From: Think Tank Subject: Think Tank Vol.0023 05/02/2000 Think.tank@tesco.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS' INDEX 1: Virtual kangaroos 2: Making decals 3: Douglas and small scale figures 4: Small scale figures 5: Making your own decals 6: Decal Printing 7: Kangaroos in VR 8: Belgian Brown 9: Stowage boxes on CVR(T) 10: New Tamiya TD Kits 11: Home casting and decals -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX 1: MAFVA UK Nationals 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Paul Roberts [proberts@mail.tamcotec.com] Subject: Virtual kangaroos > Virtual kangaroos' missile attack stuns army Sorry, but this entire story is a Net legend. There is a small kernel of truth in there, but it does not involve kangaroos shooting stingers or an audience of brass. One of the guys who was involved in the project contributes to the Mod-Mil E-mail list and he came back with the whole story a couple of months ago. Even he liked the story, but he had to debunk it for the inflated myth that it is. Paul Paul Roberts | Accuracy Scale Tech Distributing | is our Measure of Scale Model Builders | Quality proberts@tamcotec.com Visit our home page http://www.tamcotec.com/proberts Shame! Another one down - are there any true stories out there on the web? Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Al Superczynski [modeleral@up-link.net] Subject: Making decals On Sat, 29 Jan 2000 20:56:13 -0000, Malcolm wrote: >...could anyone tell me how to make my own decals? Check out the Alps Decal website at http://www.catskillarts.com/alpsdecals/ HTH, Al http://www.up-link.net/~modeleral -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: CaptainOD@aol.com Subject: Douglas and small scale figures Another excellent source is Preiser figures available from Walthers catalog either online or available at any railroad/hobby shop. Their figures are 1/72 and while most are German, they are excellent, in hard plastic which allows much easier conversion than the normal 1/72-1/76 "soft" plastic figures. And you might want to check out the Track Link website and go to "Braille scale" newsgroup, lots of sources for other figures. OD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) From: Björn Bäcklund [burrabee@hem1.passagen.se] Subject: Small scale figures Preiser have figures in 1/72 scale, and they can be found at Walters. (http://www.walthers.com/). Do a catalogue/search, Manufacturer number is: 590 and search for S scale and 1/72. Good luck, Bjorn Backlund _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Visit "The 72 scale page", a home for small scale modelling http://hem1.passagen.se/burrabee/72scale/start.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) From: John Harris [john@ukmilmod.force9.co.uk] Subject: Making your own decals Following the Finescale Modeller article I sought out the ALPS printer in the UK. There is no UK importer!, the nearest is an Irish contact. The secret (if you can call it that) of the ALPS printer is that it can print in white. I've not examined one, but I understand the ink is in separate cartridges in various colours. As it happens I'm in the market for a new printer anyway, but it appears it's difficult to get ALPS in the UK. I'm not sure how colour laser printers manage, I assume that if you don't need white it's alright, but having said that your standard (and cheap) ink-jet will print nice decals, if you don't need white. It's fairly easy to get 'blank' (empty?) decal paper, you could try getting some and hand painting your logo on that, at least you can try a few times before committing to the model. Hope this is of some help. John I had always assumed that colour lasers assume that you are printing on white paper, and handle white as clear. Robert (whose firm is too mean to invest in one, despite regular hints about how useful it would be – to the firm) :o( -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) From: John Harris [john@ukmilmod.force9.co.uk] Subject: Decal Printing The result of a search of the internet for ALPS printers, I found http://www.digitalkamera.de/info/News/News19990202-en.html While investigating the new Alps MD-5000 printer, which a digitalkamera.de visitor pointed out to us, we stumbled upon the information that Alps has discontinued sales of its technically interesting desktop printer. This means the high resolution thermal dye sublimation printer, MD-5000, will not even be launched into the European market. The decision to discontinue the printer sales was made by the Japanese parent company. Obviously this market has ceased to be profitable for Alps, who did not belong to the leading manufactures in this field. Desktop printers are just one of the areas of activity of the manufacturer. Alps is best-known for the development of its high quality electric and electronic components, such as switches and keys/buttons, relays, sensors and complete component sets like receiver parts for TVs and VCRs. The heart of the Alps printer, the print engine, will continue to be sold in Europe as OEM goods. Sales of incidentals as well as technical support from ALPS Electric Europa GmbH in Düsseldorf will remain. Printer sales in Japan and in the USA will continue normally. Therefore, it is possible that this equipment could be delivered from American distributors to European dealers. However, since the printer is made for a mains voltage of 110 V, an adaptor for 230 V would be necessary for use in Europe. In addition to the high freight costs, the price of the printer would most likely escalate to such a level that they would no longer be competitive. However this year, Back in February last year, we spoke on digitalkamera.de of a new printer, the ALPS MD-5000, which uses the thermal sublimation principle and achieves a resolution of 2,400 dpi. Although ALPS had already packed up selling in Europe at that time, the printer that was declared dead is now reporting back. The ALPS MD-5000 photo printer was able a year ago to output photorealistic print-outs at 1,200 dpi on normal paper and at up to 2,400 dpi on special photo paper. Nevertheless, the ALPS parent company in the USA decided to stop selling all ALPS printers in Europe and cease offering the MD-5000 here. In view of the high quality of these printers, the Austrian firm Mabs announced its resistance to this and off its own bat started importing printers and consumables on a grand scale from the USA. ALPS then expressly forbade the sale of its products under its name in Europe and Mabs GmbH had to stop selling the machines. Since ALPS is also an OEM manufacturer, however, the MD-5000 is now also marketed as the DP-5000 under the OKI brand name. But don't get too excited: according to Mabs, OKI does not intend to offer this interesting printer in German-speaking regions. Mabs will therefore have to resort once again to importing the OKI DP-5000 from other countries such as the Netherlands in order to give potential purchasers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland the opportunity of enjoying the quality of the DP-5000. Since the ALPS MD-5000 and the OKI DP-5000 are virtually the same design, the consumables of both manufacturers can be used. Merely the printer drivers are different and not compatible to each other. A benefit also emerges from the change of brand, however: the Power RIP print preparation software required for professional print quality was never provided in a Windows version for the ALPS model – only a Mac-compatible version was and is available. OKI on the other hand plans to implement the Power RIP software also for Windows; CeBIT 2000 has been named as the release date. Those interested in the OKI printer or the consumables for the OKI/ALPS printer should contact the company Mabs in Austria (mabs@aon.at). The company is responsible for Europe-wide distribution – including Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The OKI DP-5000 is available in the UK, around £300 plus VAT Any further news I'll report it John John Harris john@ukmilmod.force9.co.uk UK Military Modelling http://www.ukmilmod.force9.co.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) From: Karl Grubb [karl@grubb72.freeserve.co.uk] Subject: Kangaroos in VR I heard a variation of this story where instead of launching stinger missiles the launched their default weapons, beach balls Karl -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) From: Cooper, Mike [Mike.Cooper@reading.gov.uk] Subject: Belgian Brown Dear Colleagues My only trip to the Belgian Army Museum in Brussels got snookered by a WW2 display! Has anyone had a chance to get a look at their T-13 SP AT gun? I ask this as I'm trying to work out what colour the Kaki used by the Belgians was. Its a dark colour - as dark as OD/British G3 and Panzer Grey, and Steve Zaloga says its a brown like OD. Given that fresh OD is a green, I wonder if its actually a brown like the 34087 in FS595a which we all thought was OD. Any ideas? So far the article I'm working on for IPMS, and which I'll offer as a file on Think Tank, is stalled due to lack of time, but it's pretty complete. A good lead showed the Russian 4BO starts off light and weathers dark, oddly, so we have a good idea of the range of colours involved. Mike Cooper Reading UK Mike.Cooper@reading.gov.uk PS. I heartily endorse our Listmaster's comments on AB - I come close to building AFVs just as an excuse to use these lovely figures. Building something? Steady on there! Pleased to see that you only "came close" though, so credibility not impaired ;-).. Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From: Listmaster Subject: Stowage boxes on CVR(T) I have now identified the small boxes stowed on the sides of the front hull of CVR(T)s and which appeared on the vehicles used in Op. Corporate in 1982. They are similar in size to those for the German 2cm FlaK of WW2 and perhaps unsurprisingly, are originally to hold 30mm Rarden ammunition. Fortunately I bumped into some Dutch gents who were selling them from a stall at a tut show on Sunday, and they were decent enough to allow me to measure one up. At the same show I managed to acquire a mint example of the early British Racal AFV crew helmet (with prominent bulges over the ears, unlike the later ones with separate headsets and cut-outs at the sides) at a knock-down price so now I can at least measure up the thing for my 1982-era crew helmets. I have not confirmed with my ammunition expert yet but I suspect that the three larger ones stowed on the hull front of Scimitars may well be used for 76mm shells, although I believe that they are also used for 81mm mortar bombs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) From: Stuart Batchelor [msb2@hotmail.com] Subject: New Tamiya TD Kits Just curious, has anyone seen the new Tamiya M-10 and/or M-36 Tank Destroyers yet? My local hobby shop has not received any yet and as I said, I'm curious, are these just a re-release of their old M-10 motorised kit and even older (and pitiful) M-36 or are they new kits? TIA Stuart Batchelor Norman, Oklahoma PS - a belated thank you to our listmaster and others who answered my question on WW II Royal Army Camo, it helps I had no idea that Tamiya was planning an M-10. I have heard good things about the new AFV Club example though, and apparently a later variant with the duckbill turret is planned as well. That seems to be the best option in injection plastic at present. Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) From: Listmaster Subject: Home casting and decals Just been flicking through the January issue of Fine Scale Modeler and found Micro Mark's advertisement. They are advertising a rubber mould making set (makes 66 cu in) at $26.95 and "water-thin" resin (32 fl oz) at $22.95, both of which are equal mix so avoid the tricky measuring that I usually have to try, and presumably the danger of one part depleting faster than the other. Has anyone tried this product? Is it any good? How long does it last? Will they ship it overseas? By the way, the same ad has some decal papers for the home decal maker and a fixative spray for inkjet printer users to stop the whole affair turning into a runny mess. I have not tried it (decals are only needed once I get the model finished, as I recall ;-)) ) but I have used Micro Mark before and their service has been good. Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: Robert Lockie [rlockie@hfs.co.uk] Subject: MAFVA UK Nationals 2000 This years' show is being held as part of the War and Peace Show at Beltring, Kent, on Saturday 22nd July, although the main show itself runs from Wednesday 19th to Sunday 23rd. Although traders are being dealt with by the organisers of the main Beltring show (Rex Cadman at rex@warandpeace.uk.com) the model competitions and club displays are being organised by MAFVA. There is a standard form for completion, which should help us to plan as efficiently as we are able and this can be obtained electronically if you prefer. It will still need to be returned by snail mail as the passes have to be sent that way and we need the stamped SAE to send them to you. If your club would like to attend, please contact me via the address on this message (NOT the Think Tank address please!) or write with a stamped SAE to Paul Middleton, 39 The Leas, Baldock, Hertfordshire, SG7 6HZ. Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Lockie (Think Tank Listmaster) Visit the Miniature AFV Association website at http://homepages.go.com/~mafva/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume