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

[PeeJay]

Thanks for the comments. Hope you have all been well. Back from the dead and work resumes.


Here are some photos of brand new turret masters made from more accurate drawings (from Floating Drydock, of course). I'm casting resin copies. If you're interested in a set, drop me a line.

Great to see you back! I know how life "gets in the way" of these major undertakings of ours, when the rest of the world does not view them in the same light. Looking forward to the 'next chapters.'

Are those the brass barrels that are available from B & D, or did you do new ones to match your mounts?

PeeJay

[ModelMonkey]

Thanks, PeeJay! Yep. Life certainly happens.

The barrels were made by the late Steve Nuttall, whom we all miss.

Added the stiffeners to the face of the heavyweight today. Check it out:

[MareNostrum]

Alas, most of the earlier picture attachments are no longer clickable, I guess because the webmasters needed to free up some space. If you are using figures, have you found a source in 1/125 scale, or reasonable facsimile thereof...?

[ModelMonkey]

If you are using figures, have you found a source in 1/125 scale, or reasonable facsimile thereof...?

Hi MareNostrum,

I'd love some figures but haven't really looked for any recently. If you know of some, I'd love to hear about them!

[MareNostrum]

They're tough to come by. I need to populate three kits in 1/125, Lindberg's Fletcher kit (after a near total reworking), their minesweeper (which is more than half way decent, and does come with half a dozen figures), and Revell's Type VIIB. Prieser might be one source for something close to 1/125 (I find their website fatiguing to go through though), and the only specific 1/125 figures I've come across are here http://www.ema-models.co.uk/index.php/s ... gures.html. Unfortunately no photo available, I gather they're architectural figures though, so they'd need some modifying to approximate sailors, maybe not that hard to do.

[Fliger747]

I do like your 5"38 mount, but you might double check the height of the mount captains blast hood, possibly a bit tall?

A great scale for a destroyer and good looking work.

Regards. Tom

[ModelMonkey]

Thanks, MareNostrum, I'll check the figures out.

I do like your 5"38 mount, but you might double check the height of the mount captains blast hood, possibly a bit tall?

A great scale for a destroyer and good looking work.

Regards. Tom

Thanks, Tom, I really appreciate the kind words, and your Iowa class build! Brilliant work!

Regarding blast hood height, it does look tall but I was careful to build the hood height consistent with plans from Floating Drydock and photographs of USS Kidd from Squadron's USS Kidd on Deck. See also the blast hood height in the photo below of Mount 51 on USS Laws, DD-558, and the photo of Mount 51 on another Seattle-Tacoma-built Fletcher, USS Rooks DD-804. They are quite tall.

[ModelMonkey]

I'll repair the broken links to photos in the earlier posts shortly.

[PeeJay]

Here are a few samples of the lost photos that are longer viewable in the earier posts.

Great Shots! Any chance that we will be seeing the completion of this build?

PeeJay

[ModelMonkey]

Thank you, PeeJay!

I hope to get back to this model very soon. Saratoga has me consumed at the moment but this one has been a lot of fun.

[ModelMonkey]

Alas, most of the earlier picture attachments are no longer clickable, I guess because the webmasters needed to free up some space.

I was able to restore most of the early photo links. Still missing photos of the model's funnels and their vents but I'll get new photos of them shortly.

[ModelMonkey]

Here is a view of the smokepipe exhaust screens within the funnel caps, and the louvered intake vents.

As you know, funnels are actually quite complex structures internally. They aren't just a tube. Each Fletcher funnel encloses two smokepipes for exhaust gasses from two boilers each, and four intake pipes, two on each side of the smoke pipes, drawing fresh air in through intake louvers visible near the base of the funnel exterior.

Without access to plans of the actual exhaust screens, I chose to follow the pattern modeled by Fine Art Models on their Fletcher models.

I modified the Lindberg kit's funnels as their overall shape matched plans well. The funnel caps, louvered intake vents, and other details did not.

[LoB]

Steve . . good to see you back . . I am doing a square bridge conversion to the Revell 1/144 kit. Ordered all the Nautilus goodies . . PE, resin whaleboats, 5" turrets and square bridge conversion . . . . . . Not new to modeling . . spent a lifetime in Scale R/C aircraft . . designed and marketed several Giant Scale Aerobatic kits . . burned out 20 years ago . . now into ship modeling, specifically the Fletchers . . my Uncle Jack served on the USS Luce DD-522 and was a survivor of her sinking on 4 May 1945.

I have two Revell 1/144 kits . . one will be done as she was in August 1944 fresh from her refit in San Francisco in sparkling new Measure 32/18D Dazzle camo . .





. . . and another as she appeared on that fateful day . . repainted at sea (By the crew as they had the time; in Measure 21) . . .

. . . she looks pretty rough in this pic . . as you can see, she is in a mishmash combination of Measure 32/18D and Measure 21 . . I assume that by May 1945 the crew had completed the task . . if anyone has photos of DD-522 USS Luce after February 1945, I sure would appreciate seeing them . . . It's a shame really . . new sexy camo in August 1944 then painting over it within 6 months . .



this photo provided courtesy of Rick E. Davis . .

I am considering a diorama of the action of 4th May 1945 . . been eyeballing the Revell 1/144 LSM . . there was one, LSM(R)-190, at Radar Picket Station 12 with USS Luce when she was sunk . . along with 3 LCS(L)'s. They were LCS(L)-81, LCS(L)-84, and LCS(L)-118.

BTW; LSM(R)-190 was sunk as well that day.

. . . . AND . . after these two projects are completed . . I am considering scratch building a very large scale Fletcher . . . possibly as large as 1/72.

[ModelMonkey]

I have two Revell 1/144 kits . . one will be done as [DD-522 USS Luce] was in August 1944 fresh from her refit in San Francisco in sparkling new Measure 32/18D Dazzle camo ....I am considering a diorama of the action of 4th May 1945 . . been eyeballing the Revell 1/144 LSM . . there was one, LSM(R)-190, at Radar Picket Station 12 with USS Luce when she was sunk . . along with 3 LCS(L)'s. They were LCS(L)-81, LCS(L)-84, and LCS(L)-118.

BTW; LSM(R)-190 was sunk as well that day.

. . . . AND . . after these two projects are completed . . I am considering scratch building a very large scale Fletcher . . . possibly as large as 1/72.

Fantastic! Can't wait to see posts of your builds! USS Luce: great ship with a great story of great people.

[Fliger747]

Still coming along nicely. What a wonderful model she will be. If I ever get the CB1 finished a Fletcher in the (distant) future.

Cheers. Tom

[Harquebus]

...
I am going to turn this destroyer into radio control, and sometime within the next week I am going out shopping for lights for this ship. Most of the lights I have covered, however, I need some help in knowing what lights are used atop the mast?
The drawings do show clearly the lights, what I am interested in, is the fighting lights. what lights are used?
I have everything planned out for my lighting system for this ship, however, I am wanting to know about the lights on the mast as well as the fighting lights for port and starboard on the mast itself?
Much appreciated if you could help me out with this matter so that I can plan my work out for lights.

Lights are neat and lights are cool but the only time a warship would have any light visible would be when she was in port or during peacetime operations. I know some have navigation lights, mast lights and interior lights burning through the windows and portholes on their model for night time sailing but it just isn't realistic for combat. The only other lights I would consider as having combat use would be the spotlights mounted on the funnel--these have been used in night battles to illuminate targets and/or 'dazzle' the enemy. Unfortunately, like tracers, spotlights work both ways.

Interested in the use and application of the fighting lights though. Those continue to remain a mystery...

[ModelMonkey]

I have decided not to cast the 5-inch/38 Mk.30 mounts. Instead, I designed them in CAD for 3D printing so that they will be available to any of you who would like them for your models.

The "double knuckle" (heavyweight) mounts are available to you:

Early: http://shpws.me/OwBT
Late: http://shpws.me/Ow7A

I'll have the "single knuckle" (lightweight) design done shortly.

The double knuckle mounts (Mounts 51 and 55) are also available in 1/192, 1/96, 1/72 and 1/48 scales and can be easily re-sized to any other scale as long as it will fit in the 3D printer.

Here are two renderings of the double knuckle mounts:

[Harquebus]

...If you are using figures, have you found a source in 1/125 scale, or reasonable facsimile thereof...?

You are in luck, my friend. All of you are in luck on that endeavor. On another forum there was discussion of the merits of 3D printing and the lack of suitable USN figures in 1/125. It was then that I mentioned how there was already a set of 1/144 (and other scales) WWII USN figures in both casual dress (dungarees, chambray shirts & "Dixie Cup" hats) and combat dress (M1 helmets & life jackets). The designer of the figure sets on Shapeways.com offers the option of resizing the figures to whatever scale a buyer might desire so a request was made on my behalf* for a set to be resized to 1/125.

The two 1/125 figure sets have only been in existence for about a week and a half and since there was free shipping thru Sunday July 12, I ordered a set in haste and received the package yesterday. Verdict: WOW. I've been waiting about a decade for a proper crew for the Lindberg Blue Devil, Minesweeper and to a lesser extent the LCT, to come along. The combat set would always be the one to have as it would've been the most difficult to replicate on your own from generic or civilian figures and I wanted all my crew at battle stations/general quarters. These are really, really nice and have nicely visible facial and clothing texture at this scale. Not to mention they are mostly in action poses; either seated figures manning a Bofors or those handling and passing the 40mm clips.

http://www.shapeways.com/product/X469BG ... d=57295305
http://www.shapeways.com/product/K8TPMH ... d=57295315

*I was not then a customer of Shapeways so I didn't have an account there, much less did I know the protocols nor the manner in which to contact a designer.

[ModelMonkey]

Excellent! And relatively inexpensive, too.

Thanks for the heads-up, Harq!

[MareNostrum]