Anyone ever build this kit?

Many, many years ago.

Mark

1960's state of the art.   Gold Medal Models makes a set for it.

One of my favorites for many years.  It came up in another thread recently:  /forums/t/130306.aspx?PageIndex=1 .

I built one 3 years ago for my VFW post display cabinet. Picked it up at a garage sale for a few bucks.  I had to use some styrene strips around the superstructure and used monofilament line for railings. You will need to do some detail work on the guns but overall it can turn out pretty good. I have been meaning to pick up the reissue, now I just may.

Get it its a fun build and looks cool when done.

I actually bought one for about $14...first time I built one was over 20 years ago and it has pretty good detail and is a very weird scale---1/285th or something like that...cool history on the real Buckley as well...

I built it as well about 15 years ago and I believe it was boxed as the John Paul Jones at the time.

That was most likely the Revell Forest Sherman class Destroyer kit. John Paul Jones has always been a destroyer and never a DE.

A friend of mine built this one years ago.I'd like to get my hands on it as well.

TD4438

A friend of mine built this one years ago.I'd like to get my hands on it as well.

Sweet!

Gonna have to hit the LHS!

HERR MANHEIM! I have probably built about twelve or more of them.I had a lot of friends that wanted a model of the ship that went against the U-BOOTE in the movie "THE ENEMY BELOW" starring ROBERT MITCHUM(AMERICAN skipper) AND THE VERY VERSATILE ACTOR FROM germany by the name of KURT JURGENS. I still am trying to get TRACY to deal with me on one she has.I know it,s been re-released but this is TEXAS. I,ll be lucky if I ever see it here soon.    tankerbuilder    Oh,The kit builds into a very fair BUCKLEY. SHE does need some tweaking though.

I purchased three of the USS Buckley kits 1/249 scale on Ebay some time ago.  I am doing a community/group build next month.  I am going to use these three ships plus seven other Chinese destroyers 1/260 scale for the community/group build.  It's an inexpensive way to get some new modelers involved.

Looking for some 1/250 scale railings.  Found a place in Germany, but postage is a killer.  Budget is tight.

First, I have to finish my two Sovremenny Destroyers in my work room now.  Ordered some paint from White Ensign - still waiting.  They have got sixteen cans on backorder.

Once we have finished I will post some pictures.

Jeffry

Jeffry

Looking for some 1/250 scale railings.  Found a place in Germany, but postage is a killer.  Budget is tight.

Gold Medal Models offers a set of photo-etched parts, including railings, specifically designed to fit this kit - with a set of parts for the old Revell 4-stack destroyer in the same package:  http://www.goldmm.com/ships/gms2buwa.htm .  Pricey (especially in the minds of those who can remember buying the old Buckley kit for $1.69), but obviously first-rate stuff.

Jeffry

I purchased three of the USS Buckley kits 1/249 scale on Ebay some time ago.  I am doing a community/group build next month.  I am going to use these three ships plus seven other Chinese destroyers 1/260 scale for the community/group build.  It's an inexpensive way to get some new modelers involved.

The better large-scale Buckley is probably the USS England by Trumpeter.   The older Revell may be fine for nostalgia purposes,  but maybe not so if you want a well-engineered model to get a bunch of modelers of other genre's introduced to ship models as they exist today.   There is a significant amount of deconstruction which must occur before construction can begin.  Consider the "stockade fence railings" which must be removed to clear the way for PE.   Some of the Revell parts are very blobbish -- state of the art 40 years ago.

By contrast, the fit of the Trump England is very good.  It doesn't have molded on railings and the small parts are better.  

Oh yeah, what about all those T's on the aft superstructure -- what are they?

They're depth charge arbors and they can be dry-brushed, weathered,  and used to your advantage.

Granted the Trump England will be a larger initial cost outlay,  But the time that you consider your (and your group's) cost for the time and aggravation to update the model to 21st century standards it may be a smaller price to pay.

On the subject of a group build to interest other modelers in ship modeling - I have a group build/build the same kit  project that I'm starting in my IPMS club to build the Iron Shipwright 173-foot steel subchaser.   Its the subject of a FSM article back in 2004 (see the articles tab on the top of the page).  I bought these kits at the Nats discount price.   They come with all the typical aftermarket (decals,  photoetch, etc).   I'm selling them to the group at my cost -- and will refund 3/4 the price if they are completed in time for a contest in February).   My intention is to attempt to de-mystify resin ship modeling and show that a resin ship isn't a major buy when you consider the typical aftermarket items in the box.

Objectively, there's not much room for argument:  in terms of accuracy and detail the Trumpeter Buckley-class kit is superior to the old Revell one.  And Ed's right:  if you buy the Revell kit and the Gold Medal detail set, you'll spend about as much as you will for the Trumpeter kit.  (On the other hand - if you buy the Trumpeter kit and the Gold Medal detail set for it...well, never mind.)  In the name of fairness, though, it perhaps should be pointed out that the Revell kit does not (unless the reissue is significantly different from the original) have "solid" guard rails cast in with the hull and decks, like most kits of that era did.  It has stanchions molded in strips, which are to be glued into troughs molded onto the edge of the maindeck.  As I remember, the guardrails on the upper deck were molded integrally with the deck - as though they were folded down, as they probably would be when the torpedo tubes were being worked.)  If I remember correctly, the original release included a card of grey thread for making the guard rails themselves - along with the rest of the rigging. 

It certainly was one of the best - if not the best - of the Revell warship kits prior to...well, it could be argued that Revell of the U.S. never did issue a better 20th-century warship.  (Hmm...maybe the Emden, or the Vosper or Elco PT boat, or just maybe the best of the 1/720 kits.  But the best warships carrying the Revell label since the Buckley was released in 1958 have orginated with either Revell Germany, Skywave, or Italeri.)  It featured such things as washdeck hoses and swabs (molded integrally with the superstructure bulkheads), helmets for the 3" gun crews, and coils of line lying on the forecastle deck.  (It looked like the masters had been sculpted by the same people who did the Flying Cloud, Victory, and Eagle.)  The big exceptions to the overall state-of-the-art standard were the guns, which, for some reason or other, bore scarcely any resemblance to the real thing.  The 3" ones, as I remember, were especially weak; about the only way to improve them would be to replace them.

If (heaven forbid) I were looking for the most accurate destroyer escort kit availale, I'd certainly buy the Trumpeter one.  But I may just succumb to the urge to buy a reissued Revell one - and maybe even build it.  And I'd like to see what it would look like with all those Gold Medal parts added.

I am working on a budget of $25 per ship to get a bunch of 12-17 year olds interested in building model ships.  My budget includes ship model kit, paint and railings.  These are 14" to 19" model ships.

Getting the most detail is not as important as getting ships that LOOK good.  This NOT a contest build.

The USS Buckley 1/249 scale does have stanchions and thread for railing.  The Chinese destroyers 1/260 scale do not have railings.  I am thinking of using 1/200 scale railings and cut them down for the 1/260 scale.