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More Carrier Noise
Mar. 17th, 2013 04:00 pmNow I have eight different patterns loaded for the eight aircraft carrier models I want to reverse-engineer. Of course, my main two limitations in this endeavour will be funding and patience...with the next one being working space.
Useless Otaku Fact
Jan. 8th, 2013 01:26 amThe Revoltech Evangelion EVA Unit action figures are 1/570 scale, the same as some of Revell/Revell-Germany's ship models, including:
* Bismark/Tirpitz
* Queen Mary
* Titanic
* USS Saratoga (postwar, pre-nuclear power, aircraft carrier)
* King George V
* Prince of Wales...
* Bismark/Tirpitz
* Queen Mary
* Titanic
* USS Saratoga (postwar, pre-nuclear power, aircraft carrier)
* King George V
* Prince of Wales...
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Adventures In Mad Science
Dec. 21st, 2012 06:26 pm* Because my brother got me a smartphone to replace my flip-phone this week, I felt I had to return the favor and find a toy for him. I'll tell you all about it after I give it to him.
* Because my brother got me a smartphone to replace my flip-phone this week, I'm trying to figure out how to use it. So far, I'm way behind it and the whole touchscreen nonsense is somewhat counterintuitive to me.
* Because my brother got me a smartphone to replace my flip-phone this week, I went through Precious's soundfiles (and made some new ones by using a decompiler to loot soundtracks from .SWF files I downloaded over the years) in an ongoing attempt to generate ringtones. I still only partly know what I'm doing.
* In my travels to procure the toy for my brother, I saw a late-model Audi sedan outside Strange--the interior comprehensively burnt out. I started brainstorming hot rod ideas almost immediately.
* Still dabbling with reverse-engineering old Eastern-bloc paper models of aircraft carrier ships into much larger mixed-media models. I have seven downloaded patterns of a planned eight...but my internal math estimates that each "plate" in the scale I'm working with means $10 in materials. So I'll need funding of one form or another.
* Because my brother got me a smartphone to replace my flip-phone this week, I'm trying to figure out how to use it. So far, I'm way behind it and the whole touchscreen nonsense is somewhat counterintuitive to me.
* Because my brother got me a smartphone to replace my flip-phone this week, I went through Precious's soundfiles (and made some new ones by using a decompiler to loot soundtracks from .SWF files I downloaded over the years) in an ongoing attempt to generate ringtones. I still only partly know what I'm doing.
* In my travels to procure the toy for my brother, I saw a late-model Audi sedan outside Strange--the interior comprehensively burnt out. I started brainstorming hot rod ideas almost immediately.
* Still dabbling with reverse-engineering old Eastern-bloc paper models of aircraft carrier ships into much larger mixed-media models. I have seven downloaded patterns of a planned eight...but my internal math estimates that each "plate" in the scale I'm working with means $10 in materials. So I'll need funding of one form or another.
My Own Private Carrier Battle Force
Jan. 4th, 2012 04:21 pmOne of my "someday" projects was a 1/72nd scale aircraft carrier model based on the Colossus--class paper model from Poland. Well, it turned out that another company also made a carrier model--the nuclear-powered Enterprise, as she looked after her mid-life refitting. So I downloaded that model as well. Of course, I have a titanic task if I try to upscale it to 1/72...800 legal-size pages of printout! (As opposed to a mere 270 for Colossus!)
On Wikipedia's entry for the Enterprise, it said that five other ships in the class were planned before the design was superseded in favor of the Nimitz-class, which was much more efficient. Still, that sparked a "What If?" question in my mind...what would be the names of such ships if they had been built? I did a little research, but really couldn't find a good answer as such. Instead, I looked to my own life for my own naval names. Specifically, I looked at where I went to school and their concepts for mascots.
* USS Thames. My first school was United Scioto in Chilicothe, Ohio. Their mascot is the Sherman Tank (yes, their football team is the Tanks!); naming a ship for General Sherman was possible. But the Shawnee Indian chief Tecumseh was from the area too, and he was defeated at the Battle of the Thames.
* USS Fort LeBeouf. Waterford, Pennsylvania. LeBeouf was the site of a battle in the French & Indian War that was important in the career of George Washington.
* USS Lancer and USS Trojan. Deer Lakes district, Pennsylvania; and Saint Petersburg College, Florida, respectively. Good names for Revolution-era ships, but never actually used by the U.S. Navy.
* USS Bald Eagle. Springstead in Spring Hill, Florida. At the time, the Royal Navy had ships named HMS Eagle, so specifying it as "Bald Eagle" made sense to avoid possible confusion in fleet maneuvers.
http://www.awiatsea.com/Privateers.html
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/index.html
On Wikipedia's entry for the Enterprise, it said that five other ships in the class were planned before the design was superseded in favor of the Nimitz-class, which was much more efficient. Still, that sparked a "What If?" question in my mind...what would be the names of such ships if they had been built? I did a little research, but really couldn't find a good answer as such. Instead, I looked to my own life for my own naval names. Specifically, I looked at where I went to school and their concepts for mascots.
* USS Thames. My first school was United Scioto in Chilicothe, Ohio. Their mascot is the Sherman Tank (yes, their football team is the Tanks!); naming a ship for General Sherman was possible. But the Shawnee Indian chief Tecumseh was from the area too, and he was defeated at the Battle of the Thames.
* USS Fort LeBeouf. Waterford, Pennsylvania. LeBeouf was the site of a battle in the French & Indian War that was important in the career of George Washington.
* USS Lancer and USS Trojan. Deer Lakes district, Pennsylvania; and Saint Petersburg College, Florida, respectively. Good names for Revolution-era ships, but never actually used by the U.S. Navy.
* USS Bald Eagle. Springstead in Spring Hill, Florida. At the time, the Royal Navy had ships named HMS Eagle, so specifying it as "Bald Eagle" made sense to avoid possible confusion in fleet maneuvers.
http://www.awiatsea.com/Privateers.html
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/index.html
Come Together, Right Now!--Over Me...
Sep. 17th, 2011 04:59 pmOn Facebook I "Like" the Giveaway Of The Day--free software downloads. Among the offers this past week: RonyaSoft's Poster Printer, which I'm playing with. I'm not so much interested in posters as such, tho' that looks fun...I'm blowing up paper models. And so far, it looks like the RonyaSoft program is going to save me both effort and money, by cutting down the number of pages I'd need to print to get the same results.
I haven't decided which model to start with. Tho' that 1/72nd scale Colossus-class aircraft carrier project is the most tempting!
I haven't decided which model to start with. Tho' that 1/72nd scale Colossus-class aircraft carrier project is the most tempting!
HMS Ark Royal
Mar. 26th, 2011 12:03 am( Now Decommissioned )
Word is there is a chance of this ship becoming a museum piece in London--or possibly a working on-the-Thames helipad!
Word is there is a chance of this ship becoming a museum piece in London--or possibly a working on-the-Thames helipad!
Reality Checks & Weight Balances
Aug. 30th, 2010 06:55 pmWhile I was bored with not being able to adequately contact the outside world, I did a bunch of brainstorming. Tend to do that along with my research addiction.
Anyway, I have, on my hard drive, the digitized files for many of those wonderful Maly Modelarz Polish paper models, of which I've spoken before here. I have one for a Colossus-class aircraft carrier from the WW2 era. With it set to print at "regular size", the resulting model would only take nine sheets of paper or cardboard, and scale to about 1/350.
So what if I wanted a model to scale with the majority of the model aircraft I build? 1/72nd scale? To enlargen the sheet five times (350 รท 72 = 4.861, rounded to 5), I could split each sheet into twenty-five proportional pieces (5X5) making the total model 225 sheets of printout. And the model that would be built from these sheets would be...10 feet long!
With Paul Francis' shop nearby, this concept isn't outside the realm of possibility as such. It's just not particularly practicable, especially with the start of school imminent and other things coming along to occupy my mind and time.
Anyway, I have, on my hard drive, the digitized files for many of those wonderful Maly Modelarz Polish paper models, of which I've spoken before here. I have one for a Colossus-class aircraft carrier from the WW2 era. With it set to print at "regular size", the resulting model would only take nine sheets of paper or cardboard, and scale to about 1/350.
So what if I wanted a model to scale with the majority of the model aircraft I build? 1/72nd scale? To enlargen the sheet five times (350 รท 72 = 4.861, rounded to 5), I could split each sheet into twenty-five proportional pieces (5X5) making the total model 225 sheets of printout. And the model that would be built from these sheets would be...10 feet long!
With Paul Francis' shop nearby, this concept isn't outside the realm of possibility as such. It's just not particularly practicable, especially with the start of school imminent and other things coming along to occupy my mind and time.
Tags:
( This MAY Look More Familiar )
Taiheiyo No Arashi ("Storm Over The Pacific"), known to American audiences of the era as I Bombed Pearl Harbor. (In fact, when that big-budget stinker Pearl Harbor came along some years ago, I'd have bet some enterprising individual would have taken this movie and redubbed it to DVD. Guess they didn't think of it!) Parts of it were incorporated in Tora! Tora! Tora! and Midway and other American productions.
Why I care: in some ways the American war movies of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies are a part of my own experience growing up. And how could any kid avoid them back then? Many of the kids of my generation were children of military veterans--if not from the War itself, from their younger siblings, nephews and nieces. The echoes of WW2 lingered through the American culture for a very long time. It involved a far greater portion of the nation than any event since in our history. After a period of silent healing in the Forties, the culture here had to tell the stories from that time, and it kept Hollywood busy all the way through the next two decades.
Now, Japan of course had it even worse than America. Leaving aside the physical effects, and the political ones, WW2 meant a different cultural effect on a different culture. If the American soldiers who fought WW2 were our Greatest Generation, the Japanese soldiers of the same War were their nation's Lost Generation. They were defeated and killed in huge numbers; they fought ambitious battles they knew they couldn't win; everything they had was taken from them. It was through their examination of their experiences through film that eventually led to the anime that attracted me in the Seventies and Eighties.
Of course, it helped that the profits from all those successful Kurosawa dramas and Godzilla stompfests could be rolled back into producing these epics. Yes, I know the planes are almost all models and mockups. The ships are either sets on dry land or models in a studio water tank. Doesn't detract from the level of artistry or technique or effectiveness. I can't help but admire it.
It's a shame that none of these are available on DVD in the West. Some of these are available streaming or as torrents over the web, but I want to see these on my big flatscreen and I don't have bandwidth for this kind of thing yet. More to come.
FP
Taiheiyo No Arashi ("Storm Over The Pacific"), known to American audiences of the era as I Bombed Pearl Harbor. (In fact, when that big-budget stinker Pearl Harbor came along some years ago, I'd have bet some enterprising individual would have taken this movie and redubbed it to DVD. Guess they didn't think of it!) Parts of it were incorporated in Tora! Tora! Tora! and Midway and other American productions.
Why I care: in some ways the American war movies of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies are a part of my own experience growing up. And how could any kid avoid them back then? Many of the kids of my generation were children of military veterans--if not from the War itself, from their younger siblings, nephews and nieces. The echoes of WW2 lingered through the American culture for a very long time. It involved a far greater portion of the nation than any event since in our history. After a period of silent healing in the Forties, the culture here had to tell the stories from that time, and it kept Hollywood busy all the way through the next two decades.
Now, Japan of course had it even worse than America. Leaving aside the physical effects, and the political ones, WW2 meant a different cultural effect on a different culture. If the American soldiers who fought WW2 were our Greatest Generation, the Japanese soldiers of the same War were their nation's Lost Generation. They were defeated and killed in huge numbers; they fought ambitious battles they knew they couldn't win; everything they had was taken from them. It was through their examination of their experiences through film that eventually led to the anime that attracted me in the Seventies and Eighties.
Of course, it helped that the profits from all those successful Kurosawa dramas and Godzilla stompfests could be rolled back into producing these epics. Yes, I know the planes are almost all models and mockups. The ships are either sets on dry land or models in a studio water tank. Doesn't detract from the level of artistry or technique or effectiveness. I can't help but admire it.
It's a shame that none of these are available on DVD in the West. Some of these are available streaming or as torrents over the web, but I want to see these on my big flatscreen and I don't have bandwidth for this kind of thing yet. More to come.
FP
Carrier Noise
Jan. 17th, 2007 03:19 pmNews is this week that the Navy Department has dubbed the upcoming aircraft carrier, currently only a collection of drawings and designated CVN-78, the USS Gerald R. Ford.
This act is making a large number of Navy veterans angry, especially veterans who served on the carrier USS America, which was scuttled in the Atlantic some time ago as part of a munitions test program. They wanted the new ship, which is also the lead ship of a new class (replacing the Nimitz-class), named America to honor the previous one. Frankly, I see their point. The new class will be the most powerful and advanced surface ship ever put to sea by any navy. Why should Ford get the honor of having this ship named after him? Just because he died at the right time?
FP
This act is making a large number of Navy veterans angry, especially veterans who served on the carrier USS America, which was scuttled in the Atlantic some time ago as part of a munitions test program. They wanted the new ship, which is also the lead ship of a new class (replacing the Nimitz-class), named America to honor the previous one. Frankly, I see their point. The new class will be the most powerful and advanced surface ship ever put to sea by any navy. Why should Ford get the honor of having this ship named after him? Just because he died at the right time?
FP
Pet Interests In The News
Jan. 25th, 2006 12:01 amAs you may know, from previous posts of mine, I've been taking an interest of late in Mainland China's military build-up and how that affects us on this side of the world.
This past week, the Chinese Army staged a very large scale amphibious landing exercize, involving dozens of ships and units from all branches of its armed services. I'm convinced that they are seriously planning a full-scale invasion of Taiwan soon. And they also expect to be fighting American troops when they do.
Recently, the decommissioned French aircraft carrier Clemenceau entered the Suez Canal enroute to India, where it will be scrapped. Environmentalist groups have been opposing the move, as the ship contains large amounts of asbestos and this substance (in their view) could bring about ecological damage. (My view is that the dozens of ships that have already been scrapped at that location make any potential damage from Clemenceau's destruction dwarf in comparison.) The truly bizarre thing about this ship is that once it's in the Gulf of Aden, it will go through waters allegedly swarming with Somali pirates. Can you imagine the idea of pirates raiding an actual carrier--maybe with some likelihood of success?
Meanwhile, the Chinese are scrapping the former Soviet carrier Varyag. Or are they? Could they be refitting the ship for their own navy? Or just using it as a baseline for designing their own navy of the future?
Meanwhile, Boeing is finding itself biting its own afterburners over a little thing called "technology transfer". They have this pet project called the 787 Dreamliner in the works, but many of their engineers have come to the project from that little piece of military technology the B-2 Stealth Bomber. So in order to get the thing built, Boeing has to reverse-engineer items originally invented, by themselves, for the B-2...in such a way as to get around laws Congress put in place to prevent other countries from getting American military secrets. The reason for this reverse-engineering? Some of the major structures of the 787 will be built...in the same Chengdu factory that now produces the J-10 and J-7G fighter jets for the Chinese Air Force. If it later turns out that our Boeing F-15 and F/A-18 jets can't pick up Chinese-made fighters on radar to shoot them down, we now know exactly who to blame.
This past week, the Chinese Army staged a very large scale amphibious landing exercize, involving dozens of ships and units from all branches of its armed services. I'm convinced that they are seriously planning a full-scale invasion of Taiwan soon. And they also expect to be fighting American troops when they do.
Recently, the decommissioned French aircraft carrier Clemenceau entered the Suez Canal enroute to India, where it will be scrapped. Environmentalist groups have been opposing the move, as the ship contains large amounts of asbestos and this substance (in their view) could bring about ecological damage. (My view is that the dozens of ships that have already been scrapped at that location make any potential damage from Clemenceau's destruction dwarf in comparison.) The truly bizarre thing about this ship is that once it's in the Gulf of Aden, it will go through waters allegedly swarming with Somali pirates. Can you imagine the idea of pirates raiding an actual carrier--maybe with some likelihood of success?
Meanwhile, the Chinese are scrapping the former Soviet carrier Varyag. Or are they? Could they be refitting the ship for their own navy? Or just using it as a baseline for designing their own navy of the future?
Meanwhile, Boeing is finding itself biting its own afterburners over a little thing called "technology transfer". They have this pet project called the 787 Dreamliner in the works, but many of their engineers have come to the project from that little piece of military technology the B-2 Stealth Bomber. So in order to get the thing built, Boeing has to reverse-engineer items originally invented, by themselves, for the B-2...in such a way as to get around laws Congress put in place to prevent other countries from getting American military secrets. The reason for this reverse-engineering? Some of the major structures of the 787 will be built...in the same Chengdu factory that now produces the J-10 and J-7G fighter jets for the Chinese Air Force. If it later turns out that our Boeing F-15 and F/A-18 jets can't pick up Chinese-made fighters on radar to shoot them down, we now know exactly who to blame.
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Shameless Commerce
Dec. 28th, 2005 12:00 amI've done a little smuggling
I've run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami
But I p---ed it away so fast--Jimmy Buffett "A Pirate Looks At 40"
Did a lot of post-Xmas shopping...not all for myself...today:
* Royal Doulton teapot, to replace the one my father broke a few months ago (Teapots are vital to the preservation of civilization. If you don't have a teapot, you're nobody.)
* six soup bowls from Old Tyme Pottery
* a book on Provence, so Mom can research her next book
* two Kitech (a.k.a. Zhengdefu) aircraft carrier model kits...one of which will be donated to one of the model clubs founded my servicemen in Iraq
I looked in on Dickies for trousers but the store was so picked over that I think I'll wait till after New Years and give them a chance to restock and spiff up. Also introduced Mom to Tuesday Morning stores. She liked what she saw.
FP
I've run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami
But I p---ed it away so fast--Jimmy Buffett "A Pirate Looks At 40"
| Dashing Smuggler The Force is 81% with you. |
| The Force is with you, but it could be stronger. Spend less time cavorting around the galaxy and watch the Star Wars trilogy again! You'll be a Jedi in no time! |
 |
My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
| Link: The Old School Star Wars Test written by weebitdifferent on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test |
Did a lot of post-Xmas shopping...not all for myself...today:
* Royal Doulton teapot, to replace the one my father broke a few months ago (Teapots are vital to the preservation of civilization. If you don't have a teapot, you're nobody.)
* six soup bowls from Old Tyme Pottery
* a book on Provence, so Mom can research her next book
* two Kitech (a.k.a. Zhengdefu) aircraft carrier model kits...one of which will be donated to one of the model clubs founded my servicemen in Iraq
I looked in on Dickies for trousers but the store was so picked over that I think I'll wait till after New Years and give them a chance to restock and spiff up. Also introduced Mom to Tuesday Morning stores. She liked what she saw.
FP
Will China Sink My Battleship?
Apr. 7th, 2005 12:00 amHey.
Last month a fellow scale model builder cleaned out his closet and I bought a couple model kits cheap from him: Revell's 1/720 scale USS Arizona battleship and (same maker, same scale) USS Intrepid aircraft carrier. I intend to build both of them, after a fashion. But neither of them may be "stock".
I've been doing research on both classes of ship for a while now. I hope to build the Arizona as its sister ship Pennsylvania, partly because I'm from Pennsylvania and partly because of the ship's history AFTER the Pearl Harbor raid, that Penn survived and Arizona didn't. I have heard that Finescale Modeler magazine's 1995 special issue had an article about converting the Arizona kit to Penn and if anybody knows where I can find a copy of the article, I'd like to know.
To my dismay, I hear that the Chinese company Dragon is producing their own Pennsylvania kit--same scale, thereabouts--this summer. Knowing Dragon, the new kit will be 20,000 leagues better than the old Revell kit. And it'll cost ten times what I paid for what I've got.
I guess I have better things to do than worry about this sort of thing. I'm sure the majority of the unbuilt model kits in my collection would be considered obsolete or substandard by more serious builders.
But then again, why should I be so serious about it? It's a hobby.
And I don't have the money to spend anyway. I just blew my month's allowance on replacement batteries for my digital camera. The more things you own, the more they own you. (--My mother.)
Last month a fellow scale model builder cleaned out his closet and I bought a couple model kits cheap from him: Revell's 1/720 scale USS Arizona battleship and (same maker, same scale) USS Intrepid aircraft carrier. I intend to build both of them, after a fashion. But neither of them may be "stock".
I've been doing research on both classes of ship for a while now. I hope to build the Arizona as its sister ship Pennsylvania, partly because I'm from Pennsylvania and partly because of the ship's history AFTER the Pearl Harbor raid, that Penn survived and Arizona didn't. I have heard that Finescale Modeler magazine's 1995 special issue had an article about converting the Arizona kit to Penn and if anybody knows where I can find a copy of the article, I'd like to know.
To my dismay, I hear that the Chinese company Dragon is producing their own Pennsylvania kit--same scale, thereabouts--this summer. Knowing Dragon, the new kit will be 20,000 leagues better than the old Revell kit. And it'll cost ten times what I paid for what I've got.
I guess I have better things to do than worry about this sort of thing. I'm sure the majority of the unbuilt model kits in my collection would be considered obsolete or substandard by more serious builders.
But then again, why should I be so serious about it? It's a hobby.
And I don't have the money to spend anyway. I just blew my month's allowance on replacement batteries for my digital camera. The more things you own, the more they own you. (--My mother.)
