Steve . . good to see you back . . I am doing a square bridge conversion to the Revell 1/144 kit. Ordered all the Nautilus goodies . . PE, resin whaleboats, 5" turrets and square bridge conversion . . . . . . Not new to modeling . . spent a lifetime in Scale R/C aircraft . . designed and marketed several Giant Scale Aerobatic kits . . burned out 20 years ago . . now into ship modeling, specifically the Fletchers . . my Uncle Jack served on the USS Luce DD-522 and was a survivor of her sinking on 4 May 1945.
I have two Revell 1/144 kits . . one will be done as she was in August 1944 fresh from her refit in San Francisco in sparkling new Measure 32/18D Dazzle camo . .
. . . and another as she appeared on that fateful day . . repainted at sea (By the crew as they had the time; in Measure 21) . . .
. . . she looks pretty rough in this pic . . as you can see, she is in a mishmash combination of Measure 32/18D and Measure 21 . . I assume that by May 1945 the crew had completed the task . . if anyone has photos of DD-522 USS Luce after February 1945, I sure would appreciate seeing them . . . It's a shame really . . new sexy camo in August 1944 then painting over it within 6 months . .
this photo provided courtesy of Rick E. Davis . .
I am considering a diorama of the action of 4th May 1945 . . been eyeballing the Revell 1/144 LSM . . there was one, LSM(R)-190, at Radar Picket Station 12 with USS Luce when she was sunk . . along with 3 LCS(L)'s. They were LCS(L)-81, LCS(L)-84, and LCS(L)-118.
BTW; LSM(R)-190 was sunk as well that day.
. . . . AND . . after these two projects are completed . . I am considering scratch building a very large scale Fletcher . . . possibly as large as 1/72.