Airborne SF

Thank you for your reponses. I appreciate those of you who responded.

Here's the link to the image. I'm doing something wrong trying to post it. http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/bf109-WRG-0032314.jpg

Looking for experts on the early BF-109E models. The two cowl MG-17 machine guns were mounted in an ofset position. The right side gun was mounted slightly behind the left hand gun due to the position of the ammunition boxes and the feeds to the guns. The is meant that the ends of the barrels were at different distances behind the nose. They barrels fire through a (let's call it a trough as I don't know the proper term) in the cowling over the engine. Were the back ends of these troughs also offset, i.e., was one further back than the other? I have yet to find a picture showing the troughs to advantage as it would have to be taken from above looking down on the nose. This gun arraingment was redone in the "F" models, I believe, but I could be wrong on that. Picture attached showing what I'm referring to. Any answers would be appreciated.

Thanks for your response. I was wondering if these are photos from an XE class boat? How much different are the XE's than the X's? The main deck is flush in the XE and a step up in the X, but I assume there are more changes than that. Were the charges different designs? Being a secret project it sure is hard to find a lot of good photos of them!

Question for the sub guys. On the X-craft the explosives were attached to both sides as no doubt everyone knows! It appears that they were in three pieces and I'm assuming that they were a hydrodynamic shaped nose and tail to prevent excessive drag and a center core section with the explosives. It appears from photo 1 that the nose section has flood holes drilled into it to get rid of the air when submerging. I assume they were all dropped as one piece and were not rigidly attached to each other as this photo shows them seperated. Is this correct?

Question for the experts out there. Is the Pom-Pom quad mount the same as the octuple mount minus four guns and their associated ammunition boxes and feeds. The ammunition boxes especis;;y look like 2 were left out per side and the outer guns in the center were left out. Is this correct or were they totally different designs? As always, thanks everyone for your help.

Hull Red seems to differ from navy to navy. The German color, at least in WWII is based on RAL 8013 and has a very definite brownish hue to the red. Is the Royal Navy color similar or is it a brighter red? I am mainly interested in the period from HMS Dreadnought to the end of WWII. Thanks

I am building the HobbyBoss 1/350 HMS Lord Nelson. At the stern of the ship there are two small PE cages hung over the side just forward of the Admiral's walk. They appear to be a cage for a life preserver or small flotation device of some kind. The piece that goes inside looks like four small balls joined together. Similar to a four leaf clover but with balls instead of leaves. Anybody have any idea what it is and more importantly, what color it should be painted? Thanks for your help.

Yep, you guys are right. I got my decks and ships backwards. Oh well, not my first mistake . . .

As I understand it on German WWII tanks the pioneer tools were attached before the tank was painted, so they were not bare wood. They came out painted in the same camo as the tank itself. I am presently doing final point on the Hobby Boss T-35 Russian Heavy. Mine is one of the earlier versions and I am doing it as painted pre war, in other words the stripes are still on the turrets. Did the Russians follow the same paint practises as the Germans or would their tools have had wood grain handles. Thanks in advance for responses.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I especially like the Schnapps comment, I might have signed on myself if they were carrying that much Schnapps! In response to "terryn's" comments and photos, thanks for posting them, but it is real hard to determine time period for them during her career. In the following photo, the name "Deutschland" appears on the stern. I believe this is from the period Graf Spee ran in full disguise. The real ship carried her name under the torpedo tubes, whereas this name appears well aft of them. It was reported that Graf Spee painted the name on her stern to confuse survivors of her victims and spread confusion. Notice there is no evidence of the tanks on the stern, and this would be about 3 to 4 weeks before her destruction. In the second photo taken in Montevideo by the British Consulate, one tank is evident on the stern on the port side. It is located directly above the stern anchor and is viewed from the end. A fender is hanging on the starboard side and they are totally different in size. This photo can be directly pinned to a location and date whereas the first one cannot. The be all and end all of it is I have no idea of what they are, when they were added or deleted or anything else about them. Thanks for your effort folks, I appreciate the responses even if we didn't figure it out.

Onboard every German warship there were many different reels onboard most of them covered. Were these for fire hoses or ropes? Anyway to tell them apart if it's for both. A picture is attached to show which reels I'm referring to. In this photo the reel is covered, but in many they are not, but the photos aren't sharp enough to tell whats on them.

VeryFire's HMS Renown. Has anyone heard what rig she will be in. I personally hope late WWII, she was a stunningly good looking ship after the major refits.

I have found several more photos of this model. From this photo and one other it would appear that the model is of Tirpitz rather than Bismarck. Although I have found additional photos on Pinterest, I still haven't identified who or where it is being built, but I believe it is 1:100 scale. Whoever is building it is doing really beautiful work. Kudos to the builder.

On the photo of Graf Spee's stern there are four cylindrical tanks. Two are right at the stern and the other two are port and starboard behind the torpedo tubes. Does anyone know what these were used for? In the US Navy, I would have said fuel storage for the scout planes, but they hardly seem big enough to keep the plane in the air for more than a couple of flights, Any other ideas?