1/350 Fletcher?

Mark,

I would simply cut brass rod with a pair of wire cutters, then grind the cut end flat...OR...use plastic rod, that's what I do...

Jeff

Early Fletchers carried a Ms12 Revised Paint scheme, similar to what you see on the box, but each ship's pattern was unique. The colors are 5-N Navy Blue and 5-O Ocean Gray on the hull, and 5-O Ocean Gray and 5-H Haze Gray on the superstructure. Here's approximate FS matches...

Haze Gray 5-H FS 35237
Ocean Gray 5-O FS 35164
Navy Blue 5-N FS 35044
Deck Blue 20-B FS 35042
Dull Black BK FS 37040

Jeff

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...but I could use some help.

I'm need to cut depth charges from a brass rod. I'm not sure how. My hand isn't steady enough to get a good cut with a Dremel.

I'm thinking of setting up a zero clearance insert on a bandsaw and running it with a backer block.

Anyone have any good ideas?

Thanks,
Mark

I think I'm going to spray the super structures tamiya haze grey. The camouflage on the super structures floquil ocean grey. The upper hull floquil ocean grey. And the camouflage on the upper hull floquil sea blue. Could you give me a good link to a photo or somewhere where I can find a good reference as how to do the rigging?

I am close to completing this kit, with PE and I got all the paint from WEM, they do a range of enamel paints formulated for the correct colours of WW2 ships.
In fact I got the whole project from them, the kit. PE and paints. Great service too.(I don`t work for them)
If you need more info just ask

Yeah, I was surprised when the rear piece didn't fit. The fix was easy, but was kinda frustrating. I had to smash in one part and sand down the ridges on another to get it so the turrets could turn. I thought that maybe it was just a bad piece, but I guess others have had that problem as well.

mdescalzo, thanks for the tips on taking pics. I got some time, so I am headed out right now to try to get some better pics to put up, where you can really see the detail. Thanks to both Dave's for the compliments. The only reason this kit turned out the way it did, was from all the help I got from everyone. This whole project was huge fun!

P.S.> The name plate is a $10 law enforcment name plate from www.RangerJoes.com. I found they look prety sharp. Thanks again to everyone. Sorry d4reaper, I am not familiar with floquil paints. I used testors, and as near as I can tell, they are a pretyt close match. But I am also unsure of early war paint schemes. I would talk to Jeff_Herne [he has a few posts on this thread] He is an expert at this sort of stuff.

Looks great, Marin!

I'm thinking of taking my Dremel to the platform and cutting the tub walls off and making the tub smaller. Then use a strip of brass to replace the wall. I don't believe the Stockham had the ribs around that tub anyway so that *should* work. I'm just waiting for some pics to arrive before I commence defacing the part.

BTW, Tom of Tom's Modelworks says he's never heard of problems with that part, but he'll look into it.

As for your camera, a couple of things. There should be a "portrait" mode meant for single subject shots. The symbol for it is usually a girl's head. Try using that along with the "macro mode" which is meant for close-ups (closer than a foot or so, camera dependent). The symbol for that mode is usually a flower.

Try playing with the lighting. Try to avoid using the flash to cut down on glare. Use a lamp with a soft bulb or maybe shoot outdoors on a bright, but hazy day. In addition, make sure the white point setting is set appropriately (see the camera manual). White point will help the colors come out truer, especially grays.

The most important thing about shooting a good shot to to shoot LOTS. Tinker with settings and shoot a bunch. I once shot almost 400 shots for 3 good ones. Digitals are great for that.

I hope I didn't ramble too much...
Mark

Can someone give me a close match to the colors of the early war fletcher? I'm planning on using floquil weathered deck blue on the horizontal surfaces. Tamiya Haze grey on the upper vertical surfaces. Could you give me a close match to ocean grey and sea blue? The instructions say tamiya sea blue and dark grey. I would rather have a floquil match to those colors but if not could you tell me if tamiya sea blue and dark grey are a close match?

It looks very "Ship Shape" Rob, thanks for the pics.

Looks OK to me, much better than my first effort. Well done.

Hey Mark, I ran into the same problem. I sanded down the platform and now it fits. Barely. But the guns can turn fully and it still looks good. But its seems the Tom's kit is a bit out of proportion.

And now for the moment I know I have been waiting for....

CLOSURE!!!

I started this thread a LONG time ago about my Fletcher, and you know.. its finally done. Its just the basic Fletcher, with GMM PE set and the Tom's Late War conversion kit. Thank you to everyone who helped. Especially Jeff and Dave. The advice on using burned spruce as wire was awesome, as well as Dave's IN DEPTH instructions on how to post pics.

Understand that this is not only my first picture post, but also my first PE model and first ship in about 10 years! I got it done before I had to ship out. There are many, many flaws in it, but I learned so much. I need to get an air brush, I figured out what glue worked best and how to cut and shape PE. I also learned a crap load about research. So here it is... the U.S.S. Heerman as she appeared during the Battle off Samar (Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors).

Crappy pictures, but this is all I got right now. I'll post some better ones later if I can figure out all the buttons on my digital camera. Advice is MORE than welcome. Like I said, as soon as the Army gives me some more time, I am jumping back into the world of PE.

I've run into a bit of a wall, or at least a poorly behaved part. I'm trying to use the aft gun platform (between the #3 and #4 turrets) from Tom's kit. It doesn't fit between the turrets. It appears to be too, esp after looking at pics after pic of square-bridge Fletchers. I'm not real sure what to do about it. I could move the #4 turret, make my own platform, or find a way to shorten the one from Tom's kit. Any thoughts? Anyone else run into this?

Thanks,
Mark

I sent the money in through the mail, and let me tell you, it got here VERY fast for snail-mail. (Tom's took a little longer, almost a month to get to me). I actually liked the mail option, though it took a little longer, it forced me to plan the kit out more and gave me more time to research the ship and whatnot. But you should have the GGM set within 2 weeks, most likely less time than that even. In my opinion, it is well worth the wait and the money.

Thanks alot for the quick reply. Where did you order your GMM PE set? If you order from their website u have to mail them an order and it seems it will take along time to arrive. If you got it from their website, how long did it take to arrive? Is there anywhere else that you can get it besides a local hobby shop and their website?

I would have to say yes. The Tom's kit directions are horrible in my opinion. It’s a photo-copied sheet and you can't understand half of it [I didn’t use it at all]. The GGM sheet comes with pictures on how to do every piece as well as how to make the different era Fletchers. I would definitely go for the GGM kit in a heartbeat over the Tom's kit. [However, if you want to make the conversion, the Tom’s kit can't be beat. Once I figured out what pieces were what, I had a great time with it.]. But if you are making a straight up Fletcher, then go with the GGM. Not only are the directions better but also the quality and quantity of the parts.

As for references, the Squadron book is good, but you know, you can find plenty of Fletcher pics on-line as well. I typed in "Fletcher, destroyer" into Google and got about 19,000 hits. That is where I found the paint scheme for DD-532. Here is one site that I used that was pretty good... http://www.domeisland.com/fletcherclass/ The Squadron book is good if you want detailed stuff, but like me, if this is your first PE kit, I spent the time trying out techniques for PE, and making sure the kit was 100% historically accurate was a second priority. With my next kit I think I will invest a lot more detail into cleaning things up. But like I said, since this was my first PE kit, I wasn’t expecting museum quality material!

But you can pretty much guess where the PE and whatnot goes, even without the references. But I would use the internet and GGM if I was in your position, you'll get a much better quality product.

Well there are two options for me because I'm on a low budget. Either I get a tom's set for the fletcher and a squadron reference book on it. Or I can get a Gmm set and no reference. I first decided with the tom's because I didn't think you can use the GMM set without a reference book. You said they have much better instructions. Are they good enough that you don't need to buy a reference book along with it?

I got the Gold Medal Models (GMM) PE set, and it was fantastic. I also got the Tom's late-war conversion kit, and that also came with rails. The GMM set was fantastic and gives you two different styles of rails, so if you mess up you have a back-up set; however they are a different style. So between the two, you have a few styles and sizes of rails and you should be good to go. The GMM PE comes with radars, and all sorts of other great odds and ends. It also comes with MUCH better directions than the Tom's kit. Also, the GMM PE comes with the PE for the 20 & 40mm AA guns, so you don't need to buy their gun kit. I would definitely go with the GGM kit. And if you don’t use everything, you have extra for your next kit. Now that I’ve done a PE kit, I am going to knock out another Fletcher I think. Then maybe move up to Trumpeter’s Essex.

As for the glue, I used a few types, because this was my first PE kit as well. I found that white glue didn't hold half as well as super glues, and you had to wait forever for it to dry. I found that some glues left a white residue, so I stayed with the ones that dried clear. They also hardened almost immediately, so there was to wait time to move on. But if there are medical reasons I would stick with the safer bet! But the glue I used didn’t have much of a smell.

The Squadron book was great and has A LOT of great pics from all different eras for the Fletchers. There is also great resources on-line, and that is where I found the paint schemes for the U.S.S. Heerman (DD-532). Also, Jeff Herne has a book out that can help as well. There is more information about that earlier in this thread.

I have a 1/350 tamiya fletcher. I'm thinking about getting a tom's modelworks photoetch set and a squadron fletcher book for reference. The only problem is this review of the tom's modelworks set which says that there aren't enough rails and ladders in the set and you need to buy 2 sets to finish the kit. That review is found here.
http://www.squadron.com/old/fletcher/fletcher.htm
Could anyone tell me if this is true because I don't want to buy two sets to finish my model. This is my first time using photoetch. I have a question which is what is "White Glue" I want to avoid cynoacrylate glues because they can glue ur fingers together and I'm hypoallergenic to certain fumes and I hear that cynoacrylate glues have very strong and irritating fumes. If I have to get cynoacrylate glues, then what is "acetone" as it is used for unbonding fingers and for cleaning photoetch parts?

Thanks Dave, I appreciate the support. I think I'll take a day or two off, and then finish it up. It was my first PE, so I learned a lot. How much does a decent airbrush go for? Nothing to fancy, just something to get rid of all the brush strokes?

Yeah, and I was so desperate to get this thing looking nice, I needed some black spray paint. So..... I used black Rustolium. Didn't turn out to badly, and now I know that she won't even rust.



Hooray... I've been promoted to Aftermarket. This mean I get a bigger paycheck or something??

Don`t give up on it. When you get a bad result, take a step back and put that kit away for a while. I am disappointed with the camo on my fletcher, I don`t think an airbrush would help due to the complex masking involved. I think that very thin paint is the easiest way to do camo at such a small scale. I have almost finished my Fletcher, need to rub down the camo thick paint, complete the PE railings and touch up where necessary. Then I will consider weathering etc.
I too got fed up with this kit so I put it to one side and bought a couple of 1/35 armour kits. These go together great, there is room for error and you can hide mistakes with mud or battle damage. I have found that larger scale modelling is much easier and less stressfull than struggling with tiny 1/350 bits. After all, this hobby is supposed to be a way of relaxing and fun. Don`t let the Fletcher get you down, put it away for a month or so, pick up a cheap kit and enjoy it.
If you want to stay with ships, then go for 1/72 scale. There are a few kits out there that are well worth building. At 1/72 the detail is crisper, you can scratch build your own parts (without resorting to micro-surgery) and achieve a good finished model.
Good luck for the future.

I have come to the definite conclusion that all further modeling projects will be put on hold until I get myself an air brush. Brush-painting the camo on this Fletcher doesn't look to good. I'm kinda disappointed in the whole project but I'm driving on. This is my first experience with PE. I'll put up pics once it’s all done.

Here you go...



I've been working non-stop 12-15 hour days, which explains my lack of activity here on the boards. Things are calming down at work, and I'm on vacation next week, so I'll be popping in once in awhile.

Jeff

No worries, Jeff.

It turns out the Stockham wore Measure 21 (blue) most of the time my grandfather was on her. He said, "They got tired of the fancy pattern and just painted her blue." That makes the painting portion of this project MUCH easier.

He also filled in a few of the other details I wasn't sure of along with providing a very interesting summary of his service. He actually got the see the signing of the treaty in Tokyo Bay. He was at battle stations on the port-side forward 40mm patrolling the harbor just off the USS Missouri at the time.

Anyway, I'd love an image of the black cat emblem if I could. The picture my grandfather has is much too small (and too nicely mounted) to help me out. For some reason I can't seem to find it on the 'net anywhere.

Thanks,
Mark

The railings were painted same as the vertical camo. Just continue the pattern up the railings.

Sorry, I've been away for a bit. Graduation and other commitments kept me. Quick question, (probably for Jeff). I am coming close to finishing pre-painting construction on my Fletcher, the U.S.S Heerman. I did the necessary research on her paint scheme, etc. But for the railings, I was wondering if they were painted the save color as the camo, or were a different color all together. Thanks a lot guys.

Boy did I screw up...

I have in my possession a set of documents outlining the USN camo practices from WW2 in detail. These are Xeroxs of actualy USN Bu-Ships orders, etc...

From Sept. 1943 onwards, in the Pacific, EVEN numbered hulls received measure 31 colors, and ODD numbered hulls received measure 32 colors. I had it ass-backwards (I can't remember everything).

So DD-683 did wear MS 32, not Ms 31...so...I screwed up...

Jeff

Mr. Herne,

I thought she wore Measre 32 as opposed to 31 (http://www.shipcamouflage.com/fletcher_class.htm). Either way, I'd love a design sheet for 21d and the emblems.

Thank you very much!
Mark

I have an etch-mate, and I swear by it (sometimes at it). It's useful.

Stockham carried 31/21d (let me know if you need the design sheet) and she also carried the Black Cat emblem on her forward funnel. She was part of DESRON 53, DESDIV 105. I also have the funnel emblem if you need it. As for photos of Stockham, I'll post up what I have, which is probably what's available online.

Jeff Herne

QUOTE: Originally posted by Daveash As my earlier post, I am in the middle of a Fletcher. I have built the hull, all superstructures (not fitted), guns and applied as much PE ladders and rails as I can before I need to put it all together. The anti fouling and boot stripe are done and masked off and today painted the decks. Most of the PE so far has been anything but straight forward. Some of the parts are so small that you need 2 pairs of tweezers, one to pick it up and another pair to bend into shape. You then also need a third hand to apply the glue, a fourth to position the part and even a fifth hand to check the positioning . I did the mast last night and today it looked like giant seagulls had visited. As I scraped away the excess glue, most of the parts fell off. I bit the bullet and started again, cleaning off

Has anyone here tried something called 'Etch Mate', an over priced but interesting tool? I bought one but haven't tried it yet.
Like everyone else, I'm also contemplating my box with 'Fletcher' written on the side , currently recovering from cancer and don't want the kit to outlast me. Also, has anyone purchased parts (5" turrets, 40's and 20's) from La Arsenal? What luck?
Thanks much
AJZ