1/144 DD-451 USS Chevalier

[les]

There is something wrong with the gun shield. Look at the instructions drawings. They're right. Mould maker screwed up. They only molded half of two of the ammo shutes on aft side of the part. I think they were ammo hoists or spent shell shutes, probably the latter. You need to build the outside part of the shute.

[les]

I like this scale. Unfortunately, the larger the scale, the more detail you want to put into the model. Just think if it were 1/35, how much detail could you put in then?

[Rick E Davis]

I posted these elsewhere on this forum ... except for the first image of FLETCHER ... but exactly where I can't remember. The other two images are of O'BANNON and another of FLETCHER.

The receptacles on the sides of the 1.1-in tub are for collecting empty shells. The extensions on the aft end are the ammo hoists from the clipping room below. Note the openings in the forward side of the spent shell receptacles for retrieving the empty shells and clips.

The top drawing looks down at the holes in the deck above the receptacles for the empty shells and spent clips. There was a divider and the receptacle had two bins ... you can see the divider in the top drawing and in the sectional cuts at the bottom. In looking at the kit ... I got my first chance to actually see the kit this weekend by the way ... Revell didn't include these openings for the part. You guys don't have to put the dividers or holes in the deck (the openings are six inches wide which would be hard to cut to scale), the openings for the bins are up to you.

FLETCHER as completed by the builder and before the 40-mm ready use clip storage racks have been installed.

[Douglas]

Oh my God, from what you said, I screwed up again. If I go on building I guess I would need to change the ship number and ship name. First the gun director, now the after platform AAA gun. Sigh..........

Regards,

Douglas

[George Creed]

Douglas,

let an old man on his birthday (that's me and it is today - 60 years old, but young at heart...) tell you that just keep building and don't worry so much about how "accurate" your model is.

I just got my photo etch sets from Eduards today (detail and weapons) and now I am back on the attack of the build thanks to you, and to everyone who is building and posting on this board, and to those contributing.

BUT, don't fret the details, these ships changed everytime they hit port and the Fletchers grew and changed as a class over time. Anything you do is going to be fine, maybe not the exact ship on the exact day - but the ship on some day in it's service life.

Your work is inspiring, and so are the rest of the Fletchers being built here, in time i will put mine on board as well.

For now keep going !!! and damm the torpedos !!!

[Douglas]

Douglas,

let an old man on his birthday (that's me and it is today - 60 years old, but young at heart...) tell you that just keep building and don't worry so much about how "accurate" your model is.

I just got my photo etch sets from Eduards today (detail and weapons) and now I am back on the attack of the build thanks to you, and to everyone who is building and posting on this board, and to those contributing.

BUT, don't fret the details, these ships changed everytime they hit port and the Fletchers grew and changed as a class over time. Anything you do is going to be fine, maybe not the exact ship on the exact day - but the ship on some day in it's service life.

Your work is inspiring, and so are the rest of the Fletchers being built here, in time i will put mine on board as well.

For now keep going !!! and damm the torpedos !!!

Haha, HAPPY BIRTHDAY George !!

Now another old man (me, of course, 39 though, also young at heart as my friends described, so I think I should be the same as you are, an old man too) wrote you this reply. Thank you. I will keep building the best I could. I've made two inaccuracies. Nevermind I will make some more, right ?! I think at least I gave a bad example as reference, both my skills and accuracy in building.

Again, happy birthday, have a nice day !!

Regards,

Douglas

[Rotorhead]

Research, Research, Research, Research, and then Research some more.

Then once you start cutting and welding, any changes are cause for severe cost overruns and loss of momentum.

Keep building, it's an inspiration to us all.

Regards
Steve

[Rick E Davis]

If you are worried about the openings ... just paint them on in black. The ammo hoists look easy to build from sheet plastic.

The Revell kit has many errors ... mostly in omission ... that shouldn't have been ... no quad 1.1-in mount, missing bridge equipment. My own belief is that Revell should have included a few additional parts as options with this kit (the fantail twin 40-mm mount at the least). That makes building the kit out-of-the box difficult and without an established aftermarket for parts, darn hard for anyone building the kit for anything other than the four early FLETCHERS ... DD-445 through 448 ... with a quad 1.1-in mount add DD-449 through 451. Any other round-bridge FLETCHER requires many parts and a fair amount of work. I still wonder what additional versions Revell will release beyond the two already ... if any?

Your Mk 37 director is a work of art, so don't destroy it. You just may not want to attach it too "securely" in case a good aftermarket replacement comes along. The problem with the Mk 12 radar is that it was a mid-war improvement and never was used with the original two twin 40-mm mounts or quad 1.1-in mount configurations ... a Mk 12 alone or Mk 12/22 radars would be used with the five twin 40-mm mounts AA configuration.

I feel like I'm the bearer of bad news, I'm not trying to do so, I just want to educate everyone as to how the individual ships were equipped. There have been many falsehoods about the configurations seen on FLETCHERS over the years as to when and for how long they were carried. That said, how anyone builds their kit is up to them. If trying to achieve high accuracy gets too stressful, don't sweat it and enjoy the hobby.

A 58 year old himself,

Rick

[Rotorhead]

Rick,

Your the bearer of GREAT information. You're the "rivit counter extrodinaire". And with these darn ships that changed daily, that expertise is a God send. Your research and photo gathering AND SHARING of your efforts helps us all out tremendously. I for one, THANK YOU!

I'm an "old guy" too.

Regards
Steve

[Red Devil Squadron]

Hello Douglas!

I think you have a great build underway, your modeling skills are clearly advanced. It is very difficult (maybe impossible) for anyone to be entirely accurate when constructing a scale model.
Over the years (I am 50), I have gradually improved my modeling skills along with trying to be more accurate. For me, accuracy has been a long road and there is a very long way to go, but I am improving - one step at a time.

Maybe the best advice is to just build it the way you want.

Cheers,

Bill

[Douglas]

Bill, Rick, Steve,

I guess we the old guys all have fun here, no matter we make mistakes or not. Sure this is what this place is for.

Rick, by all means you are providing us the important information. You are in no way insulting us. You are just letting us know the truth. Though we might not build as exactly the real ship, we at least know what is wrong and we could tell whoever is looking at our models.

Let's all have fun and let's go on building !!

It is foggy here, I guess I would stay home and do modelling. You guys all have a nice weekend !!

Regards,

Douglas

[les]

Being an "old guy" is dependent on who you associate with. I'm 66 (67 in July). You're young guys to me.

[Rotorhead]

OK, Ill fess up. 62. You got me Les, but not much.

Regards
Steve

[Douglas]

Hahaha,

Regards,

Douglas

[Douglas]

Being an "old guy" is dependent on who you associate with. I'm 66 (67 in July). You're young guys to me.

From this theory, although you are 66, 60, 62, 50, 58, you all are actually young, because you all are associated with me, 39.

Let's have fun !!

Regards,

Douglas

[Red Devil Squadron]

Douglas is right on - if we can't have fun then this hobby is just another burden. Too many of those already! I guess I'm the baby of the bunch!

C'mon Douglas, let's see more photos of your work so we can be inspired!

Cheers,

Bill

[Douglas]

Douglas is right on - if we can't have fun then this hobby is just another burden. Too many of those already! I guess I'm the baby of the bunch!

C'mon Douglas, let's see more photos of your work so we can be inspired!

Cheers,

Bill

No problem, Bill. I was working on the front funnel last night. I guess I could finish it tonight. Stay tuned !!

Regards,

Douglas

[Rotorhead]

Ya Gotta Have Fun...........that's the name of the game.

Regards
Steve

[Douglas]

The front funnel. Kit + Eduard

[Bigdaddy Mark]

Wow!!!