The Ship Model Forum

[quote="les"]The Small Shop makes a nice tool for bending things like the floater racks. You might check it out.[/quote]

Will do, thanks for the advice :thumbs_up_1: But those racks are not a PE that comes with the sets, I'm scratchbuilding them (no wonder they are asymmetrical :| ).

The Small Shop makes a nice tool for bending things like the floater racks. You might check it out.

[quote="Secondo"]I'm also following your build with much interest as I have also some conversions similar to yours in my planning :smallsmile:[/quote]
Thanks, I'm watching yours too :wave_1:

[quote="Christian Bruer"]do you know Nautilus Models? They have an PE set for the Fletcher that should solve some of your problems:
http://nautilusmodels.com/144-203.htm

The set is not cheap but you will find a lot of fine parts to upgrade the kit.

Currently I have made the clamps and hinges for my 1/350 scale Gearing kit. You can take a look to it her in Work in Progress:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=45015&start=45[/quote]

Yes, I have already bought the Nautilus set as it was the only one to have a SC 4 radar and the K guns' DC racks; I'll use the surplus parts on my USS [i]O'Bannon[/i] :thumbs_up_1: I'm also following your build with much interest as I have also some conversions similar to yours in my planning :smallsmile:

[quote]The thought just crossed my mind. You might try to do it in plastic by taking a thin strip of plastic and gluing it to the gun tub side. Then add a layer of small pieces with space between them. Finish with another layer of plastic. The holes wouldn't be rounded, but the effect would be the same. Possible????[/quote]

The problem is the really particular shape of those racks :scratch: Eduard includes a pair of them in its set, and when I saw those things I realized that only PE could achieve that; I thought about a method similar to yours, just involving copper wire instead of plastic, but when I figured out the cost/effectiveness of the whole work (each gun tub had 4 rows of those racks!), I decided to cover everything with a good ol' canvas.
In the following photo, yu can see the PE rack and a pair of flottanet baskets, not really symmetrical but fine enough to be accepted :smallsmile:

Thanks all the same for the advice!

[quote]I would have loved to show those racks uncovered as if the crew was on general quarters, but that was something that only PE, or a work of inhuman patience, could have achieved.[/quote]

The thought just crossed my mind. You might try to do it in plastic by taking a thin strip of plastic and gluing it to the gun tub side. Then add a layer of small pieces with space between them. Finish with another layer of plastic. The holes wouldn't be rounded, but the effect would be the same. Possible????

do you know Nautilus Models? They have an PE set for the Fletcher that should solve some of your problems:
http://nautilusmodels.com/144-203.htm

The set is not cheap but you will find a lot of fine parts to upgrade the kit.

Currently I have made the clamps and hinges for my 1/350 scale Gearing kit. You can take a look to it her in Work in Progress:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=45015&start=45

Thanks for the encouragement Christian, I appreciate it as what I've done so far may look good, but it's what is still missing that frightens me most :(
I've found a net fine enough to decently represent the flottanet baskets; next challenges will be to decently represent the canvas covers over the 40 mm ready-service ammo racks; I would have loved to show those racks uncovered as if the crew was on general quarters, but that was something that only PE, or a work of inhuman patience, could have achieved.
Another small issue: the mazes of electrical cables that were running on many visible surfaces, i.e. the back of the mast; I would like to find a method for glueing many copper wires or nylon lines together side by side, so that I won't need to put them on one by one.
This is the fantail gun tub: [i]Killen[/i]'s one was truncated at its aft end to leave some more room for the spare DC racks (still to be invented here :smallsmile: )

Ciao Secondo,

I know the kit and in this scale there are a lot of details to add and what you have done on your USS Killen so far looks really good :thumbs_up_1:

A minor update: things are starting to get intensive at the university so I have less free time to spend at the shipyard :scratch:
I purchased some other aftermarket sets: BMK 5" barrels and L'Arsenal navigation bridge equipment, both really worth their price.
The propellers' struts are horrible and need to be faired; zync dispersers are missing; prop guards may benefit from a bit of PE, but no set has parts for that details.

I wasn't satisfied with my flying bridge railing, so I redid it. I'm also trying to add the wheelhouse details so that I could leave the doors open, with some people standing on the bridge wings; I ordered some Preiser figures for that. Currently I just have a pair of german artillerymen left from my K 5 :heh:

[quote="Rotorhead"]Secondo,

Good job on those intake scoops. :cool_2: Any more detail shots on your sonar application? Looks interesting.

Regards
Steve[/quote]

Just ask :wave_1:
The drawing of the sonar fairwater has been posted by Rick at page 39 of the "Calling all USS Fletcher class (DD) fans"
[url]http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=8105&start=570[/url]

I built my own more or less accordingly to that drawing, but its dimensions and its exact positioning are the result of my guessing. We suppose it should have been placed between the bridge and mount 52, but I sticked it there after having checked the section shown in the drawing, matching the shape of the hull bottom. Positioning of the sonar dome was much easier and accurate, that being proved by drawings and photographic evidence.

[quote="Sleepwalker"]Sonar dome looks nice, but it shall be placed off keel axis, towards port board.[/quote]
I red in that topic that it had to be offset to starboard :thinking: there's also a drawing confirming that the sonar dome was on the starboard side; I'm just not sure about the position of the fairwater. However, I'm starting to consider the option to sand everything down to waterline :heh:

Sonar dome looks nice, but it shall be placed off keel axis, towards port board.

Secondo,

Good job on those intake scoops. :cool_2: Any more detail shots on your sonar application? Looks interesting.

Regards
Steve

Minor progresses being achieved :|
I copied Rotorhead's water scoops and then added the second sonar fairwater (being empty, I supposed it had to be plated over; I'm neither sure it had to be right there, but it's a nice addition even if inaccurate). On the upper structures, I'm concentrating on the bridge area and some other modifications were to be done, as in fact the [i]Killen[/i], as Rick told me, was a round bridge that shared many features of the square bridges. I'm using Eduard's PE parts for now, as I wish to use the majority of the Nautilus' set for my [i]O'Bannon[/i]. I'm not really satisfied with Eduard's so far, I had many fitting troubles on the radar, and the sheets offer replacements for parts that could be left standing, or easily scratchbuilt, while omitting more useful details.

Ciao Secondo
Ok!
Anche se purtroppo non riesco a seguire tutti i Forum
Va bene qui!!
Luciano :wave_1: :wave_1:

Grazie Luciano, sono onorato del tuo interesse! Puoi seguirmi anche su Betasom :wave_1:

One thing that was puzzling me more was the horizontal pattern of Measure 31, Design 11d, applied on USS Killen. Vertical surfaces were very well documented in the photos taken after her commissioning, decks were not.
I had luck finding the plate that showed the master pattern of that design as foreseen for the Fletcher class. It also seems that on Killen the paint job was executed with great accuracy, as the camouflage of the ship matches almost perfectly the master pattern :eyebrows:
So I think there are good chanches that the "invisible" horizontal surfaces were painted exactly as shown on the drawing. Special thanks to Rick E. Davis for the photos he kindly sent to me, I owe him a quantum leap of the accuracy of my build :thumbs_up_1:

Ciao Secondo
Big job :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:
Anch'io ho il Fletcher in 1/144
Non so quando lo farò, ma....
seguo con interesse il tuo wip
Luciano :wave_1:

Eduard's PE finally arrived. It was battered & bent because of a hard trip in a poor package, some parts went directly to the trash :( I will use some parts from it and some others from Nautilus', hoping that I will receive it in a better shape. The spare parts of the two sets will be used on a much simpler USS [i]Chevalier[/i] that I will evenctually build to sell it and raise some money.

Now, to the photos

[quote="les"]Looks good. Keep the pictures coming.[/quote]
:thanks: Will do :wave_1:

[quote="Avery Boyer"]looks like you have a good start, can't wait to see more. :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:[/quote]

Me too I can't wait :lol_1: . But currently I'm waiting for the PE sets before to proceed, as I will make my planning accordingly.

No, it isn't true :| the problem is that we are having a so hellish hot summer that very often I just can't sit at my workbench, 'cause I always feel tired and I think it's best to wait for a cooler season than to work without concentration.
So I try to avoid difficult tasks and in the meantime, I take on some small easy details such as building the 4 missing Bofors and sanding the propellers

looks like you have a good start, can't wait to see more. :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: