The Ship Model Forum

Nice Work Willie! It seems a WWII vintage constructed ship isn't complete till there is hardly room for the virtual crew to move about. Certainly this was true for the ships that I have constructed. Good work especially on the radar repeater, many of these items wouldn't have survived if left on an exposed bridge. The original Fletcher pilot house is quite small and the expansion into what in Alaska we would call a Wannigan (Somewhat impromptu add-on) for overflow equipment. Surprisingly the pilot house for an Essex class carrier is just as small! On a modern vessel the commander is privileged to have some pacing room, as with the lords of the quarterdeck of days of fighting sail.

My Whitehurst has a very complex multi level open bridge and there ate enough data points to do a reasonable job of simulating all of the instruments. More like an airplane than a ship! Work to do...

There is a pleasure in doing some hidden interior detail, my Poseidon has a decked out bridge and radio and navigator compartments have some detail as well. These would only be accessible if as a miniature sailor you could access through he open bridge doors. The O1 level below also has all the bulkheads and passageways though not accessible. Many decades ago the PSNS Shipyard museum had a 1:48 scale Essex class carrier from plexiglas, with all interior compartmentation.

Always good to push your capabilities!

Best regards: Tom

Willie,

Excellent work on the bridge details!! Your repeater is much more intricate than the commercial item that I bought - as it's already installed, I'll live with it. However, yours takes the prize!! As always, 1st class effort.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

I do notice that Rick's above photo of the bridge has the early frames sloping backwards. I can see where the forward sweeping frames allows a better view of what is going on close aboard.

Thanks Willie and all for an educational project and jut another Fletcher, of which there were so many. Just how many destroyers have ever made a night torpedo run agains an enemy Battleship!

_________________
Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

_________________
Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

Willie,

Your tripod mast looks excellent! Good work, as usual! The cross members are a bit tricky to get correct, in spite of being rather simple tubes. Once again, these were not a std. design as there are a couple variations of the basic mast. CASSIN YOUNG and THE SULLIVANS do not have identical masts - each varies somewhat in the basic structure. I think this was due to the type of RADAR unit that was intended to be installed and also (again!) shipyard preference in final engineering/design.

Nice to see your recent progress!!

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hank,

A correction of sorts about Tripod Masts on FLETCHER's (and SUMNER and GEARING's). The tripod mast was developed for the SPS-6 radar antenna after a few units had a SPS-6B antenna installed on a pole foremast. The pole foremasts (seen on early DDE's, both FLETCHER's and GEARING's) utilized heavy stays to keep the mast and antenna from falling over from the weight. To keep weight low as possible, aluminum was selected for making the Tripod Foremast. The Tripod Foremast was given a ShipAlt number and was specifically called out for use on the recommissioned FLETCHER's after being introduced on SUMNER's and GEARING's before the Korean War. However, for interest of frequency diversity, one or of four destroyers was directed to have a lower frequency radar installed (like SC-5, SR, or newer) and didn't require a tripod foremast. When the FLETCHER's were first upgraded after recommissioning in a near WWII configuration, the tripod foremast was often installed, but older SC radars and their antenna were installed back on the tripod mast. This was because demand for SPS-6, then SPS-6C, radars and antennas exceeded production with a sudden demand for 82 FLETCHER class destroyers being added to the fleet. Eventually, most units with tripods got SPS-6C radars installed. The planned one out of four plan for a lower frequency radar on all destroyers, didn't pan out in practice, with more units getting the SPS-6C radar than was planned and development of a new radar with lower frequency AND could be installed on destroyers was protracted.

So in fact the design and build of the tripod foremast were the same across the FLETCHER-SUMNER-GEARING destroyer fleet. However, things like antenna runs and new equipment (or different equipment) and waveguide runs being installed introduced different or additional platforms/brackets. Also, after a few years of use, the problem of dissimilar metals (steel ship and aluminum mast) causing corrosion became apparent after at least TWO destroyers experienced main legs of the tripod mast breaking off at the base at sea!! So mods were done to ensure that grounding straps had "backup" paths and beefed up base. For modeling purposes, these are invisible.

About half a dozen FLETCHER's got a revised tripod foremast, as seen on USS CASSIN YOUNG, designed for the new low frequency radars which reached service in the late 1950's. (the new low frequency radars were widely installed on FRAM and new construction) I call them "Step Masts" because the platform for the new radar was lowered for the increased weight. One of the destroyers planned to get the new radar and had the "Step Foremast" installed, in the end didn't get the radar, and she carried the SPS-6C radar and antenna on the new mast.

Rick - (and not to steal Willie's thread!!) I appreciate your more comprehensive and historical comments regarding the FLETCHER class tripod mast development.

And this statement is also valid as we had several FLETCHER's in our DesDiv 212 in San Diego which fit the above criteria even into the mid-late 1960s. I think it would be quite interesting if someone were to publish an illustrated, technical book(let) on the post-war FLETCHER class DD's including plans and details for all the various weapons, equipment, and configuration differences that were incorporated into these ships.

It IS New Years Day and we do get a wish, right?????

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

_________________
Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

Good day Willie !

steady and good quality progress again--
however-

I was very much taken and impressed with your fine binoculars!

BRAVO !!

JIM B

_________________
....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

_________________
Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

Willie:

Your solution works, one must use ingenuity in these instances. For Whitehurst I ended up making the mast in three sections where it penetrated the decks and the hollow sections aligned by the interior piano wire. Part of that solution was dictated by the vagaries of 3D printing as opposed to styrene construction. The pole masts of the WWII DE's were tapered at both ends as guy wires were an important part of the support. This was an advantage for 3D technique in that case.

Yes, those cable runs on your post war Fletchers are a challenge but as with all the other details add a lot of veracity. The progress continues! Adding the mast makes handling the model and working on other items rather a delicate matter.

Best regards: Tom

Willie,

Your mast attachment seems to work well! One item I noticed on my purchased pilot house was that the after extension of the pilot house overhead that goes around the center mast pole is a filled in framework - my purchased pilot house was not correct in this instance so this is one more item to correct on my 3D designed bridge/pilot house as STODDARD had a filled in extension area. Just one of the little additional variances that crop up depending on the particular ship you happen to be modeling. The cable runs that extend along the back side of the mast pole will indeed need to be addressed - I'm glad you mentioned this as it is just another item to be designed and printed or in your case created and made from various styrene pieces. The picture you sent me of this area of the mast, etc. is priceless -


This sort of information never appears in any plans, so photos are the next best way to know what needs to be created!

Keep up your fine work!!

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

_________________
Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

_________________
Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

Willie,

Nice work on the 26' MWB!! I noticed that you have added frames on either side of the inside of the hull - this would be consistent with the boat as shown in your photo #1015, but only partially exposed. I can't explain this as the same boats in our navy had the framing covered, at least as far as I can tell by a photo of our 26' MWB on NEW JERSEY, the photo taken during her rebuild in Philadelphia in 1967-68 -


Here is basically the same type of boat shown in 1943, belonging to CV-10 -

My guess is that the framing was covered by the 1950s, but that's only a guess. I know STODDARD's 26' MWB was identical to the one on NEW JERSEY and both those boats no longer had exposed hull framing. It could also be that there was no consistent std. for how these boats were refurbished when they were brought out of reserve fleet storage.

I'm only pointing this out in order for you to have some pictorial reference to other similar boats. Since McGOWEN was transferred from the USN in the mid-60s my guess is that her boat may also have had her interior hull framing at least partially covered by that time. I searched thru the few photo I have of STODDARD's one wooden 26' MWB but they don't show the interior of the hull.

Your details, as usual, are over the top - very well done!!

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Very lovely wee boat !

bravo - JB

_________________
....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

Willie:

Excellent fairing of the shaft, keg and rudder assembly. You might want to check the inclination of the shaft as it is probably not parallel to the keel bottom but inclined as often were the motor assemblies. I used to run a 26' MWB at one time, as I believe did Hank, but I never paid much attention to the details out of water (half century ago). I am glad you were able to make a nice work out of the kit boat hull. With our 3D printing program, Hank and I had much teeth gnashing to create an accurate smothed hull. By contrast the curved canopy were quite easy. Yes I have smashed either rudder or tiny prop a number of times on these small craft!

Just curious as to how you intend to suspend this boat from the davits, something i haven't yet done for Whitehurst. Fortunately wartime she only carried one boat.

Best regards fro Costa Rica! Tom

Willie,
Great job on this build! So inspiring to for me to take extra time and energy to do the same on my up coming project.

Cheers,
Todd

Great job on the boat Willie!
Some complicated shapes in there...