Calling all Butler-class & Rudderow-class DE fans

[Russ2146]

I believe they are, or were, called arbors. The tube slid into the mortar tube. The DC rested on the cradle that forms the cross bar of the 'T'
Note that tubes not showing a cross bar are upside down. The England kit has them molded in all over the place.

[Timmy C]

The GMM set provides PE replacements for the cradle on the arbors - they recommend you chop off the molded-on arbors and replace them with the PE cradle and plastic rod. I did half of this - I replaced just the cradle. VERY TEDIOUS! Also messy, as it's hard to get the top of the molded-on "trunk" to have a flat top on which to rest the cradle.

If you haven't see her already, here's my England: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

[Guido]

....

Now that is a magnification one can work with! Great! Now these are very obviously the arbors and trays for the K-guns.
Would you care to make 2-3 more to show the rest of the deckhouse, Rick? Much obliged!

Nice schematics of K-guns here:
http://www.ussslater.org/weapons/k-gun.html

Cheers,
Guido

[Rick E Davis]

Guido,

Here you go.

[Guido]

Cheers mate!

Guido

[Guido]

Thanks a million again, Rick!

Here is what I made of it. Obvious differences bewteen your pictures and my modelling are that I have used you pics (postwar) and the pics from the Floating Drydock book on Destroyer Escorts, which show mostly late war configurations. It seems that during the war there was more fire fighting equipment on the blukheads. I added some to the port side, even though none can be seen in your picture. (Ain't life an ongoing compromise???)
There will be some 20-30 arbors added after painting. I fear that the airbrush would blow them all away. On second observatiion will have to add a few more bits and bobs to the bulkheads.





Now on to the bridge! Your pictures should prove very valuable here, too!
Who supplies non-skid walkway in stripe patterns? Decals would be great!

Cheers,
Guido

Cheers,
Guido

[Sr. Gopher]

Very nice! I do wish I had built my two Rudderrows like that, but alas, I have not the patience to!

[Russ2146]

Re: Non-skid, check L'Arsenal, Eduard and WEM. I'm pretty sure I saw it on one of those sites.

[commodore4]

I write this with a little trepidation.Why? You might ask.Well,you all have heard of the "model" firm of LINDBERG. They used to have a D.E. they sold as either the RUDDEROW or the BUTLER.I don,t even know what scale you could say they were.I did four successful conversions to APD types.They were good enough to cop the trophy for small ship class in 1980 in ARKANSAS.The contestants in ships were surprised they were LINDBERG ships.I at that time found a good base for MUSHROOM vents, which the photos I took in 1960 indicated they had a lot of(No air conditioning back then,remember?)I used spent brass from 22s for the large ones(real large)and aircraft rivets for the smaller ones.(I worked at FALCON JET at this time).The lower bridge and other mods looked great,I just don,t know about the hull length. Those pictures are nothing short of great aren,t they.? commodore4

[SMART-L]

I'm in love with the look of these little ships Would like to build a sailing model of one of them. What hull would you guys recommend me?

Thinking about scale 1:96. Will be a lot of scratchbuild but if it takes me to long, I want to keep the option of purchasing fittings open

They are a little light on the water though.
Only around 1.5 kg :O

Gr.
Pim

[PetrolGator]

Has anyone built or own a Iron Shipwrights USS Rudderow? I'm debating converting one into the Samuel B Roberts but am unaware of the quality of the casting.

[matteo reich]

Hi all there, last week I purchased a Pitroad Rudderow kit, and since parts for completing it as a Butler are included I'm planning to build it as the USS William Seiverling during one its Korean War deployments. The only problem is...that there are no detailed picture of it! So I'm not sure about the configuration of 40mm guns and the presence of the torpedo tubes...I think that the configuration of 40mm guns was similar (I hope so...) to the one of Thaddeus Parker, but I'm basically groping in the darkness...I hope you can help me!
Thanks guys

[Rick E Davis]

I have a photo of USS WILLIAM SEIVERLING (DE-441) dated 6 August 1953. By that date she has been updated with the standard post-WWII configuration that was starting to be applied to DE's in mid-1945 under the Anti-Kamikaze Mod program. I can't post images right now, but will try in about a week.

She has one twin 40-mm forward superimposed behind the 5-in gun, one quad 40-mm aft forward of the aft 5-in gun and two (one port and one starboard) twin 40-mm mounts installed in place of the torpedo tubes. I don't know when USS Wm. SEIVERLING was so modified. The date of the above photo, 6 August 1953, would correspond with her return from her second tour off Korea and before her 1954 overhaul according to DANFS. So this was her configuration for that tour. At this point I don't know what her configuration was for her first tour.

Ahhh ... I found a photos of two of Wm. SEIVERLING's sisters, USS McCoy REYNOLDS (DE-440) and USS (DE-449) HANNA at Japan between missions off Korea on 16 July 1952 and 11 September 1951 respectively. USS McCOY REYNOLDS has only her original two twin 40-mm mounts (and 20-mm guns), but her torpedo tubes have been removed. However, USS HANNA has the configuration I describe above. But, I also have images of her off NYC in January 1945 having been modified to that configuration.

[matteo reich]

thank you Rick! Surely I'll check for Reynolds' and Hanna's pictures, those are more simple to find.
Thanks again!

[matteo reich]

Hi all!
Since I finished my first Rudderow-class in 1/700 scale, finishing it as the USS Peiffer, I was planning to use the other kit to make the USS Lewis after the SCB-63a modernization, depicting her during her Korean war deployment. The only problem is that there are no picture available of this ship from this period. That's something really nasty to solve...Can you help me?
Thank You!!

[Rick E Davis]

Sorry, I only have images of USS LEWIS (DE-535) dating in 1954, 1956, and 1957.

[matteo reich]

Goodmorning Rick, I think that the images dated 1954 is already here in the Forum.
Edit: I found her! This is awesome; I can start planning what�s to modify and what�s to be mantained.

[davidwaples]

Black Cat Models announced the future release of two Butler's. There will be a 1/350 "early" and "late" . Early including the triple shot torpedo tubes, and the late including anti aircraft upgrades.





This is one I've been waiting for!

Dave

[MartinJQuinn]

Black Cat Models announced the future release of two Butler's. There will be a 1/350 "early" and "late" . Early including the triple shot torpedo tubes, and the late including anti aircraft upgrades.

Does anyone know how many of the class were actually built with the additional 40mm guns?

[Rick E Davis]

Martin,

There were only a few BUTLER class units (without digging deeper, seems like about ten units) actually "completed" with what could be called the Anti-Kamikaze Mod (actually the boost in AA armament was plan for the DE's well before the Anti-Kamikaze Mod program). A couple of DE's completed with just the quad 40-mm mount and no midships twin 40-mm mounts. However, it was made the "ultimate armament" for the 5-in armed units with the 3-in armed units getting a similar arrangement without a forward twin 40-mm mount. Post-WWII many units recommissioned for the Korea War mobilization were modified to this configuration. Eventually, a subset of the 5-in armed units upgraded for better ASW capability lost the forward twin 40-mm mount and had a Mk 15 rotating hedgehog installed in its place.

If you need to know specific units so modified, I have a copy of the 1949 Ships Data that lists what armament the remaining DE's had and could count and list them. The listing may not be complete or has errors, but is the easiest way to get a good idea of which units and how many were upgraded. In the 1950's several DE units were modified for ASW with various armaments superseding this "ultimate" armament.