Newsletter Volume 41, Number 8, Aug. 2014

Contacts Work in Progress President: Larry Van Es (7140 936-0389 July 16, 2014 E-Mail [email protected] Reporter: Dave Yotter Vice President: Bill Schultheis USS Freedom (LCS-1) – Burt Goldstein (714) 366-7602 E-Mail: [email protected] Secretary: Paul Payne (310) 544-1461 Treasurer: Mike DiCerbo (714) 523-2518 15320 Ocaso Ave, #DD204, La Mirada, CA. 90630 Editor, Don Dressel (909) 949-6931 908 W. 22nd Street Upland, CA 91784-1229 E-mail: [email protected] USS Freedom (LCS-1) is the lead ship of the Web Manager: Doug Tolbert: Freedom class of littoral combat ships (LCS). She is the (949) 644-5416 third vessel of the United States Navy to be so named Web Site for the concept of freedom. She is the design www.shipmodelersassociation.org competitor produced by the Lockheed Martin

consortium, in competition with the General Dynamics- Meeting – Wed., Aug. 20, 7 PM, designed USS Independence. She was officially Red Cross Building, 1207 N. accepted by the supervisor of Shipbuilding Gulf Coast Lemon, Fullerton, CA. 92832 on behalf of the US Navy from the Lockheed

Martin/Marinette Marine/Gibbs and Cox team in Officers meeting –Wed., Sep. 3, Marinette, WI on 18 September 2008. She is designed 2014, 7 PM, Bob Beech’s house, for a variety of missions in shallow waters, capable 130 Clove Pl., Brea, CA. 92821 – (714) 529-1481. against submarines, small ships, minesweeping and humanitarian relief but not designed to take on large warships. The ship is a 377-feet in length, displaces 3,000 metric tons and is a semi-planning monohull design capable of over 45 knots. Commissioned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 8 November 2008, USS

1 Freedom is home-ported in San Diego. (From Wikipedia). Burt Goldstein found this kit as a $12.00 download from www.ecardmodels.com. The model is currently partially complete and still needs it’s helicopters, radar masts and other details. He found that this is not an easy kit to build, lacking fold lines and noted that the 5” gun was particularly difficult. Not a kit for beginners.

Model Case Stand – Mike Lonnecker

Mike writes: After completing my Fair American and putting it in a case I looked around the house for a place to display it. No Luck. So I thought about purchasing a table just for it. So it was off to the furniture store. No Luck. I started searching the Internet for tables or table kits. I found Osborne Wood Products at www.osbornewood.com. They offer table kits that can be purchased without table tops. Perfect. These are truly custom tables. In order to obtain the one you need you must choose and specify the following: • Type of Wood------Over 20 different woods • Leg length and style ------Dozens and dozens to choose from • Apron Style------Several to choose from • Overall length and width The kit is truly first rate, with corner bracing, all predrilled holes, nice fitting mortise and tenon leg to apron joints, and all hardware. You must finish sand, apply finish of your choice, and final assemble. End result: a very stylish and stout stand for your model at a very reasonable price. They have a neat online video on their website under the heading of “table base kits” that shows how easy this is to accomplish.

Cutter HMS Andromede – John Simmons

John writes: The cutter HMS Andromede is the seventh (cutter) I have completed, including the HMS Shenandoah, HMS Diligence, HMD Dandy (a modified Diligence), HMS Lady Nelson, Le Cerf and Le Renald. While they are similar primarily in their rigging and sail plan, they differ in the number, type and size of armament. They typically

2 mounted as few as six and up to fourteen cannon, up to 9-pounders. Some carried carronade (12 to 18 pounders) and 2 to 8 rail mounted guns of 1 to 3 pounds. Because of their good speed and maneuverability, cutters were favored by smugglers to avoid revenue fees place by the government and thus used by the coastal patrol and guard to capture them. They also served as mail and dispatch carriers, transport of persons needing rapid transit, and in the Navies of the Americans, British and French. They could be used to support convoy duty, and in groups as wolf packs to cut out or attack 6th rate vessels. Andromede was built in 1790 for the Royal Navy. I will be rigging her with 15 sails, a full compliment including four jigs, studding sails, ringtail and water sails, and the square sail boom, or crossjack yard on the rail. John’s model is being built

using a Solcaine kit in 1:64 scale of a ship of about 72 to 75 feet in length. From my pictures I counted 10 X 6-pounder long guns and 4 carronades, 18-pounders? Also your reporter is trying to wrap his head around the profusion of yards on the lower portion of the mast. From John’s description the whole thing sounds like the mizzen of a snow turned around backwards and placed on the front of the cutter mast?! SO we have a crossjack yard, a trysail or snow mast and then there is a horse and I am really not sure what configuration this horse takes. The crossjack yard is tied to the snow mast? Does the snow mast rise above the top? Is the crossjack yard a spreader for the course? I am confused. Hopefully we can get John to clarify.

Japanese Higaki-Kaisen – Don Dressel

Don brought in his fully completed 1:72 Japanese model of the Higaki-Kaisen based on the Japanese kit by Woody Joe. The additions to the kit, in order to complete the model, were added as follows:

• All Japanese merchant ships of the time of this one had ships boats as a required inventory, since in order to land the cargo and obtain more cargo a ships boat was necessary. The kit did not come supplied with one, so Don did some Internet investigations and checked with several of his Japanese friends in order to scratch build the ships boat. • Japanese figures were added to the model by the simple expedient of purchasing several plastic sets of Japanese figures in 1:72 scale and painting them. A wire was inserted in one of the legs of each figure (after drilling the appropriate hole in the leg), a hole was drilled in the deck where the figure was to be placed, the wire and figure then glued to the deck.

3 • All necessary line bundles were completed and installed. • The Japanese banner at the stern of the ship reads “Dressel’s ship” according to my friend Mr. Norio Uriu.

In addition, the base for the case of the model, beautifully and professionally made by Greg Wilcox, was shown. Now all that is required is to have the Perspex case made followed by the finishing of the base and installation of the model. Fini!

La Réale De France – John Bakker

The name “Reale” indicates that the Galley belonged to the King of France; also, from 1526 the admiralty vessel of the Captain of the French Galleys was called “Reale.” The original craft designed by us (Corel) is an exact reproduction of a typical 18th century “Reale,” sumptuously decorated by the famous sculptor Pierre Puget; the stern ornamentations, still conserved today, are displayed in the Musée de La Marine, Paris. A large part of the reconstruction is based on old original plans, integrated where necessary from other securely reliable sources. The 1:60 scale model is a reproduction of a vessel with a total length of 63 m, 9.7 m wide at the overdeck carrying 59 thwarts and 59 oars, each maneuvered by seven men. There were therefore 413 rowers. A small part of them were slaves but the majority were criminals condemned to life imprisonment, while the head rowers, i.e. the men at the head of the oar handles, were regularly paid volunteers. Besides the officers in the stern the rest of the crew consisted of a galley sergeant and two helpers (who whipped the rowers from the midway to urge them on) and a variable contingent of gunners and solders located on the forecastle and along the arbalesters. The arms consisted of the five bronze pieces located in the bow under the forecastle on special sliding carriages and by 11 swivel guns along the arbalesters. Because the forward guns could not traverse they were apparently there to assist in the main tactic of frontal ramming. The vessel was equipped with two lateen sails. Before entering into battle the sails were furled and the yards chained to the masts to prevent them from striking the rowers due to enemy gunfire. When under sail the parts of the ship carrying the thwarts and rowers were often immersed. For a galley to be effective against a heavily armed ship in the 18th century they would have to have smooth seas and choose their combat position carefully. In 1651 the frigate Lion Couronne with only 26 guns withstood the attack of 11 galleys while in 1684 the vessel Le Bonalone was victorious against 35 galleys. The battle of Matapan in 1717 was the last one in which galleys took an active part. The model by John is a Corel kit in 1:60 scale with a lot of excellent craftsmanship and “kit bashing”.

4 6th Rate Frigate HMS Triton – Guy Bell

(My apologies to Guy, but either I missed taking his picture at the meeting when he did his presentation or he missed presenting, one or the other! I have inserted a picture of his model instead). Ed. HMS Triton was a modified Mermaid- class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was ordered 25 December 1770. The builder was Henry Adams at Bucklers Hard. She was laid down February 1771 and launched 1 October 1773. She was completed 4 November 1775 at Portsmouth Dockyard and was first commissioned in August 1775 under Captain Skeffington Lutwidge. She was taken to pieces at Deptford in January 1796. Her particulars were: Displacement 620 21/94 (bm); Length: 124 ft 1 in (gundeck), 103 ft 5 in (keel); Beam; 33 ft 7 in. Sail plan: full-rigged ship. Complement: 200 officers and men. Armament: 28 guns comprising upper deck: 24 x 9-pounder cannon, quarterdeck 4 x 3- pounder cannon, 12 swivels. Sixth-rate ships typically had a crew of about 150-240 men, and measured between 450 and 550 tons. A 28-gun ship would have about 19 officers; commissioned officer would include the captain and two lieutenants;, warrant officers would include the master, ship’s surgeon and purser. The other quarterdeck officers were the chaplain and a Royal Marines lieutenant; the ship also carried the standing warrant officers, the gunner, the boson, the carpenter and the two master’s mates, four midshipmen and assistant surgeon and a captain’s clerk. The rest of the men were the crew of the lower deck. A sixth rate carried about 23 marines. Guy is starting on his scratch built fully framed 1:48 scale model of HMS Triton. There is more information on the model in the June issue of the SMA Newsletter, Mayflower Group meeting, when Guy brought in the model. A lot more work has been done on the model since the June Mayflower Group meeting. Please note the really neat “carriage” guy built for the model to both use as a building board and transport the model.

Eighteen-foot cutter – Henry Bikhazi

Henry picked up a kit put out by David Antscherl and Greg Herbert for an 18-foot ships cutter in 1:48 scale at the Nautical Research Guild meeting in Buffalo a few years ago. The main feature of the kit is the urethane plug for layout of the backbone and

5 is used for planking the boat and adding the frames. Planking and frames are cut from nicely milled wood sheets. Henry built the boat using clinker planking over the mold and then added his frames later. He waxed the mold with Kiwi sift yellow wax to make sure the completed boat shell would release from the Urethane mold using Elmer’s white glue for this project. Info on this model can be had at www.admiraltymodels.com.

USS Williamsburg (AGC-369) – Doug Huntzinger

USS Williamsburg was a US Navy gunboat, a former private yacht, which served as a presidential yacht from 1945 to 1953. The steel-hulled, diesel-powered yacht Aras was laid down on 19 March 1930 by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 8 December 1930; and delivered to wood-pulp magnate Hugh J. Chisholm on 15 January 1931. Aras displaced 1,805 tons fully loaded; with a length of 243 feet, 9 inches; a beam of 36 feet and a draft of 14 feet. Her two Winton diesels generated 1,100 bhp, with a speed of 13.5 knots. The U.S. Navy acquired Aras on 24 April 1941, and renamed her Williamsburg. The former pleasure craft entered the Brewer Drydock and Repair Co., of Brooklyn, New York, on 23 June for conversion into a gunboat. As a gunboat, Williamsburg (PG-56) was armed with two 3-inch gun mounts, six 0.50 caliber machines guns, two 0.30 caliber Lewis machine guns, two dct, one “Y” gun, 16 rifles and 10 pistols. Her crew complement was 81. After final alterations, the gunboat departed Norfolk on 2 December, touched briefly at Washington, D.C., and eventually arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 6 December, the day before the Japanese attached Pearl Harbor. After a long career as a gunboat during WWII the ship sailed for the Washington Navy Yard where, on 5 November 1945, she relieved Potomac as presidential yacht and, on 10 November 1945, erstwhile gunboat was re-designated AGC-369. In the ensuing years, Williamsburg served two presidents, Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Williamsburg’s career was not yet over as she was transferred to the National Science Foundation as a research vessel on August 9th 1962. The Hulk still exists and is in Italy. Final outcome is to be determined. (From Wikipedia). Doug is building his model of Williamsburg in the presidential yacht configuration in approximately 1:200 scale. He is working on the hull starting with a plywood profile spine and added balsa on either side to fill out the hull shape. It took about two days to shape the hull. Zar filler will be used where necessary and auto body primer will be used when finishing the hull. Camber is yet to be added to the deck. He is using plans from a book on the Williamsburg.

6 Welcome back, Doug. Doug is an “old” member of the SMA who took a “leave of absence” and has come back to join the group again. It will be interesting to see how the scratch built solid hull model of the Williamsburg turns out when it is completed.

HMS Pegasus – Don Leyman

HMS Pegasus was a 14-gun ship sloop of the Swan class, launched on 27 December 1776. She was commissioned the same month under Commander John Hamilton Gore and – after completing on 3 March 1777 – sailed for Newfoundland on 3 April. She was lost with all hands in a storm off Newfoundland in October. Don is continuing to make progress on his 1:48 Pegasus using the Antscherl/Herbert books on the Swan Class Sloops and two sheets of drawings of Pegasus itself from the National Maritime Museum as source material. The frames are boxwood and the wales Swiss pear blackened with aniline dye. He reported that the aniline dye seemed to have no effect on Titebond glue. Most current work is on the lower deck and vertical components beneath the lower deck. He has no plans to include cabin bulkheads in that area and mentioned that he has found the double knees to be difficult. For those who would be interested in more detail and a really close inspection of the great craftsmanship that is being done on the Pegasus, attendance at the Mayflower Group meetings at John Bakker’s house would be necessary and informative, as Don usually attends these meetings and goes into more detail on his construction efforts and the “pitfalls” he discovers.

Gatling Gun & U-Boat Dioramas – Bob Penikas

Reed West has brought in previous examples of Bob’s work sometimes in paper and sometimes in aluminum (Coke cans). This time Bob Penikas himself showed up and he brought a Gatling gun modeled from a paper kit he downloaded free from the internet. Apparently Bob is a kit basher as he noted that the wheels on his gun were not stock kit but cut from a Cheerios box top. He has discovered that when sprayed with Krylon acrylic gloss the unprinted side appears wood

7 like – needing no paint. Bobs second offering was a U-boat diorama from http://luigisaso.altervista.org/page69/index.html. This is also offered as a free download of five U-boats tied up to a dock. Scale unknown, but very tiny. Bob noted that this offering included no instructions. Again, your editor offers apologies; since the models were brought in without his knowledge resulting in no picture of the models being taken. Ed.

Bahamas Sloop John B. Sails & HMS Surprise – Foster Rash

Foster brought in what he described as his first attempt at building a ship model. The model is a scratch built Bahamas’ sloop in 1:87. He built it mainly as an exercise in simulating water as a base for a model. Hs also brought in his start on a rather more ambitious undertaking, a kit model of HMS Surprise in 1:75 scale from Mamoli. So far the backbone is completed with bulkheads in place and with a start on the gun deck planking.

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Burt Goldstein’s cardstock model of Freedom Don Leyman’s H.M.S. Pegasus John Bakker’s La Réale De France Don Dressel’s Higaki‐Kaisen

Doug Huntzinger’s U.S.S. Williamsburg Dr. Henry Bikhazi’s ships boat

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John Simmon’s Cutter HMS Andromede Guy Bell’s 6th rate frigate HMS Triton Foster Rash’s Bahamas sloop John B Sails and his HMS Surprise

Mike Lonnecker’s Model case stand

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By Don Dressel

Old Salts in Port: John Bakker, Steve Jones, John Vanderneut, Yas Komorita, Don Leyman, Don Dressel, Guy Bell.

Ship in Port: USS President, La Réale De France, Halifax, HMS Triton, HMS Pegasus.

The meeting started off with the usual banter and discussion on various topics related to ship models, club activities and other aspects of general interest. The plans of the Peregrine Galley kit model by Mantua (Sergal) were brought in by John at the request of an SMA member. He could not make it to the meeting, but made arrangements with John Bakker to accept the plans, as he would pick them up from John in a few days.

The first one up was John Vanderneut. He brought his USS President which he has been steadily working on. His first comment was “It is surprising how long it takes to get so little done”. He has done a lot of work on the gunports, which have upper and lower lids. He did comment that the plans indicate the wrong location for the “eyebrows” over the gunports, since when he installs the upper gunport lid it conflicted with the “eyebrow”. He also had to purchase more cannon, since the ones supplied were not correct. A further discussion took place concerning his need to drill holes in the keel for the pedestals that will be used to mount the ship on a stand. No indications of pedestals or mounting locations are included with the plans or instructions. Several options were offered by the group on just how he could drill the holes (straight) and mount the pedestals. Guy also suggested that he “pin” the cannon to the deck using a wire attached to one of the wheels of the cannon carriage and inserting into a hole drilled in the deck. As indicated, progress is slowly being made.

Don Dressel brought in his start on the Halifax, a plank‐on‐frame model in 1:48 scale. The model is based on a practicum by Robert Hunt using the Harold Hahn method of building a plank‐on‐frame model. The plans of the Halifax by Harold Hahn are also being used along with

11 the book The Colonial Schooner 1763‐1775, also by Harold Hahn. The keel, stem and stern post were first constructed, and then the Harold Hahn jig was completed, followed by the making of and installation of the frames. It was noted at the meeting by several of the Mayflower Group that a number of the frames installed on the keel (note the Harold Hahn style jig) were not done correctly. Don appreciated the observation and has already resolved the issue of the frame location by applying acetone to the base of the offending frame, removing it from the jig, and re‐positioning the frame in the correct location, which will make the final smoothing and sanding of the frames a lot easier. Acetone works well in releasing a Titebond glued joint. One of the benefits of showing your work to other ship model builders! It would have been very hard to correct at a later stage in construction.

The next presenter, Guy Bell, first talked about his HMS Trident and the problems he was having with the correct spacing of the frames along with the fairing of some of the frames before he installed them. Guy also brought in a stamp collection in a three ring binder, loaded with sailing ship stamps from all over. He passed the binder around, showing everyone the very interesting collection of ships stamps from all over the world. Some samples are shown here.

It is too bad that I cannot show all the stamps he had, as there was a LOT of stamps, all very interesting from all over the world. Guy put the pages together himself in the very neat fashion shown.

12 The Corel kit in 1:60 scale of the La Réale De France, under construction by John Bakker, was next discussed. John has completed some additional work since last Wednesday’s presentation at the SMA meeting, installing all the fleur de lies, swivel guns and work on the oars. He explained that he was having problems with the location of the swivel guns and the placement of the oars, which seem to conflict with the railings. John is doing a beautiful job on this model and I am sure he will solve all the “technical” problems satisfactorily. Attached is a photo of the Mayflower Group huddled around John and his model as things are discussed and solutions suggested. Also, note the number of John’s completed models, only a couple of which can be seen in the photo of the group. It is always nice, the your editor’s opinion, to relax and discuss ship modeling while surrounded by a number of fine ship models on display.

The next model presented was the HMS Pegasus being constructed by Don Leyman. Don is continuing with the deck beams of the lower deck. He indicated that he plans to plank half of all the decks, but has not decided yet just how much he is going to plank. Don installed the wales using pear wood and staining them with black aniline dye, which really looks good. The frames are box wood. Don talked about his method of staining the pear wood wales using water, even though he could have used alcohol, which will not swell the wood – he had no problems, however. He cautioned the group that when wet, the aniline dye planks can be very messy to work with (he wound up with black hands!) He plans to fully rig the model.

Another great Mayflower Group meeting and learning experience.

13 Scantlings of Royal Navy Ships

1719 – 1805

Allen Yedlinsky

This book represents a consolidation of a number of sources put together into one volume for easy access to the information on scantlings of different classes and rates of ships of the Royal Navy. The comparisons of 1719, 1745 and 1750 revisions of Establishment parameters along with the additional information supplied in the Shipbuilder’s Repository and Steel’s Elements & Practice of Naval Architecture of 1805 is included. All this information that is provided in one easy to access and read source is a great boon to ship model builders.

The use of the book and the information contained within is made easy to use by incorporating spiral binding and a large format. The book opens to the data desired and lays flat on the table in spread sheet format for ease of reading.

The first set of tables in the book encompasses the establishments of 1719, 1745 and 1750 revisions. The 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 44, 40, 30, 24, and 20 gun ships are covered dealing with all the aspects of ship construction including masts and yards. As an additional example, the riders dimensions

14 are given along with the size of the bolts! In short, every detail of the timber construction of a ship is given. This section also has a short index at the end of the section detailing by name the different aspects of the ship construction. When you have a set of plans of a ship you intend to build but are not sure just what size of timber to use for planks, frames, etc. – this book is a must have.

The next section covers Steel and the Shipbuilder’s Repository to include 110, 100, 98, 90, 80, 74, 64, 50, 44, 38, 36, 32, 28, 24, 18, 12,and 10 gun ships as well as 16 gun cutters. This section also includes an index to assist the modeler. Thus, there are a couple of hundred pages of data that is invaluable to scratch model builders in particular and all ship model builders, including those who built kits (but what to add more detail and accuracy).

He next goes into detail concerning long boats, launches, barge, pinnacles, cutters, yawls and the wherry – the breadth, depth, keel, stem, tansom, etc. All particulars are furnished to build a great ships boat (or boats) for your model. Anchor detail is also included.

The final section of the book gives complete pictorial descriptions of the various scantlings covered in the book. In short, this is a highly recommended book with many details provided the ship modeler. Available in 14” X 8” format, this basic research tool for ship model builders is published by www.seawatchbooks.com for a very reasonable price of $45.00 plus $9.00 shipping in the U.S.

15 Memories of Yoshiya Okumura

By Bill Russell

Bill Russell and Yoshiya Okumura

I first met several members of The Rope (the ship model club of Tokyo) in 1994. Yas Komorita and I had driven to LAX to meet the Japanese contingent from The Rope, who were planning to attend the very first Western Ship Model Conference and Exhibit (WSMC&E) on‐ board the Queen Mary. I was President of the SMA that year. Their leader and President was Mr. Zenichiro Kurita. I felt we were friends from the first time we met them. Yoshiya was not among that first group.

When I first met Yoshiya, he was President of The Rope, and I was Chairman of the WSMC&E. It was 1998. We were immediately friends. It helped that Yoshiya was able to speak English. I made sure that he was seated next to me at eh banquet. We exchanged gifts before the Japanese returned home. It was a practice that was continued right down to Christmas 2013. As usual, Yoshiya sent us a box of Japanese chocolate.

I had known Yoshiya for several years when he told me something that astounded me. He told me that he was born right here in Southern California in Redondo Beach. Well, that explained the English.

It seems that he was a very young man when war came in 1941. Very soon, along with thousands of others, he was interned at the camp at Manzanar, a few hundred miles south of

16 here. In fact, he was forced to help construct the camp. No one was hurt or killed. The problem was the barbed wire that surrounded the camp, and the towers with armed soldiers, and the fact that many of the people held there were US citizens. I am sure, based on what I know about Yoshiya that he would have felt humiliated and betrayed by the whole thing. And remember, Yoshiya was a native born American citizen.

Yoshiya was at Manzanar until the end of World War II, when he and the rest of the Japanese were released. Yoshiya described the problems he encountered. It seems that his fellow American citizens refused to recognize him as an American. I am not surprised that Yoshiya refused to accept that treatment, and instead, emigrated to Japan. He had never been to Japan, though his mother returned there before World War II. It was our loss and Japan’s gain.

On a later visit, Yoshiya asked us to arrange a visit to the Japanese American museum in Los Angeles, which we did. While there, he was looking at a model of Manzanar, and he called me over to look at something. He pointed at a small building at the edge of the camp. He said “That is where I lived.”

During the Reagan Presidency, the Japanese Americans who had been interned were each given $20,000. I asked Yoshiya if he had received the money that was due to him. H said yes, he had, but that the thing that was far more important to him was a letter of apology signed by President Ronald Reagan.

Yoshiya was the first honorary member of the SMA and I was the first honorary member of The Rope. I think that it was because we had both worked hard to promote the friendship of our two clubs. Not long after the two boards had approved the honorary membership, the two clubs became “sister clubs” to recognize our friendship and similar goals.

I think that the mutual recognition of the two organizations as sister clubs is significant. No other club is our sister club, and I believe we have closer relations with The Rope than we have with any other club in the USA. Yoshiya had more than a little to do with that relationship.

I could relate more stories about Yoshiya, but I have written enough for now. It is sufficient to say that we have lost a sincere friend who will be sorely missed.

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Paris Maritime Museum Ship Models

A notice to all SMA members that there will be a showing of the ship models taken at the Paris Maritime Museum by Don Dressel on his several trips there at the meeting this month. Please plan to attend for this video presentation. The apparent large size (bigger than 1:48) of the models will be indicated. A onetime showing!

Tall Ships Festival LA 2014

The tall ships return to San Pedro during September 20-24, 2014, commencing with a parade into the harbor on Wednesday, September 20. (Most sources say the parade begins at 10:00 AM, but at least one states “approximately 2:00 PM”. Check the below sites for updates.) Over a dozen ships will participate, along with “The World’s Largest Rubber Duck”. (Strange but true!) Ship tours, dockside demonstrations and nautical-themed entertainment are also scheduled. For more information, see: http://www.lawaterfront.org/ and http://tallshipsfestivalla.com/.

Japan in 2015

The ROPE in Tokyo, Japan will have a very special Exhibition #40 next year in Japan. The SMA is a sister club of the ROPE, and as such, I would like to have SMA members think about going to Japan next year for their 40th Exhibition as well as bringing a model. We can get a VERY good financial deal for each person who desires to do so. Please consider this opportunity. Contact Don Dressel if you are at all interested. The dates are April 12 through April 19, 2015, which includes a special event on April 19th.

Web Manager’s Report

The Webmaster, Doug Tolbert, is pleased to announce that there are now 480 SMA Newsletters of the past on line in pdf format on the SMA website. The issues go back to 1974. The latest 12 issues are restricted to SMA members only.

Above is the chart of the hits experienced by our SMA web page through the end of July 2014.

18 Port of Los Angeles – San Pedro

Don Dressel

I thought that the photo sent to me my Paul Payne would be appropriate for this newsletter. It is a view of the USS Iowa BB‐61, in our own home port of Los Angeles. Right behind her is one of the new cruise ships. And I thought the battleship was big!! Note the view of Los Angeles in the background.

I quote from the website: “Battleship USS Iowa’s historic service as a leading US Navy warship portrays ore pillars of the American Spirit: Individuality, self reliance, national unity, overwhelming strength, and technological innovation.

Iowa was launched more than 70 years ago to defend American ideals of freedom, liberty and justice – her construction, design, and service of her veterans reflect these ideals, and inspire all who visit the iconic ship. Forged in war, guardian of peace, Iowa is now the great gray sentry of the Los Angeles Waterfront.”

I strongly suggest a day spent on the Iowa for those who get a chance – well worth the trip. You can obtain a $2.00 discount on the web site http://www.pacificbattleship.com/page/visitorinformation when you decide to take family and friends to visit. Parking is ample.

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Don Dressel’s Higaki-Kaisen completed with boat

Donald C. Dressel 908 W. 22nd Street, Upland, CA. 91784-1229

Next meeting Wednesday, August 20, 7:30 PM, Hillcrest Park Red Cross Building

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