browning Cooling Jackets >> This is somewhat off topic. I have always had some misgivings about the term cooling jacket. To air cool a gun barrel better basic physics would have required that the surface area of the barrel be increased. But if you look at the cooling jackets the only contact the cooling jacket has with the barrel is at the front end of the jacket. This is hardly enough contact area to draw away enough heat to make a difference to cooling. The function of that jacket seems to me more for keeping the hot barrel from scorching anything it touches than it is for cooling. In fact photos of the same guns used in combat without the jacket is not uncommon. << The main point of contact is with the breech, and by using thermodynamics to draw the heat generated by the combustion process into the cooling jacket, this lowers the overall heating in the system. Most of the heat in the barrel is transmitted thermodynamically from the breech area rather than being generated through gas expansion and friction as the round exits the barrel. The guns without the full jacket usually had a short jacket (1-4") at the breech/barrel junction And don't fool yourself, the cooling jacket gets as hot as the rest of the gun! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: AAA Hobby Subject: Re: new manufacturer? >> Whilst looking on the Hannants' website I noticed that they had in their "future" section, 6 new 1/350th scale Arleigh Burke destroyers (2 each "I", "IIA" and "IIB" from a firm called PANDA (no details on costs or dates). Does anyone know anything about these kits, or the manufacturer? << Sounds like another Chinese venture to me - maybe they have replaced Zhengdefu with a pronounceable name!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: "Bishop, Paul" Subject: Re: Newbie question about magnifiying binoculars Rick, I am in a similar situation. I just purchased a cheapo headband binocular setup at Harbor Freight for $2.00 with the side lights. The side lights are really worthless - don't bother. The binoculars are fantastic tho. They really help to see where to paint with that 000 paintbrush!! Good luck, Paul Bishop -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: SHIPMDLR@aol.com Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 10:06:52 EST Subject: Re: Scales >> I would like a 1/700 scale ruler but not a paper one. I found that investing in good quality tools is better than making do with cheap ones. A quality tool lasts a life time and its a pleasure to work with. << A ruler you have stored on a disk that you re-print as you need it will also last a lifetime. You can also take your printout to an Architectural supply house or photographer and have it photographically printed on almost any material you wish. Rusty White Flagship Models Inc. Purchase on line with your Visa/Master Card/Amex/Discover http://okclive.com/flagship/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: SteveWiper@aol.com Subject: Re: paper rulers vs metal >> I would like a 1/700 scale ruler but not a paper one. I found that investing in good quality tools is better than making do with cheap ones. A quality tool lasts a life time and its a pleasure to work with. << Ian, You are missing the point. Please read the postings and you will see my reasoning behind the paper ruler. It has a specific purpose. I have scratch built almost 90 patterns for resin kits, so I do appreciate good tools. The paper ruler is one of those. Steve Wiper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: "Mccullough, Vincent" Subject: Re: Paper Rulers vs Metal I have a suggestion on this: there are vendors that make transparent material that you can print on with either laser or ink jet printers. Some of is used for "viewgraphs" (aka overhead projector slides). Another type is clear, but has adhesive backing (aka "stickyback" material). Buy some of the latter, download Steve's rulers, and print them on the sticky back. Then you can stick it to anything - brass, aluminum, evergreen, whatever. You can have rulers of any stiffness. And if the ruler wears out, print another one and stick it in place. Vince McCullough Member, Nautical Research Guild -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: SteveWiper@aol.com Subject: Re: Scale rulers >> While on the subject of scales is it possible, when there are line drawings or plans in your books, to publish them in a standard scale so that we can easily scale them to whatever size we need. If that's not possible then at least include a scale line somewhere to mark off the dimensions as on the full size ship. << Kelvin, Then you would have nothing to do on those long nights at the work bench! Good point. Not always that easy to do, but possible. Steve Wiper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: SeaPhoto@aol.com Subject: Re: Newbie question about magnifiying binoculars Rick Schiller writes: >> Can anyone recommend using magnifying binoculors or the magnifying lights? Advantages/disadvantages to each and any particular recommended brands? << After I turned 40 (Hey, it was just a couple of years ago...), my close up vision went away very rapidly. To be honest, it was kind of scary. Went to my eye doctor, who first told me this is normal, and then proscribed trifocal glasses, which helped with reading but not modeling. I tried a bunch of different magnifying solutions, but settled on an Optivisor. They are available in different focal lengths, are comfortable to wear and do the job for me. Personally, it took several weeks of continuos use to get used to having them on my head, but now I would not consider doing fine work without them. Because I can see details so clearly, I am doing better work than ever before. Get the real glass version as opposed to the plastic ones, as they are prone to scratching from the dust generated when you sand and grind. I have also added spot lighting on my workbench and machine tools. I like the frequency of lite put out by OTT lights, available from Micromark (as is the Optivisor). Not as harsh as fluorescent, and closer to daylight than most incandescent lighting. Hope this helps a bit. Kurt Greiner SeaPhoto Maritime Photography www.warshipphotos.com Order via our online catalog...now taking credit cards via Paypal Warship Models Underway www.warshipmodelsunderway.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: "Ken Goldman" Subject: Re: paper rulers vs metal Yes, good quality tools both work better and last longer than cheapos, however, it's a hell of a lot easier to wrap a calibrated paper strip around a narrow cylinder or a compound shape than it is to do so with a metal ruler. That is why tailors and dress makers use cloth measuring tapes instead of wood or metal yardsticks. To make a paper ruler last longer, spray it with an acrylic fixative like Krylon Crystal Clear. Ken Goldman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Bill Rowe Subject: Scales John Rule ( :) ? ) summarized things nicely. There are metric scales available in addition to civil and mechanical engineering scales. Triangular scales photo copy nicely and can be reinforced with tape. It should be possible to scan them. The copyright issue I leave to others. Bill -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: "Victor M. Baca" Subject: Magnifying Devices >> Can anyone recommend using magnifying binoculors or the magnifying lights? Advantages/disadvantages to each and any particular recommended brands? << Hi Rick: The magnifiers used to give a binocular visual are great for true depth perception. They also allow your eyes to relax while viewing. You could go with a simple "plate" style lens that either clips on to eyeglasses or uses its own earpiece arms to attach to the head. The binocular tube types used by medical personnel work well but are pricier--I see them on e-bay from time-to-time. (I recall waking up once during emergency surgery, seeing the surgeon's concerned face with a pair of beautiful Zeiss binocular magnifiers staring back at me. (Only a modeler would think, 'Wow, those are really cool lenses...' at a time like that!) Any binocular style two-piece unit must also be correctly collimated (lined up with each other). If not, you'll literally see double and even if your brain can correct slight out-of-alignment lenses, you'll end up with a headache and blurry eyes after using. I really enjoy using binocular magnifiers and find a good lightweight single-plate lens works well under most modeling conditions. The lighted magnifying lamp style lenses range from inexpensive incandescent lamps to the more expensive ring lights using fluorescent tubes. Look for a smooth, sturdy arm mount and a distortion-free lens. I prefer glass over plastic lenses in mine. The fluoroscent tubes made for hobby magnifiers applications give even, fairly bright lighting, but are generally not good for color interpretation as they give off a greenish to amber cast. Incandescent bulbs tend to favor the red end of the spectrum. Your brain will filter the light so you probably won't notice the color aberration, but nevertheless it's there. The advantage to the light-bulb style lamp is that you can use something like a GE "Reveal" brand incandescent lamp which gets you closer to the blue light of the sun for better color correction. These are used on all my standard incandescent shop lamps. The best way to acheive true color fidelity is to use a photoflood lamp, but their service life is only 3-6 hours, depending on wattage, and they burn very hot and bright, requiring a ceramic socket and a beefy reflector made for hot lamps. The GE Reveal brand is a very good compromise as are some of the standard socket "Gro-lites" used for indoor plants. A good lamp color correction test is to shoot color slides under the lamp. It's always neat to have photos of your model in-progress and the slide will reveal any color aberrations. You could also use color negative film, but the final image may be corrected by the printer so the results may be skewed. One disadvantage to using the big lens lamp/magnifier combos is that they must be rotated to be flatly facing you under use or you'll get distortions. This can be tricky while holding delicate parts if you don't carefully adjust before picking up your work. The fact that they double as excellent work lights is well worth the price of these versatile units and I use both types in my shop. Those nerdy clip-on magnifying lenses that clip onto glasses and can be rotated on their hardened wire arms when not in use work well also. If you wear wire frames, place a piece of neoprene tubing over the clamp's jaws for a secure fit. Mine have two lenses so you can have high, medium and low mags by switching or combining lenses. If you don't wear glasses and need both hands while working under magnification, the old jeweler's loupes work well also. I also use hand-held magnifiers, especially for photo interpretation and while closely checking kit detail for reviews. A very good alternative to buying a handheld magnifier is to get a used photo lens from a camera shop or watch for same at garage sales. I found a nice little chromed 50mm unit from an old rangefinder camera manufactured by Carl Zeiss. The cost was only a few bucks at a garage sale and it works as well or better than any expensive magnifier you're likely to purchase. A converted 105mm camera lens also works well as a quality hand magnifier. Try to remove as much of the camera mounting rings behind the focusing ring as possible so you get rid of unneeded gizmos on the lens (usually a small screwdriver is the only tool you'll need). A good camera lens is color corrected with multiple lenses and coatings and they give razor sharp images. Because you'll be sighting through the mounting ring or threaded end, place a rubber eye cup over the lens mounting ring to protect the eye and prevent eyeglass scratching when using. These can be obtained from camera shops or through Edmund Scientific (Edmund also carries an extensive line of magnifiers). One hand magnifier I can recommend as a "best buy" is the Russian built, multi-coated Horizon 8x, imported by Kalt. Any well stocked camera store can supply these. These lenses have a distortion-free flat field, good light transmission and are reasonably priced. When choosing a magnifier of any type, always look for distortions in the field, watching for things like astigmatism and coma at the field edge. Bad lenses may save you money but will become real eyestrainers in use so they're really no bargain if you end up with headaches after a shop session. With any magnifier, the most important consideration, after procuring the best optics you can afford, is to look for good light transmission and generous eye relief. Eye relief refers to the distance your eye must be placed from the lens while using--a key consideration for eyeglass wearers. Also look for a lens or binocular viewer that gives a good field of view. Higher powers usually mean you need to get closer to the work to focus and usually a moderate to low power works best. Their main job is to clarify the piece you're working on rather than actually getting close enough to count molecules! Good luck with the hunt for quality optics, let us know what you finally choose. Victor Baca MODEL SHIP JOURNAL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) From: "David Hathaway" Subject: Re: Scale rules Can I please put in a request for 1:250, 1:200, 1:400 and 1:100 scale rulers? These are the common card modelling scales. Many thanks David -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) From: "Keith Butterley" Subject: Friends, Romans, countrymen, send me your email Hi group, Some idiot (quiet Drage & Jenkins) forgot to tell the movers not to pack the computer. It is now under a ton of other household items for the next two months. Would all of my friends (yeah right) please send me your email addresses so I can re-build my data base. Any clients of Warship Books as well please, I need to start my list over. I have asked Shane to upload a picture to the SMML archives, of what not to do when moving. Basically never put your models and your dog in the same vehicle, it's not pretty. Happy modeling. Keith Butterley http://www.warshipbooks.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14) From: "Norman Samish" Subject: MG Cooling Thanks to Edd Pflum for the information about MG cooling - questions I've had for a long time about air-cooling shrouds finally got answered. It still seems to me that fins on the barrel would more effectively cool it, and it isn't clear why they weren't used. Maybe the longer barrel life wasn't worth the extra weight and cost of manufacture. I have a photo in a book of an early air-cooled MG with a big pile of spent cartridge casings. Apparently it was tested by continuously firing until it got red hot, to see if it still functioned. That must have hell on barrels - even later chrome-plated barrels would have a short life in that kind of test. Of course, water-cooled MGs didn't burn out barrels so fast - as long as they didn't boil dry. I've also wondered about barrel life on naval vessels, particularly the fast-firing 6" guns like the light cruiser Helena used (15 of them). Norm Samish -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) From: "David Griffith" Subject: Re: Magnifying binoculars >> I'm new to modeling (sort of) after a 40 year break. My vision isn't what it used to be. Can anyone recommend using magnifying binoculors or the magnifying lights? Advantages/disadvantages to each and any particular recommended brands? << Dear Rick, I'm short sighted, and have been using magnifying clip-on lenses for some time. Even with my varifocals I can't focus closely enough for easy modelling. I used to take my glasses off while at the bench which was great as my near point is then about 5", but then I was forever losing things on the bench (especially "Where the Hell did I put those bloody glasses!!") I toyed with getting one of those headband magnifiers, but could never find any to try, but then found these clip on lenses for my glasses. They come in different strengths. I use 1.5 dioptre for general use and 2 dioptre for very close up things. They aren't so heavy that they are uncomfortable or pull your glasses down your face, and they don't upset your ability to judge distances stereoscopically, which is a problem that I think you get with single lens magnifiers. They aren't that expensive, about £10-£12 sterling per pair, so if you don't like them it's no big deal. I've never used one of those magnifying lamps (presumably you mean the ones on a stand), but I imagine they would be very difficult to use for modelling, as the point you are working on would have to be kept at a constant position behind the lens. Seeing the price of the good ones, I don't think I'd ever consider one. Maybe OK for the wife's embroidery but not for me. Other people may have diferent opinions, though. Regarding lighting, I'm lucky in having my own "playroom". I've got daylight simulation bulbs at various points above and along the bench, as well as in anglpoise lamps, so that I can have light coming from several different directions so as to eliminate shadows. And the daylight bulbs do make it so much easier to judge colour in these gloomy Scottish latitudes! Less tiring on eyes in (early) middle age, too. Regards, David Griffith PS Before anybody flames me, I didn't mean that Scotland itself is gloomy, just the quality of natural daylight in my playroom. OK? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16) From: "Mike C" Subject: Rulers and .50 cal Steve, couldn't you make one or two versions and tell us what percentage to print them out? I figure the couple versions would be needed so they print clearly at different sizes. Paper vs plastic? I think Steve's intent for making them paper is so they wrap tightly on small curves. If you want a stiff one, mount it. For something thin and durable, print onto photo film paper for your printer- it's plastic. .50 cal: Fascinating machines. You could easily change the feed direction by flipping a couple parts over inside the receiver. At local airshows, the adults were as eager to play with the ones the Marines had on display as the kids were. A friend who was in Vietnam said they used to have something called a "mad minute" where they would fire all their ordnance into the perimeter at dusk. He said the .50 cal was like waving the hand of God when trees would jump off their trunks at a half mile from the API rounds. Mike C -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17) From: "Lars Scharff" Subject: Re: Mystery Picture >> does anybody know, what is the name of the ship in the centre of this image http://www.marinai.it/ospiti/volpe/foto/32.htm? << Mike Potter (thanks for answering !): >> She appears to be Chile's CHACABUCO, an Armstrong cruiser of 1898. The funnel caps, ram bow, two levels of bridge wings, and a gun mount on the main deck athwart the fore funnel all match. << According to Whitley's 'Cruiser of WW2' Chacabuco was refitted in 1939-41, according to 'Conway's All the world fighting ships 1860-1905' the refit was in 1941. If this information is correct, Chacabuco had no funnel caps and no modernised bridge at the time of the picture (November 1938 - March 1939). Also the lower bridge wings doesn't match a picture of her after modernisation (Whitley, p. 26), the main mast was removed and the foremast looks different (crow nests, spares). Does anybody knows, if Chacabuco was modernised before 1939-41 to match the picture? Could someone identify the location (see also SMML Vol. 1610)? Regards Lars Scharff -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18) From: "M & R Brown" Subject: Re: Scale Rulers This site lists various sizes including 1/72. http://www.just-4-fun-hobbies.com/ Michael Brown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19) From: "M & R Brown" Subject: Re: HMS Fearless There is now a save the Fearless web site with heaps of photos. http://www.hmsfearless.co.uk/ Michael Brown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20) From: "John Rule" Subject: Scale Rulers >> How about scale rulers in 1:120, 1:600, 1:1200, 1:2400, and 1:6000? I already have one in 1:1000. << All of the above scales except are available from any drafting supply shop (like Staples) and for that matter are all on one scale ruler. These are the standard imperial scales of 1' = 10', 1" = 50', 1" = 100', 1" = 200', and 1" = 500'. In the case of the latter use the 1" = 50' scale and instead of reading each division as 1 scale foot, read it as 10 scale feet. The standard scale is available as a 3-sided scale with two different scales on each face, giving you 1" = 10', 20', 30', 40', 50' and 60' which by default give you 1:120, 240, 360, 480, 600, 720 and then multiplying by 10 give you also 1:1200, 2400, 3600, 4800, 6000, 7200. Eureka, I think I see a pattern forming. Sincerely, John Rule -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: rms Subject: New kits and old favorites from WSW/B-Resina Please check out our web site for great prices on all WSW and B-Resina 1/700 resin ship kits and 1/700 accessories: www.wic.net/~rms/ In addition to the kits listed, the following new kits are also now available: WSW 700-19; Potemkin, Russian battleship, 1905, $49.00 BR 719; HMS Vanguard, British battleship, 1946, $65.00 I will fax a purchase order to WSW in Germany on Monday, 1 April 2002. Questions/orders? Please contact me off list: rms@wic.net Thanks and have a great weekend! Lisa D. Norman Rocky Mountain Shipyard -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the SMML site for the List Rules, Backissues, Member's models & reference pictures at: http://smmlonline.com Check out the APMA site for an index of ship articles in the Reference section at: http://apma.org.au/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume