The Ship Model Forum

Thank you

Any idea if they are available seperately? I have Dragon's Radford kit and would love the aluminum exhausts.

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every ship better than the one before.....

so I'm looking for ideas/suggestions on opening the bridge windows on the 1/350 Spruance class (Dragon versions)

I'm contemplating drilling them out individually, or cutting out the whole strip and replacing with brass ladder stock....

I want to have them open as I'm going to open the bridge wing doors and want to build at least some of the bridge inside.

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every ship better than the one before.....

This photo was great thank you. The deck mounted helo control station is what is circled with the ??? None of the kits have this feature so I'm going to add it. Of course I can't find any other photos of it showing the rest of it. I can't recall if there are windows on top and the shape of the back side.

can anyone help on this one?

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every ship better than the one before.....

not the best photo, but its an in-progress of the hangar I'm making for my USS Moosbrugger.

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every ship better than the one before.....

another view. I like how the electrical boxes are coming out.

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every ship better than the one before.....

This is the flight deck from the USS Lake Erie, but the configuration is the same as on Spruance class ships.

In another thread it was asked what the Window above the flight deck was for, and what the windowed installation on the deck was for.

the Upper station is Flight Deck Control, and the lower station is the Landing Safety Officer Station.

In addition the four whilte vertical lines on the Hangar door are used to help the Helo line up when landing.

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every ship better than the one before.....

Found a picture of the DD-979 USS Conolly, figured I'd share.

The deck level station is probably the RAST control station, same as on the long-hull FFGs.

HTH

Keith

does anyone know when they switched the masts from black to haze gray?

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every ship better than the one before.....

The same time that they switched to the low-viz hull numbers, but I'm blanking on the year. It was done to decrease visibility to optically guided munitions.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

cool to know why it was done. hopefully I can find out when. I can't remember if ours were black or gray when I was aboard.

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every ship better than the one before.....

From what I recall it was phased in during overhaul, etc., and not done by sailors overnight, etc.
My google-fu is weak on this subject.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Here's a recet ppt created by NAVSEA regarding topside paint.

http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Media/SNA2013/TOPSIDE%20PAINT%20(Mark%20Ingle)%20-%20FINAL.ppt

slide 4 states the following.

Sept 1989 - NAVSEA report based on visual tests, interviews, and photographs showed benefits of reduced contrast by entire topside being haze gray, ocean gray, and light gray.

So the change to individual ships would have been in late 1989 going forward.

The ppt is an interesting read on the direction Navy paint is going in.
John

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every ship better than the one before.....

Here the Uss Fletcher:

viewtopic.php?f=60&t=150586

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A friend of mine served on the USS Briscoe, DD-977, from 1980 to 1985. All the pics on Navsource for this period show the ship as still equipped with the Sparrow and ASROC Launchers, as built. My question is: Are there any 1/350 models available of any Spruances of this era. I see the Dragon Cushing, but it has the VLS already installed. There was a quick mention in this thread about an earlier Cushing having been done by Dragon. Was it any good? Would it be worth checking Ebay? What model number was it? Any info would help. My friend wants to build it to hold his ashes when he is gone.

Their Ingersoll kit, perhaps: http://www.hlj.com/product/dra1007/Nav

Though given how hard they are to get, you might want to just get Veteran's ASROC and put it on the Cushing kit, as well as making the necessary radome/antennae mods: http://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/data/31297.html

Not sure what your options are for a NSSM launcher though.

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De quoi s'agit-il?

Question for regarding the USS Hayler DD997. In her purposed DDH configuration which I find very interesting it a same she was never built. Regardless here are my questions regarding the design reviewing the thread I did not see these addressed:
1. The DDH configuration was to be built on the standard hull correct?
2. They just enlarged the flight deck space to the end of sea sparrow deck ?
3. Was the Hangar Enlarged or just extended to edges as they did when they did VLS re-fits.
4. Number of Embarked helos planned 3 or 4. ( I think three would allow more space for parts and weapons).
Thanks
Major-B

The best person to ask is CAPT Potter on this thread. He wrote a good book on the Spruance-class. Hopwever, I am going to take a stab at it.

Yes, the hull was to be the exact same.

The flight deck was to be extended over the Sea Sparrow missile deck and assumed its shape.

The hangar was to be lengthened to accommodate 3 SH-2s, 4 SH-60s, or a number of AV-8B harriers.

Extra space inside the hangar would not allow for more missiles or torpedos. You don't keep weapons inside the hangar with the aircraft. They are kept down in ordnance magazines inside the ship. The extra spaces created where the hangar was extended over the Sea Sparrow deck could provide a little more space for an enlarged Mk-46 torpedo, Penguin missile, or Hellfire missile load.

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Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

Let me see if I can amplify on the Hayler question since I was the Operations Officer from 1991 - 1992 and managed the overhaul that included the changes to the aviation facility and weapon system upgrades.

1. Hayler was on the same common hull has the Spruance, Kidd, and Ticonderoga classes, but her engineering plant was essentially that of a Ticonderoga and Kidd with upgraded auxiliary and electrical plant.
2. The extension is as described. The Sea Sparrow Launcher was going to be placed on the 04 level, above the hangar.The additional space under the flight deck would have likely been for additional officer accommodations including pilots.
3. As far as I know Harriers were not part of the plan - certainly the heat would have been an issue. As I understood the DDH configuration the extended hangar was to accommodate more Lamps or H-3 helicopters like the Canadian DDH class which was the inspiration for the Congressional initiative.
4. The enlarged hangar would have provided for more storage, especially since it extended to the main deck edge. The extensions put on Hayler in 1991 added width to the hangar on the port side and store rooms for spare parts and sonabuoys on the starboard side. Plus there would have been more storage along the bulkheads for spare blades and outsize pack-up kits. The Spruance Class had a small torpedo magazine at the forward end of the hangar, for ready service torpedoes. Reloads could be brought up from the main deck torpedo rooms using a less than reliable hydraulic fork lift that vertically raised torpedoes to the flight deck.

hope this helps

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Charles Landrum
USNA 1983
Norfolk, Virginia

Speaking of the DDH, were any real, official drawings/plans ever produced for it or are we left with just the sketches from magazines an the like? I'm curious how the internals would have been modified and such. I guess hoping for a Booklet of General Plans style set of plans is beyond hopeless?

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