1/125 scale Battleship

OK. Just to start an argument, I disagree with Jeff. Not because of any factual error. Everything he said was true. I disagree with his conclusions. This is an excellent "First Model. It's comparatively simple and straight-forward.

It gives the novice a chance to get familiar with the different glues and how they behave. And, how best to use them.

Parts are large enough to be easy to handle. Which means they're easy to paint before installation. Also the size makes painting easier, and errors easier to spot and correct. You lean what to look for, in a finished paint job.

No matter how badly it turns out, you can still throw it in the river and watch it run around in circles.

And, lastly, it' also give the first timer a chance to try his/her hand at R/Cing a model.

Just one final point. It's been my experience that, (if you stay away from modelers) even people who have visited a real Fletcher museum ship, will comment on how close it is to the real thing. People don't really see as much as they think they do.

If you're planning to take the finished model down to the local museum for display, Jeff is spot on. But if you're just getting you feet wet and want to try a model for fun, I think this model is a great start.

Let the rock throwing begin.
"Bridge. From the Captain; "Dive the boat"" (Translation: "I'm outa here!")
Mike K.

Boy, did you ever walk into a minefield... While I hate to sound like I've got an ego (who me?) I wrote an article a number of years ago about all the things you need to do to the Lindbergh kit...it's located here:

http://www.steelnavy.com/BDFletcher.htm

Recommendations about the Lindbergh kit...give it to a neighbor kid and go out and buy the Bluejacket 1/192 Fletcher if you want an accurate one. You've heard they're bad, well, you're right, they're bad. As for aftermarket, the only stuff out there are the white metal 20mm and 40mm AA guns from HR Products, available through the Floating Drydock (www.floatingdrydock.com). The parts are a marginal improvement at best, and it takes HR centuries to get stuff to Floating Drydock.

Information about the Fletchers...well, there's a book out there called Warship Perspectives: Fletcher, Gearing and Sumner Class Destroyers in WW2, written by some fella named Herne...it has camo design sheets, detail photos, line drawings, and a complete listing of ships of the class, hull numbers, mods made to the ships (like Emergency AA fits and bridge types), and all sorts of trivial stuff.

As for Fletchers in the Aleutians...nope, sorry. Fletchers operated in the central and south Pacific with the carriers. By the time the Aleutians were secured, the Fletchers were needed elsewhere. I'm sure there were instances of one or two passing through the region while en route, but the Aleutians received many of the slower, older destroyers that weren't able to keep up with the task groups.

As for decals, well, all you'll need are hull numbers and draft marks, and those can be had in generic forms in various scales. The numbers should not be more than 24" high in scale...so you can probably get away with 1/48 USAF style numbers. No one does any that are custom, although you might be able to find some in a closer scale, say 1/96 or 1/100.

Good news is...if you're still deciding to plow ahead with this project...is that I can help you out, having been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt. Tom's Modelworks is also preparing a photoetched detail set specifically for this model. It's to be a limited run, so you might want to contact him if you're interested in getting one.

Hope that answers your questions.