1/144 Revell Fletcher Class Destroyer Build (Early)

[Apiegare]

Steve, love your work, the "oil canning" is awesome, I would never even attempt anything close to that, I am not worthy. Now I have to critique this kit and any other Fletcher kit on the market. The one thing that bothers me the most about almost every Fletcher kit I have come across in my long years of modeling is this: The propeller shafts. The prop shafts on any destroyer that has a boiler room, engine room, boiler room, engine room configuration like the Fletcher are asymmetrical prop shafts, in other words they have different angles with respect to the horizon. The Starboard shaft is longer and runs at a roughly 2.5 degree angle while the Port shaft is shorter and runs at almost 4 degrees from the base line. This means that while both shafts exit the shaft tubes at about frame 170 the tubes themselves are faired in differently to the hull shell. This is clearly illustrated in the BIW hull drawings (folder 3 slides 400 & 401). I have spent many an hour under the Kidd at low tide and this was one of the first things I noticed. I plan to correct this on the Revell kit. Also, Steve love your condenser scoops and intakes but for one thing: the shell doublers - those odd shaped pieces of steel plate surrounding the various scoops and intakes or discharges - go inside the hull plating! (sorry). The boiler trainer doesn't have hull plating. This is also shown on the BIW plans. As far as Sonar is concerned your guess is as good as mine. According to the BIW plans the early Fletchers had a down looking sonar at about frame 53 and two holes on either side of the keel at about frame 25 probably for an early form of sonar known as QC which was two globe like units that would retract into the hull, it was also used on the early fleet submarines and a good illustration is found at the http://www.hnsa.org website. I plan to use Eduards brass on my kit to model the Chevalier. It was a ship that was lost early in the war and was never modified. Thanks for letting me vent and I hope to actually start building my model soon.

[Rotorhead]

Hello Apiegare,

Venting is allowed............

Unless one has "been there..............done that"..............then it's all guesswork and modeling license anyway. I didn't know that about the vent doublers...........makes sense though. Mine are so thin, you won't hardly see them anyway. As for the prop shafts............now that I have known, but I probably won't reconfigure mine. I said 'probably". It "is" food for thought though.

Now I want to see some progress on yours. It might kick me in the b__t to jumpstart mine.

Regards
Steve

[carr]

..

[les]

Thanks to you all.

First Rotorhead, thanks to you I have a friend that asks me every time I talk to him, "When you going to oil can the hull?" The answere is always the same, "I'm not!" Looking forward to seeing how you're doing.

Now Apiegare. I didn't get a chance to get under the Kidd when I was down there in the Fall Work Party. She was still on the water. Could you post a picture or two of the bottom for all of us who haven't got the chance to check it out? I don't know if I'll move the shaft this late date, but seeing how it would look would help. Thanks for all the information.

As an addition, I would urge any of you who love Fletcher's to go to the USS Kidd website and sign up for the Fall Work Party. You'll have lots of time to get into every nook and cranny of her and talk to some sailors who served on her or one of her sisters. It's a yearly thing and a great time!

[Rotorhead]

Les,

From what I've seen of the Kidd.........all the sea openings (intakes/exhausts) below the waterline have been sealed shut to make sure she doesn't sink.

If you have the Destroyerhistory.org plans CD, you can see the assymetric shafts. I personally don't think that they would be noticable on a model.

Steve

[Modelmaniac]

If I have pictures they will have to be scanned as they are not digital but first I have to find them - it has been many years since I have been to Baton Rouge. I remember a 1/48 scale model of the Kidd at the museum there that really shows the difference in the prop shaft fairwaters from port to starboard. There are some good photos of the Laffey at the destroyerhistory.org site which although is a Gearing class has the same prop shaft arrangement. I believe the difference would be visible in almost any scale larger than 1/350. In 1/144 the starboard fairwater is slightly more than an inch and a half long as modeled on the Revell kit. The port side fairwater would be about 5/8 an inch long with a notch in the hull extending a further 5/8 of an inch aft of where the shaft exits the hull. The port side intermediate strut is also about a scale foot (1/12 inch) shorter than its starboard mate. It is something easier to illustrate than to describe. It is something that can be easily modeled with some tubing and filing, etc. I hope to have some photos soon but am having a hard time finding the time to work on the model, I seem to buy them faster than I can build them and I like to work on all subjects, lately armor and classic sci-fi robots!

[les]

Well, I've already made changes to the kit prop shafts and don't think I'm going to go back and change them. Maybe the next Fletcher. Not sure whether I'll do the sonar dome or not. Decisions, decisions.....

[oneslim]

Rotorhead,

I think I've found some info on why the 'Oilcanning' was only on the foreward and aft ends. On page 115 of "U. S. Destroyers", Friedman talks about the design phase of the Fletcher class. The BuShips called for 3/4", 30lb. STS on the sides and 1/2", 20lb. STS decks, for protection from Bomb fragments and strafing around the engine and boiler rooms. Read a couple pages starting at page 114 of the link below.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Tzp58h ... ok&f=false

Bob W

[Rotorhead]

Bob,

I thank you for posting that link. I had not read that book and was glad to get a chance to read selections from it.

I just found a friend of mine that had served on a "round bridge" fletcher in the 60's. Unlike the ship model discussion boards, they did not refer to them as such. To them, they were ALL open bridge designs. That caused a bit of confusion between us as all the ships had by then been modified with the wraparound square open (canvas covered) bridges. His only complaint about the ship was that there was no fore/aft through the ship passageway, requiring weatherdeck passage.

I'm learning more.

Regards
Steve

[les]

Yeah, the fire rooms and engine rooms were in the way. Crew's washroom was in the aft deck house and if you were berthed below decks on the bow, it was a long walk. The same situation for the midships deck house. You could either go fore and aft on the main deck or across the deck houses.

One ex-Fletcher man told me that in heavy seas you could stand at the bottom of a stairway, time the pitch of the ship and take one step forward and you'd be on the next deck up. But, if you missed your timeing, you ended up bloody and might loose some teeth.

[les]

Rotorhead, are you back to work on your Fletcher yet? The world wonders. Looking forward to some more pictures.

[oneslim]

Rotorhead,

I went to the NRG convention back in October that was held in Buffalo, NY. Met a 60's vet of the 'Sullivans' which is on display in the downtown area. He was the engineering officer on board. He sent me the five part story of Robert Steinbrunm's build of USS Kidd that was in Ships in Scale back in the 90's. It's a 1/192 Bluejacket kit, that took 2,025 hrs. and 14,228 parts.

I also made about 140 photos when I toured the Sullivans, I'll get them posted soon I hope.

Bob W

[Retep]

Hi Oneslim,
I look forward to your pics being posted.
I have also been inspired by Bob's build of the Kidd, and am working on a 144 scale version.
Regards, Peter Bouwer

[Rotorhead]

Hey Bob.....I too look forward to photos.

Les...................hehe...........I'm working on some motivation as we speak. Talking to my friend did wonders getting me to think "ship" again. I've just got a motivational block in grinding all the hatches off and then to sand and polish the results. The molded on ladders were hard enough. But........I Whine.

Steve

[oneslim]

OK, here's a taste:

[Rotorhead]

Thank you Bob..........

I'm officially "interested" now..........

Steve

[Peter Bouwer]

Thanks for the sample photos Bob, I agree with Steve, can we see the rest?
Regards, Peter

[oneslim]

Rotorhead,

Check out today's gallery.

Bob W

[Rotorhead]

I did Bob...........I was in heaven. So much small detail.

Are you the "Bob" that posted that walkaround? If you are...."Well Done"!


Steve

[Peter Bouwer]

Bob, thanks for the pics, they are great!
Peter Bouwer