|
|
Posted by Jeff Herne
on Wednesday, January 4, 2006 9:49 AM
Having been there, done that, bought the T-shirt and realized it was the wrong size...I can assure that the time you spend on making the Lindbergh Fletcher accurate will be an exercise in diminishing marginal returns.
I jumped into the kit with a vengenance back in the late 90s, thinking I had the next award-winning ship. What I found when I opened the box was a pond toy, but I decided to put forth my best effort anyway. Ah...the days of no deadlines!!
The hull shape is wrong, with the Lindbergh kit having no hull sheer whatsoever. The stern angle is incorrect, and unless you cut nearly 1/4" from the bow, the model will have far too much freeboard forward.
You also have to correct the rudders, as Fletchers had a single rudder, not twins. The only way around this is to model one of the last four Fletchers built, DD-800 through 804, USS Calhoun,
Gregory, Little, or Rooks. They were equipped with twin rudders.
Once you get to the superstructure, the fun begins (tongue firmly planted in-cheek). Replace the midship bulwarks, as they're set too far inboard, are the wrong shape, are too thick, and are too short.
Then you'll need to remove those concrete highway dividers they call railings at the 01 and 03 levels. Those should be replaced with stanchions and rails. The forward bulkhead of the pilothouse has 5
portholes, not 4 as shown in the kit. No exceptions, there were never 4 portholes on
square-bridged Fletchers.
From there, we move on to deck fittings and AA guns. The Mk 37 fire control director is too small, and the turrets are wrong, in fact, the barrels are too short, the gunhouses on Turret 1 and 5 are incorrect, and each of the turrets center ring is too far forward.
40mm guns are pretty clunky, but you can replace those with HR products metal guns if you can get them (their availability is spotty at best). Same with the 20mm guns.
Depth charge racks will have to be scratchbuilt, and new railings are required all around the main deck. Torpedo tubes are marginal, but the splinter shield housing on bank 2 is far too small.
The mast is wrong, and will require a rebuild, and the SC radar is terrible, one solid, chunky piece.
Then you have a complete lack of fittings, hoses, fueling trunks, bulkhead conduits, hose reels, stretchers, etc...
By the time you get done outfitting the model with the necessary fittings, you will have spent far more than the price of the kit. Even if you scratchbuild the parts, the time you spend will far outweigh the results.
The best advise I can give...if you want a large scale Fletcher, is to either purchase the Bluejacket USS Kidd (late war configuration), which in 1/192, is a pre-cut wooden hull with resin, white metal, and photoetched parts, or the Iron Shipwrights Fletcher (early war config and also 1/192) which is a pure resin kit with photoetched parts.
If you decide to tackle this model, then at least be prepared by having good references. My book, Warship Perspectives Fletcher, Gearing and Sumner Class Destroyers in WWII, is an affordable book with lots of detail shots and drawings. If you're serious about references, then look for a used copy of Alan Raven's Fletcher Class Destroyers, or the Grail of Fletcher references, the Floating Drydock Plan Book. The Anatomy of the Ship - USS The Sullivans by Al Ross is currently available is a great resource as well.
I put more than 400 hours into building my ship. I could have easily put another 400 into it. In the end, it was still a Lindbergh Fletcher.
Jeff
|