1/125 Fletcher class USS Gregory DD-802 (1944)

[ModelMonkey]

Thanks, Harq and MareNostrum!

Here are the ring stands:

[Harquebus]

I just completed an inventory of my figures and also inspected them--I received only one casualty; one sailor lost his leg below the knee. This I attribute to the rather lackluster packaging which involves all figures crammed loosely in a small 3" x 2" ziploc bag. While halfway through my inventory, I was thinking there's a lot of figures here on my desk and more still in the bag. Turns out I paid for 30 but received 60. I hope you all have the same luck.

Incidentally, while shopping at Shapeways I looked at what else was available in 1/125 and saw your turrets there, ModelMonkey. Fine work, by the way. I thought your moniker sounded familiar but I did not make the connection until coming back here. D'oh!

[ModelMonkey]

Good news, Harq! And thanks for the compliment.

The "single knuckle" (lightweight) mount is done:
Early: http://shpws.me/OwC7
Late: http://shpws.me/Ow6L

And Ring Stands, too: http://shpws.me/N9x3

[ModelMonkey]

The Lightweight:

[ModelMonkey]

Here are two types of 3D-printed square bridges I designed for this model, a "Bath Ironworks"-type and a "Bethlehem Steel"-type. The most visible difference between the two is door placement. The Bethlehem type has a door on the aft bulkhead. The Bath type has a door on the starboard side, extreme aft, permitting access to the captain's sea cabin from outside the bridge.

I am not yet certain which type Gregory had as photos are unclear and Gregory was built by neither Bath Ironworks nor Bethlehem Steel. Best guess at this time is Bath type judging from a blur in one photograph which may be a door to the captain's sea cabin.

Included are many interior bulkhead details including a compass, radios, structural framing, and electrical controls. Exterior details include the ship's bell, loudspeaker ("reproducer"), antenna leads, torpedo control panel with rotary switch, roof-edge kickplate, and mast support framing.

Both of these bridges are available on Shapeways.com for those who would like one for their Lindberg Fletcher. They can be printed in other scales as well.

[Harquebus]

Wonderful bridges! Just to think one can gradually replace some if not most of the Blue Devil's glaring deficiencies just in order to make it a bit better or make it stand apart from the rest of them that are built OOB. It's still a flawed kit in many ways in regards to absolute accuracy (and no kit is scale!) but this just goes to show we are in another "Golden Age" of model making. Or maybe we are living in the Platinum Age in this 21st century?

Even just a replacement front bulkhead with 5 portholes and some W/T doors would be a budget option.

[Rick E Davis]

I'm not sure if the "Bethlehem" bridge was used by ALL of the Bethlehem yards.

Here are a couple of views of the Bridge on USS GREGORY in March 1945 and a sister, USS JARVIS (DD-799) in 1958, both built by Todd-Seattle (formerly Sea-Tac).

A view of a Beth-SI built unit, USS MONSSEN (DD-798) in 1957.

[ModelMonkey]

Thanks, Rick! You've solved the Gregory mystery!

Looks like a third type of door arrangement is in order, one with an A/T door on the PORT side aft. I'll produce this one, too.

I'd like to come up with some kind of logical naming convention to keep all these bridge variations sorted out. Any suggestions? Perhaps Bath/Bethlehem/Todd-Seattle isn't quite accurate?

[Rick E Davis]

I don't know for sure, because frankly I never studied location of doors and how many on FLETCHERS.

Off the top of my head the changes you are seeing in doors on the bridge "may" have more to do with mods happening over time during construction across the board ... and maybe during overhauls as an upgrade ... than with a specific yard doing things their way. Nothing much of a serious nature was done differently on the FLETCHER class without APPROVAL of BuShips and there was a reason ... better access, need to block access to some area. There were a lot of changes going on with the "new Open Square-Bridge" particularly on the Navigation Bridge throughout the war. There were constants; the pilothouse basics stated the same, the access to the lower level was in the same place, and the Mk 37 director tube was in the same location. I have noted other places where doors ended up being blocked by changes add were left in place closed, serving NO PURPOSE.

As you can see from just a sampling of bridges of FLETCHERS (I went through ALL of the BGPs of FLETCHERS at NARA and took digital camera views of parts of them, but only took views of the bridges on some ... they all looked a like at the time) over time and builders, the layout changed. Sorry I didn't have any bridge views of GREGORY among these views. Note the the BIW-built Square-Bridge unit and the Federal-built Square-Bridge BGP views look very similar. Experience is that on many things BIW and Federal as "lead" yards did things pretty much the same. The differences in doors seem to be due to changes in the bridge internal layout. That door on the aft or portside aft of the bridge ... served a USEFUL purpose for bridge crew COMFORT.

As for defining one type of bridge from another, I think doing as I have done on some aspects of the FLETCHER Class when I had no idea of what was going on, I would define a feature as Type 1, Type 2, Type 2a, etc. Making up a list of which FLETCHERs had which bridge type and maybe WHEN, would take quite a bit of effort. It can be done, but not in one evening.

USS ISHERWOOD (DD-520) Beth-SI built in Apr 1943, appearance in 1959

USS PRICHETT (DD-561) Sea-Tac built in Jan 1944, appearance in 1967

USS McCORD (DD-534) Beth-SF built in Aug 1943, appearance in 1943

USS FRANKS (DD-554) Sea-Tac built in Jul 1943, appearance in 1945

USS NORMAN SCOTT (DD-690) BIW built in Nov 1943, appearance in 1944

USS BULLARD (DD-660) Federal built in Mar 1943, appearance in 1943

[ModelMonkey]

Significant internal variation!

That makes for some interesting possibilities. Thanks so much for the research and comments. Great class of ships and much fun to model.

[Rick E Davis]

Note that the bridges of ISHERWOOD, McCORD, and BULLARD reflect the earlier bridge design for the six 40-mm configuration before the open navigation bridge was modified to clear the firing arcs for the forward twin 40-mm mounts and installation of two Mk 51 directors on the open bridge. The Floating Drydock FLETCHER Class e-Plan COMPLETELY ignores the earlier Square-Bridge design.

At the same time the twin 40-mm mounts were installed before the bridge the CIC was installed resulting in a major reorganization of both levels of the bridge.

[ModelMonkey]

Note that the bridges of ISHERWOOD, McCORD, and BULLARD reflect the earlier bridge design for the six 40-mm configuration before the open navigation bridge was modified to clear the firing arcs for the forward twin 40-mm mounts and installation of two Mk 51 directors on the open bridge. The Floating Drydock FLETCHER Class e-Plan COMPLETELY ignores the earlier Square-Bridge design.

At the same time the twin 40-mm mounts were installed before the bridge the CIC was installed resulting in a major reorganization of both levels of the bridge.

Excellent! This information is extremely helpful in better understanding why features are where they are and how and when they got there. It's also very interesting to know, per your post on the CASF Fletcher thread, that a destroyer skipper could write a letter to the Chief of BuShips, critique those features, and get taken seriously.

[ModelMonkey]

Here is a design for 3D-printed life rings with rope canisters (available in several scales) and some new options for 5-inch mounts depending on which period you want your model to represent.
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/model_monkey

Bridge deck is available now, too.

[ModelMonkey]

Here are some photos of some of the 3D-printed parts for this model as they get some primer. The bunch includes two "double-knuckle" 5"/38 cal. mounts, five ring stands, a Mk.37 director, and a Mk.14 quintuple torpedo mount with its stand, along with two Mk.38 directors for another model.

The parts were simply set in the sun for a few hours to ensure all the resin was fully hardened, cleaned in mild dish soap (Dawn) and then primed with grey acrylic paint. No surface smoothing was performed. This is how they come from Shapeways. They were all printed in the lesser quality acrylic plastic known as "Frosted Ultra Detail" or "FUD". The highest quality is called "Frosted Extreme Detail" or "FXD". FXD offers better smoothness and sharper details. But in 1/125 scale, which is quite large, FUD is an excellent option.

[ModelMonkey]

Once primed, it is much easier to see any areas requiring surface smoothing. Surface roughness is a normal characteristic of 3D-printing. It is most pronounced in places the hot waxy supporting material comes into contact with the resin during printing. That waxy supporting material is melted away at the factory before the product is shipped, leaving the exposed rougher surfaces behind.

The rough areas will be smoothed with an "air eraser" emitting common household baking soda as a grit, a technique that is much less likely to harm detail than smoothing by sanding. Here's one model (among many): https://www.harborfreight.com/air-erase ... 69277.html

[802plankowner'45 son]

What ever happened with this build?

[ModelMonkey]

Unfortunately, I haven't had any time for modeling. Too busy 3D printing my own designs in gray resin for customers.

However, here are several of the newly printed models that will be installed on the ship when modeling resumes.

[802plankowner'45 son]

Thanks, Steve
I'm still working on mine, been busy myself as well. Had to totally start over with a new hull that is the correct size.............
The only part from Lindberg kit I kept is the torpedo crane.
Might make a new one of those too.
Pete

[ModelMonkey]

Oh yes, the Lindberg hull. Great for a "pond model", but not an accurate Fletcher hull.

One more product that I'll be adding:

[marijn van gils]

An ambitious and impressive build, and very interesting to follow!