From: Think Tank Subject: Think Tank Vol.0014 27/11/1999 Think.tank@tesco.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS' INDEX 1: Steel Masters book 2: Ram tanks 3: Landwasserschlepper 4: German stowage box colours 5: Rebuilding gun shields 6: Dragon Borgward BIV A track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: John Harris [john@ukmilmod.force9.co.uk] Subject: Steel Masters book The only 'Steel Masters' magazine I am aware of is the FRENCH magazine, which is bi-monthly with some additional 'specials'. It was originally the 'house' magazine of Azimut/ADV (has anyone got those early issues), but was subsequently taken over by a mainstream publisher. I subscribe directly to France using a credit card, but it can be obtained from Barbarossa Books (0181 325 8646, e-mail barbbook@dircon.co.uk) at £5.00 per copy., £33.00 per year). Not sure how you could mistake French for Polish though ;-) Be aware that Azimut/ADV's advert often includes kits ages before they are available. I hope this helps John -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: IAN HANRATTY [IAN@hanra.freeserve.co.uk] Subject: Re: ram tanks Hi Chris Milicast Models of Glasgow does a couple of kits of the Ram series of AFVs. They do the Mk.1, Mk.2 and Kangaroo. The hulls of the kits are hollow with separate turrets. The interior of the Ram is very basic, as it would have been in real life. Does anyone have any details of the Ram in action? I have an article from the old Militaria mag I could copy for you if you are interested. I recall seeing the old vacform kit, but I was not impressed with it. I strongly agree with Rob about the Missing Lynx site and highly recommend the BRAILLE SCALE site for anyone interested in small scale armour. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Douglas Bauer [dbauer@access1.net] Subject: Landwasserschlepper Does anyone have a copy of the plans for the resin kit of the Landwasserschlepper? I'd be obliged if someone could run a copy of them for me and send them snailmail. I'd be happy to pay postage and copying fees. E-mail me and arrangements can be made. Thanks Doug Bauer dbauer@access1.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Tony Edwards [tones@mail.suncity.com.au] Subject: German stowage box colours >> By 'storage boxes', do you mean the lockers which are part of the vehicle sides, or the internal ones? It seems surprising that those which are an integral part of the vehicle would be painted an entirely different colour - why bother? On the other hand, I can understand separate boxes (e.g. for ammunition, grenades etc.) being a different colour. << Robert All boxes that were delivered separately... the integral ones (i.e. the ones built up into the hull/turret during construction) would have received the same paint as it's surrounding area, however, the Germans were a notoriously thorough (fussy?:) lot, and there has been cases where knocked out/captured Tigers, etc had the inside faces (of the pair of wheels facing each other) where both primed AND base coated... they MUST have known that those particular surfaces would never be visible (barring a catastrophic failure or battle damage of some kind, in both cases, I'd have imagined that the crew would have had a lot more on their mind than the integrity of their camouflage :). Cya Tones. ICQ UIN: 1114918 tones@suncity.com.au stug@bigfoot.com stugiiiausfg@icqmail.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: Listmaster Subject: Rebuilding gun shields I am often surprised at the lack of artillery models entered in competitions, which I take to mean that not many of us build the things. Given the complexity of the designs in many cases, this is perhaps not surprising, although one of the weaknesses of many kits is the gunshield, which is invariably too thick. Some shields, like that of the 25pdr or PaK 40, are relatively simple, but I was recently puzzling over how to rebuild the multi-part shield for the German 3.7cm FlaK 43 to a more sensible thickness. Although comprising only flat plates, there are around ten of them in the main part alone, and measuring them off the kit part looked like a major challenge as right angles are few and far between in the design. Consequently, I was delighted to acquire a set of etched parts for the weapon, which included all the shield parts as well as several other components that I had measured up on the example at Middle Wallop at the beginning of this year. However, as with much photo-etch, there is no representation on the opposite side where brackets and hinges are attached with either bolts or rivets, and my experience with fitting plastic rivets to metal is that it is a messy affair involving much swearing and unwanted fingerprints. I much prefer working in plastic for such pieces and a solution finally forced its way into my brain - photocopy it. The result was surprisingly good, and even the half-etch came out, thus revealing where the locations of the folds are. It is then just a matter of laying the copy over a sheet of 10 thou and marking out the points with a sharp point, then joining the dots. Assuming that the original artist has measured up the shield accurately, I can see no reason why it will not build up as it should, leaving me to add the rivets from the kit parts or another 'shaved' Stuart light tank. The rest of the fret will be used as is, since photo-etch is the only material to accurately reproduce Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: Listmaster Subject: Dragon Borgward BIV A track Can anyone confirm the suspicions of a couple of us that Dragon has made a major goof on the track for the BIV? The kit supplies a two part affair resembling the early rubber block style (like most German half-tracks) but with very odd-looking blocks that appear to be of steel. Although steel was used for the BIVC track, the design was a skeleton type, entirely unlike that of the earlier versions. If Dragon has boobed, it becomes rather clear why Kasten makes a rubber block version…… Still, it makes the BIV expensive for such a small vehicle. By the way, I can recommend Ground Power 44 as a god source of photos and a rough longitudinal section drawing. The only large scale plan I have seen of the ausf B is Andy Boyce's in Tankette 12/6, regrettably now out of print but worth acquiring if you can. Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Lockie (Think Tank Listmaster) Visit the Miniature AFV Association website at http://homepages.go.com/~mafva/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume