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

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 9:27 pm

Thanks, Bruce!

So the big question: improve the Lindberg gunhouses or replace them?

The kit gunhouses are inaccurately shaped, have little detail and the roofs
are all wrong.

The gunhouse on a real Fletcher is larger on one side giving the appearance
that the gun is off-center. The gun is truly on-center, it just appears off-center
because of the asymetrical shape of the gunhouse. The Lindberg gunhouses
are incorrectly symetrical.

Noticeably, the real gunhouses had roofs of two distinct types known
as "single knuckle" and "double knuckle". The roofs of the two turrets on
the main deck are the two "double knuckle" turrets. These are the
foremost and aft-most turrets (aka Turret 51 and Turret 55). Those two
had additional reinforcement in the roof to protect the roof from muzzle
blast of the turrets mounted above on the 01 level. So those two turrets
have two joints (knuckles) in the roof. The other three gunhouses, those
mounted on top of the deckhouses have just one knuckle.

Also, the forward part of the turret on a real Fletcher sits over the barbette,
not the center of the turret as it does on the Lindberg kit.

bwross11 · Post by **bwross11** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 9:52 pm

Well Steve, I have one of those turrets laying around here and if it was me I'd probably deep six all five and start over. Build your self a good master and then mold a set.

best,
Bruce

Sean Hert · Post by **Sean Hert** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:24 pm

bwross11 wrote:Well Steve, I have one of those turrets laying around here and if it was me I'd probably deep six all five and start over. Build your self a good master and then mold a set.

Didn't someone already do that? I coulda swore someone was making replacement turrets for that kit.

bwross11 · Post by **bwross11** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:27 pm

Sean now that you mention it I think you're right. But for the life of me I can't remember who it was.

Bruce

grim reaper · Post by **grim reaper** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 12:41 am

here is a supplier for the turrets.

http://dreadnoughts.theshoppe.com/products.htm

Victorious · Post by **Victorious** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 5:39 pm

Keep at it Steve, I'm sure you'll get those turrets looking good.

Noel PARIS · Post by **Noel PARIS** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:32 pm

Hi Steve,

An interesting subject for a model - formidable styrene work. The detail is authentic.

Do you find it difficult working at such a scale, against 1/96 or 1/72, with fitting each and every (minute) detail?

Keep it up - will follow progress with your model

Best Regards
Noel Paris
Malta

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:56 pm

Thanks again for all the help!

Well, as for the 5-inch mounts, the kit parts are out.

Noel, I am a big fan of 1/96, 1/192nd and 1/350 scales. Having said
that, I really like 1/125 for this particular ship for a few reasons:

1) After receiving Lindberg's Blue Devil Destroyer as a very thoughtful
and appreciated gift, I grew very fond of the kit's size - it's big and has
lots of "wow factor", and is big enough to really let a person get deep into
superdetailing the model without being overwhelmed by too much work

2) the model fits in my curio at home perfectly so I won't have to build an
expensive case for it like I am having to do for the 1/192 scale USS
Missouri I am building

3) HR Products does make Bofors mounts in this scale (crude but better
than the Lindberg parts and a good starting point for very nice Bofors)

4) Toms Modelworks makes a PE set for the Lindberg kit perfectly suitable
for this model

Of course 1/125 is a bit of an oddball scale; there are few
aftermarket items that I am aware of so I'll have to make most of the
structures and bulkhead details from scratch but that's the fun part.

Inspired by Fine Art Models 1/96 scale Fletchers I had considered building a
Fletcher in 1/96 scale but the model would have been too big for my home.

Inspired by Bob Steinbrunn's award-winning masterpiece USS Kidd in 1/192,
I then considered building a Fletcher in that scale but I couldn't shake the
impressive Lindberg kit size from my mind.

So in the end my model turned out to be a compromise between
1/96 and 1/192.

TommyL · Post by **TommyL** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:10 pm

I was just at my local hobby shop saturday and saw a 1/72 U-Boat model kit and a 1/125 Fletcher kit. I almost bout the U-Boat but spent the case on better stuff.

One of these kits could happen for me in the future. Maybe.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:08 pm

Other than length, the Lindberg kit's hull is inaccurately shaped. Here is
the Lindbergh hull in front of my scratch-built hull. You can better see the
shape difference between the Lindberg supertanker hull and one made
from accurate plans. On the scratch-built hull in this photo you can see
the deckhouses for the late war Fletcher I had orginally intended. They
have all since been replaced. When I began the project a while ago, I
first built and installed deckhouses for a late-war Fletcher with the heavy
AA modification (quad Bofors in place of twins and the forward TT mount,
etc.). I later decided to build one of the five Fletchers built with twin
rudders. Research indicated that DD-802 did not receive the heavy AA
modification during the war and the only two wartime photos of her I
could find show her without the heavy AA mod. In those photos she
carries two TT mounts and all Bofors mounts are twins. So I replaced the
deckhouses to match DD-802's appearance in the photos.

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:48 pm

Roughing out the 5-inch gunhouses. Some seam cleanup is still required
using a bit of putty and sanding. The gunhouse roofs, floor and back are
made from .040" styrene but the sides are made from .020. I chose
thinner sides so that the thickness at the hatch openings would appear
more scale.

Much work yet to do. You can see that the basic shape for each is done
but the gun openings need to be extended a bit further down and there
are numerous details to be added such as gun captain blast shields for
two of them, hatches, spent-shell ejection chutes, vents, etc., etc. I like
the idea of having the hatches open.

Notice the gun openings appear off-center. That's because the gunhouse
for a 5-inch/38 is larger on the left side of the gun to accommodate the
gun crew and fuse setting mechanism. Also notice that two of the
gunhouses have two-knuckle, reinforced roofs while the other three have
just one knuckle.

A friend has offered to send a couple resin mounts. Thanks Tim! If mine
turn out well, I'll cast them and send him a full set as a thank you.

A special thanks to Cadman and Bruce Ross!

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:21 pm

Ready for some cleanup, a spot of putty, and details. I removed the bridge hatches and will open up the bulkheads.

I think in this scale it will be possible to easily see inside the bridge so I'll add some details there too.
Coberg1 inspired me to open the hatches. See: http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/vie ... php?t=5806
Detailing inspiration comes from Bruce Ross. See: http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/vie ... php?t=5149

bwross11 · Post by **bwross11** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:55 pm

Looking good Steve, keep up the good work. More scans will be coming soon.

Bruce

coberg1 · Post by **coberg1** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:15 pm

Sweet!!

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:04 am

Thanks to Bruce Ross for his terrific scans of actual plans, I began
detailing the deckhouses. The first step is to determine the kind and
location of structural details of the specific ship you are modeling, in this
case DD-804. There were 175 Fletchers built in 11 different yards on both
coasts. So they varied greatly in details.

DD-802 was among the last 21 Fletchers built at Seattle-Tacoma.
I could only find two wartime photos of DD-802. Although terrific
photos, it was difficult to make out the kind and location of some of the
details such as vents, ladders, etc. But it seemed reasonable that the 21
Fletchers all built at the same yard would be very similar if not identical.
So I began to compare the structural details appearing in the photos of
the 21 Fletchers all built at Seattle-Tacoma. Sure enough, the structural
details of those ships were consistent. I felt confident that if a detail
appeared on a photo of any one of those 21 Fletchers, it was very likely
to appear the same way on DD-802.

The next step was to mark detail locations in pencil on the deckhouses.
The markings did not have to be exact drawings of the details, just simple
sketches to indicate what the detail was and where it was located.

Fletcher trivia: some Fletcher class destroyers had spent shell casing
ejection chutes fitted to the backs of the turrets. The stanchions near
those turrets were located away from the deckhouses on outriggers so
that the chutes would clear the stanchions as the turret rotated.

On the model, normal stanchion locations are marked "S" while those on
outriggers are marked "SO".

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:55 pm

Vents installed. A few of the vents will get open covers. The screen
is made from 3/64 K&S photo etched diamond mesh. The box surrounds
are made from Evergreen .015 x .040 strip (0.4 x 1.0mm).

psships · Post by **psships** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:09 pm

VERY NICE WORK, a man after my own heart. Steve, you do it just like me, but, I don't post build up pictures, like to leave the enemy guessing, LOL.
Paul...

Post by **ModelMonkey** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:16 pm

Thanks, Paul! Please post some of your build-up pics.

ARH · Post by **ARH** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:22 pm

Timmy C wrote:Ahhhh, silly me!

as usual,

Victorious · Post by **Victorious** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:03 pm

Nice work Steve, it's looking great.

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

1/125 Scale Fletcher (semi -scratch)