Hi Rick,
It's been quite a while since I asked you a question. Well here goes, do you know how many rpm's an SC-4 radar screen rotated? I got a mini Tamiya gearbox and I have it set for 20 rpm's. The slowest speed is 9 rpm's. I made a short video so you can see what 20 rpm's looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HivDxDiv ... re=mh_lolz
One of my friends thinks that 20 rpm is way too fast, but I have no idea what the correct speed is.
20 rpm is too fast, not sure of the actual speed though. One on-line source says 5 rpm even that seemed fast to me. So if 9 rpm is as slow as you can get it, so be it I guess.
Thanks a lot Rick, you're the best!!!!!!! Did you happen to see the new fittings I got for my DD-555?
Many of them are new from John R. Haynes. I am so excited to finally have the Mk-51, Mk-27, 20mm single Oerlikon, torpedo tubes and all the other fittings I just pruchased!!!!!
It's been a while, but the building of DD-555 will restart and be completed.
Sorry, I have not been keeping up with the WIP section lately with other stuff going on. I looked, the parts seem better than others from this supplier in the recent past. Hopefully he is revamping the molds/process on the whole line.
Well, thanks to a massive sale of stuff I did not need, I was able to justify purchasing the L'Arsenal set for my Fletcher. Now, all I need to do is rebuild the after deckhouse into the proper configuration with NO scratch building and questionable modeling skills.
PetrolGator wrote:Well, thanks to a massive sale of stuff I did not need, I was able to justify purchasing the L'Arsenal set for my Fletcher. Now, all I need to do is rebuild the after deckhouse into the proper configuration with NO scratch building and questionable modeling skills.
Hi PetrolGator,
You must be building in 1/350th scale. I could draw the deck shape for you in that scale and then all you have to do is print it out and cut a sheet of .020 thick styrene to the shape. Then cut a strip out of the same thickness sheet stock. and Then starting in the middle of the large radius using CA, glue the middle first let dry and bend one side at a time and hold it as the glue dries. do the same for the other side and cut the excess off at the forward end.
The Mk-51 deck support can be made from another strip cut to the correct width. Wrap it around a wood dowel that's close to the correct size. Put a peice of scotch tape to hold it. Then boil a glass of water in the micro wave. Take the glass out and put the dowel with the styrene on it into the water.
I usually wait for the water to cool down before removing our little science project from the water. Remove the tape and the strip will retian the shape. cut it close to the size you need and even if it over laps, glue it together and do a little sanding to blend in the over lapped joint. Glue it to the deck you made and cut a circle glue it to the top of the Mk-51 director platform. Then glue a couple strips on each side and when the glue dries you can sand the excess off and there you have it.
Glue your new 40mm/Mk-51 deck to the deck house and your finished.
PetrolGator wrote:Well, thanks to a massive sale of stuff I did not need, I was able to justify purchasing the L'Arsenal set for my Fletcher. Now, all I need to do is rebuild the after deckhouse into the proper configuration with NO scratch building and questionable modeling skills.
Hi PetrolGator,
You must be building in 1/350th scale. I could draw the deck shape for you in that scale and then all you have to do is print it out and cut a sheet of .020 thick styrene to the shape. Then cut a strip out of the same thickness sheet stock. and Then starting in the middle of the large radius using CA, glue the middle first let dry and bend one side at a time and hold it as the glue dries. do the same for the other side and cut the excess off at the forward end.
The Mk-51 deck support can be made from another strip cut to the correct width. Wrap it around a wood dowel that's close to the correct size. Put a peice of scotch tape to hold it. Then boil a glass of water in the micro wave. Take the glass out and put the dowel with the styrene on it into the water.
I usually wait for the water to cool down before removing our little science project from the water. Remove the tape and the strip will retian the shape. cut it close to the size you need and even if it over laps, glue it together and do a little sanding to blend in the over lapped joint. Glue it to the deck you made and cut a circle glue it to the top of the Mk-51 director platform. Then glue a couple strips on each side and when the glue dries you can sand the excess off and there you have it.
Glue your new 40mm/Mk-51 deck to the deck house and your finished.
Roger DD-473/DD-555
Seriously? If you don't mind, yeah, please! I just got my L'Arsenal upgrade set, and want to do the Johnston right. I'll PM you my email address.
New to your site, however a big thank you for several of your posts on the Trumpeter 1/200 Bismarck...more to come.
My father Paul was on the USS Knapp DD-653; for ~3 1/2 years in WW II. He was assigned to her in Sept 1943 at Bath Me Iron works just prior to her launch, commissioning, see trials, through to the battle of Leyte gulf in the Philippines, Jan 1945. He was a WT2C and told me many stories about the South Pacific. From their he was transferred back to Bath ME Navel Yard to commission the USS Power, DD-839 Gearing Class. That said, I am certainly a Fletcher Class fan!
My next model after the Bismarck will be the 1/144 US Navy Fletcher Class Destroyer Plastic Model Kit looks nice.
Regarding the possibility of DD688-DD691 having twin rudders, I am certain that DD689 Wadleigh did not have twin rudders. My father reported to Wadleigh on 5 January 1945 when she was in drydock undergoing extensive repairs (almost rebuilding actually) from the mine explosion in September 1944. He clearly remembered Wadleigh having a single rudder and we had many discussions about the rudder configuration as part of a model I was working on at the time. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the rudder area and my Dad passed away in 2006, but he was very clear about the single rudder. Maybe there are some archival photos somewhere of Wadliegh in 1945 when she was being rebuilt. It was a major undertaking at Mare Island and was probably extensively photographed.
I know this is anecdotal, maybe some photographs will surface in the future. Can't offer anything about DD688, DD690, or DD691 as I have never seen the rudder area photographed on these Fletchers.
Regards,
Bill
Hi I am not sure if this rudder matter has been resolved but I might have some old photos to confirm this just have to dig them out. With that said I was under the impression that the early Fletcher class ships had a single rudder...just not sure where I read this...
I might be wrong, but I seem to recall that it has been determined that there were no Fletchers with twin rudders. All ships were built with a single rudder. At one time, there was some speculation that a few of the final Fletchers (like Rooks) had twin rudders, but some photos surfaced that proved otherwise. If my memory is faulty in this regard, perhaps someone can clarify the matter further.
Various "references" in the past claimed that either the last four or five or six FLETCHER in the highest number series (they actually were not the last built) from DD-799 through DD-804 had twin rudders as a trial for the SUMNER class. I found photos of both DD-800 and DD-804 that clearly showed them with single rudders. In my research at the National Archives (NARA), I have never come across any reference to twin rudders being installed on FLETCHERS. I have not ruled it out that one or more FLETCHERS served as a trial ship for the twin rudders installation, but I just don't know which unit it would be. Both Federal Shipbuilding and Bath Iron Works (BIW) were "lead" builders for both FLETCHERS and SUMNERS, so it would be logical for one of them to build a test unit. But, I have ruled out BIW as ever building such a unit. Federal would be a logical builder to do such a mod, but I have nothing for any of the units that says they did such a thing. I speculated that "maybe" if such a mod was done that the last FLETCHERS that Federal was building before transition to SUMNERS (aka DD688-691) would be a logical place to do so. But, nothing has surfaced on those units to suggest that they did. I have drawings for DD-688 and DD-690 and they only show a single rudder.
Since this would have been a major modification to the FLETCHER class design, there would have been photos and maybe even a separate group designation for unit(s) so modified. None have surfaced. Many of the FLETCHERS went on to serve after WWII and one of the mods done as they were recommissioned for the Korean War, was to ENLARGE the SINGLE rudder to improve turning radius. No mention in those records that a unit or units didn't need this mod because they already had twin rudders. It is looking like it is myth.
You realize that KNAPP was a SQUARE-BRIDGE FLETCHER and that the REVELL 1/144 scale FLETCHER kit is for a ROUND-BRIDGE unit? Be warned, many people have tried to convert this kit to a SQUARE-BRIDGE, but few have come close to finishing it. I'm not a fan of the Revell 1/144 scale kit, it has several errors and omissions that it shouldn't have had. It is possible to make the conversion, just realize your modeling skills will require scratch-building or heavily modifying quite a bit of the bridge and superstructure. Also, getting some items in 1/144 scale can be tricky. In the end it will cost $ and time to get there. There is a 1/350 scale option in the Trumpeter "THE SULLIVANS" kit, that is a Square-Bridge unit and has most of the options to build KNAPP with some scratch-building required. There are upgrades for this kit from several aftermarket suppliers.
If you want a larger scale FLETCHER than 1/350 scale, look at some of the 1/96 scale kits.
Hi Everyone,
I spent a couple hours scaling down and drawing the Centerline Teardrop 40mm bulwark in 1/350th scale for PetrolGator. He's planning to build the USS Johnston DD-557. Since I don't build in 1/350th scale I figured I would post the drwaing here for anyone to use.
I used this drawing as a guide to scale down the particular gun mount area to 1/350th scale.
I would use .020 styrene stock for the base and 1/8 x .010 styrene strip stock for the bulwark.
The Mk-51 gun director foundation is 5' 2 1/2" in diameter. In 1/350th scale that equals 0.181 diameter and 3/16 of an inch could be used and not be out of scale much at all. 3/16 is a standard styrene rod size, that's what I would use.
The drawing is full size and all you have to do is print it. When you cut it out, cut away the line to make it right to size
Thanks Rick!
I see that the extension off the top deck as your picture depicts is correct, but the lower deck on the tamiya kit (directly below the area in your pic) has a cut-out to accomodate the base of the mast, pics I see of DD449 looks as though the deck there should have no cutout?
The base of the mast would be "anchored" onto the main deck on the real ship, not any of the superstructure decks. The mast would simply pass through any superstructure deck it its way to the main deck. On a kit, the kit maker may simply anchor the mast to the first major deck (deckhouse) it comes to.
Thanks for the reply, looks like this modeler Pierre Marchal from this site scratchbuilding DD449
moved the mast away from the superstructure if you look at the base of the mast. Just wondering if I should modify the Tamiya kit to reflect this if I am building DD450 OBannon?
Did you happen to see the new fittings I got for my DD-555? 
