Fletcher conversion

GMM makes an excellent PE upgrade.

So I ordered everything Nautilus Models offers for this conversion/ upgrade except the PE stuff.

downbelow. thanks, I looked at GMM, but how do you tell if it is any better than the others out there?

Which kit are you using, and what's the scale?

Well John,  since he said that he's ordered everything which Nautilus offers,  I'd assume that he's talking about the 1:144 scale Revell  kit.    (And I know what happens when one ASSUMEs ...)

Belay the above recommendation about Gold Medal Models (GMM).    They do not offer 1:144 scale Fletcher PE.

Your PE choice is between Nautilus and Eduard.  The problem is that both are optimized for the early round-bridge version.      You will need several sets to do all the weapons on a Square-Bridge Fletcher.     You will need sufficient secondary & tertiary armament.     G-Force makes some nice in cast bronze,  but you need four or five sets of the 40mm guns (two a quad 40 if you go with the anti-Kamikaze refit).    You need 7 to 10 20mm.    You want them all to look alike - no half bred children there.  WEM makes (or was supposed to) some armament parts too.

You also need a good source of detail & drawings.    You are going to need to scratchbuild the various gun tubs & director tubs which are not in the Nautilus conversion.    Here I would recommend the Floating Drydocks Fletcher class Plan eBook.   I have the old hardcopy version and it is excellent.   Bob Steinbrunn used it extensively on his award winning Fletcher build.  It was on a FSM cover a few years back,      You will also need to scratchbuild winches,  a practice loading machine, hawser reels,. fire foam racks , fire manifolds, and other deck & bulkhead gack.  

You will need a good supply of sheet & strip styrene to do the scratchbuilt tubs and other details.

Good luck on your build

You are correct about being 1/144 scale. Sorry , I should have included that In my original post.

I understand wanting all the guns to match. but do I understand your meaning that the square bridge has more mounts than the round bridge. All the items you mentioned that needs to be scratch built, they don't come with the kit or conversion? I suck at scratch building.lol

Yes,   lets go fore to aft and hit the biggies.

Forward of the bridge on the same level as the 52 mount,  you need to add twin 40mm tubs and guns (port & starboard).   MK51 Directors on bridge wings

Forward Stack -- new platform to carry the searchlights.  Moved from aft stack

Aft stack -- new Mk51 director tubs port & starboard

Aft stack -- main deck clipping shacks supporting twin 40mm tubs and 40mm guns (P&S)

High tub between mount 53 & 54.   New "D" shape tub with MK51 director tub.  Twin 40 mm

Break between midship and aft deckhouses -- 5-inch practice loading machine

Fantail -- oval 20mm gun tub with two guns.  Nautilus' tear-drop shaped after gun tub is for a 40mm and was only on a couple of early round bridgers.  It was too wet to use a 40 mount

Waist -- two 20mm guns each P& S

Each 20mm gun needs 1 - 2 ready service lockers  

After my post I looked at a photo of the Trefthen and this is my assessment of the necessary armanent changes

aren't you just a ray of sunshine. LoL. your help is greatly appreciated Ed. Looks like this birthday present just got to be a lot more work. Still need to figure out which PE mfg to go with

Still no recommendations towards a particular PE company

Going back to the theme of my original response -- there are but two choices and it will be an expensive proposition either way.

Eduard offers all three of their sets in a Big Ed package for about 95 USD (MSRP).    Nautilus offers an equivalent all enclusive set for 110 USD (MSRP) .   Here your cost is a wash (essentially)

Remember that your desired mod has 5x twin 40mm BOFORS guns.    Both the Eduard and Nautilus sets provide only parts for the one gun mount

Here is part of the Eduard armament set with the BOFORs parts.   The advantage to Eduard here is that they sell the sets separately, in addition to the Big Ed combo deal.  You will need to buy four additional sets at about 35 USD (MSRP).   You are going to be almost 250 bucks in PE.

Your other option is to buy the Nautilus set and four Eduard armament sets.   You're in for 250 bucks again.    With this option, you have the issue that one of the 5 gun mounts may not match the others WRT details.

Either way you will have many extra 20mm gun and depth charge details

Which one do you want?  Its up to you.     Both Eduard and Nautilus offer the instruction sheets on their websites.   Pull them up, review them and see which you feel better with.

Which of your children do you love the most?

well, I guess it's "go big or stay home". lol . Hope my father-in-law likes his birthday present. Guess I'll stick with all Edward for uniformity. Ed, thanks for your helpful info. Really loking forward to this build, just not the expense. lol

OK , So I just opened the box to check out the parts of this kit ( ROG Fletcher ) and to preview the instructions. My first stop is to check out the paint codes to see what I might need to purchase at my LHS.OMG! mix this with that. mix that with this. Holy bats**t Batman. Dead in the water before I get started. Back to research to find what colors to use without having to custom mix everything. Was really wanting to get started on this this weekend

According to the database at shipcamouflage.com,  the Trathen was in Measure 21 throughout her WWII career.     This is overall 5-N Navy Blue - actually quite simple to paint.

http://www.testors.com/products/573279

Testor's 5-N Navy Blue

http://www.testors.com/products/573280

Testors 20B Deck Blue

For hull red I use Valspar Red Primer from the local Lowes hardware store

Ed, thanks so much for all your help. I have been looking for this info for a couple of days. Guess I wasn't Google searching correctly. lol  Now lets see if my LHS has these colors in stock

Well, my not-so LHS had the 5-n and 20B blue. But they only had one of each. Lets see how far that gets me. They also had one each of the 1/200 Bismarck and Big Mo on the shelf. I am so glad I decided to quite carrying credit cards. It would have been difficult to sneak those into the house . Or how many times can you get away with " But dear, I've had those kits for some time now. You just never noticed them" . Yea , right.  lol

So I get to the point of shooting the blue on the hull when I notice that the 5-n and 20-B I purchased are enamels. Normally not that big of a deal, but enamels irritate my asthma. Not the most fun I can have. Can't seem to find the 20-B weather deck blue in acrylic. There is no FS number on the bottle to cross reference it to. Can someone point me in the right direction to find this color in acrylic?

Damn the torpedoes , full speed ahead!!. So I opened the windows, put a box fan in the window facing out, add in a painters mask and I was able to use the enamel paint. The conversion set was a bit disappointing . So much clean up. I expected to have to do some clean up, but DAMN!  bubble holes to be filled, Some places are so thin they need to be cut out and replaced. Sorry just not that happy with this product. But they are the only game in town , so what's a guy to do. Make the best with what you have to work with. OK. I'm done complaining. Thanks for letting me vent