Subject: SMML VOL 2827 Date: Sun, 08 May 2005 01:44:00 +1000 The Ship Modelling Mailing List (SMML) is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http//sandlehobbies.com For infomation on how to Post to SMML and Unsubscribe from SMML http//smmlonline.com/aboutsmml/rules.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1 Looking for information on American built post-war Italian MTBs 2 Eastern Express Borodino 3 Re Loren Perry's exquisite kindness ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From BGMarshall@aol.com Subject Looking for information on American built post-war Italian MTBs Greetings everyone I am looking for pictures and information on the American built Elco, Higgins and Vosper design motor torpedo boats that ended up in other navies after World War Two. I am particularly interested in the following Italy looking for information on the two Elco 77 foot boats (some information I have says they were used as torpedo retrievers). I am also looking for pictures and information on the Higgins built boats transferred to Customs. And anything in general concerning these American built boats in the Italian Navy. Sweden A lend lease Vosper with the hull number T-1 used for analysis of the design. Probably used by the Swedish Navy from 1953 to 1957. Japan the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency had a former lend lease Vosper PT converted to a patrol craft with the hull number PC-109 (no kidding!). Argentina I have a fair amount of information on the boats themselves, but not a whole lot on the mechanics behind the transfer. Looking for anything new. Taiwan despite what Jane's has to say, the National Chinese Navy ended up with at least one 80 foot Elco, one 78 foot Higgins and two lend lease Vospers. And those four boats supposed came from the US Naval Auxiliary Communications Center, a front for the CIA in the 1950s. Pictures are available on the Chinese Warships Museum web site. Turkey a large number of lend lease boats were accepted back from Russia by the United States at Izmir, stripped of weapons and electronics and sold off locally. Did any make it into the Turkish Navy? Egypt several lend lease Vospers were included in a deal to the Egyptian Navy. According to the US Navy on-site survey reports conducted in Alexandria, those two or three boats were barely floating and stripped of anything that had a military value. What's up there? Norway the US National Archives actually has a rather good movie showing the early lives of the 80 foot Elcos that were transferred to Norway. Does anyone have a good source for some decent broadside views of the boats in Norwegian hands? Lend lease returns a large number of American built PT boats were returned to US control in the 1950s from Russia. The transfers took place in Izmir, Turkey; Keil, Germany and Japan. From pictures and textal information, I know the boats were returned more or less as they were transferred, fully armed but obviously is somewhat used condition. Most of the returned boats were stripped and sold off locally. Does anyone have information or pictures? Did some of the boats end up in other navies? Korea again, the US National Archives has a pretty good film of the ROKN's PT boats in action, two black and white shots of the boats taken at the same time and two color shots of one boat as part of Operation Fishnet. Looking for any additional resources, pictures or textal information. Please note if the information is in Korean, I can get it translated. Cuba some sources say three boats were transferred, other say two. The Naval Historical Center had some pretty good pictures taken of one boat during then CNO Arleigh Burke's visit. The boat was configured as a rescue boat at the time. Did three boats get transferred and were those three boats configured as MTBs at one time? Dominican Republic the auxiliary launch LA-4 is/was a former lend lease design Vosper that never made it to Russia. Any information? China? At the end of the war, when most of the older boats were burned, some of the newer boats (supposedly) had their Packard replaced with diesels and were sent to China without weapons or with a minimum of weapons. The Chinese Warships Museum web site has a boat that looks suspiciously like an Elco 80 footer on a marine railway being worked on. The boat is not armed (at least is does not APPEAR to be armed) and is listed as a harbor launch. Anyone down that way heard of anything like that? Any direction or assistance would be appreciated. I can be contacted offline at bgmarshall@aol.com Chip Marshall Silver Spring, Maryland USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From "Darius Przezdziecki" Subject Eastern Express Borodino Hello John, Let me first state that, as a great fan of pre-dreadnoughts, I bought my Borodino from WEM almost as soon as it become available and I am very glad I was abble to do so! Now to the nitty gritty if you are expecting a moulding quality of Hasegawa or Tamiya kits you will be disappointed. In fact overall quality of ES Borodino (or rather ICM's, they were the producers of the moulds) reminds me of Novo's kits Potiemkin and Avrora. If you are a stickler for accuracy you will also be disapointed as an accurate Borodino can't be assembled straight from the box. But, after saying all that, the basis for a very good representation of Borodino are there so, if you are prepared to put a bit of additional time and effort, you will end up with a very nice model of a very unusual subject. Now, I am not sure if you are aware of this or not, but it is really impossible to get all 4 (or 5) Borodinos from just one hull moulding without quite a bit of surgery (Borodinos fall into two sub-classes Borodino, Orel and Suvorov, Aleksander III, Slava). And, since the kit hull form most closely represents Borodino/Orel, it will not be easy to accuratelly transform it into Suvorow even with the additional sprues which are supposed to be included in ES Suvorov kit. The final choice is yours but, let me state once again, that I am glad that this kit was finally released and I am very glad that I was abble to add it to my collection. Best wishes Darius ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From beyondsun@mindspring.com Subject Re Loren Perry's exquisite kindness Hi Luca, I can second your impression of Mr. Perry. When I recently got a decal sheet with two numbers damaged - that's two out of hundreds on the Gold Medal Models USN Ship 1/350 sheet - Loren sent a whole additional sheet as a replacement. Along with a hand-written note. Now I really can use all those extra decals - and I intend to. And when I e-mailed Loren to tell him so, he responded with an even more gracious message; it's not just good business, it's an honorable philosophy he obviously believes in. As you say, you just couldn't ask for better. Perhaps we could hope that these examples, one at a time, will one day influence the majority of businesses we want to deal with every day... Cheers, Matty ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the SMML site for the List Rules, Reviews, Articles, Backissues, Member's models & Reference Pictures at http//smmlonline.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume