Joined: Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:36 am
Posts: 658
Location: Vigo, Spain
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Hi Jabb, Joe Simon and all,
And thanks for your remarks.
The next element was the twin gun fire directors in both positions on the clip shack. For me, Fletchers were always closely connected with the Mk.51 fire director, of which there are hundreds of pictures and graphics in the net, this one :Attachment:
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On the other hand the offering of Revell seemed to me surprisingly inacurate, something that does not happen with many of other elements in the kit :Attachment:
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Building these little things, with so many loose ends, was tricky at times but again not difficult, and even reduced to the essential elements, the outcome is convincing :
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But once finished, it came to my mind that these Mk.51 directors were usually associated with the 40.0 mm. Bofors, while USS McGowan and Jorge Juan were upgraded to 76.0 mm. guns, what meant that to be associated to the Mk.51 would be for these guns weird, to say the least.
A further research brought evidence: Jorge Juan had Mk.63 directors, not Mk.51, as it can be seen in two clear pictures of Jorge Juan herself, something I had not realized before   :Attachment:
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The offer of Revell seemed now much more logical, of course. I thought at first to ignore the fact and let the mistake go by, but this door was soon closed too: not only these two Mk.63 directors are far different from Mk.51´s, but are also much higher and positioned in very visible places, so they cannot be ignored even in an true good will exercise. Here on board Velox, in Faliro Port, Athens, with the breathtaking mount Licabethos in the background :
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These Mk.63 directors are not described in both Al Ross´s AOTS The Sullivans and Alan Raven´s Fletcher-Class Destroyers books, and it is not that easy to find clear sketches or graphics of them, but at least I could find one that was clear enough :Attachment:
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To build these things was not difficult either, the only problem being to make straight bases, what can be solved with the mirror trick explained in one of the posts before. Here you are the basic elements, made with Evergreen rod and tube, and plastic yogourth containers:Attachment:
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The final product, even if again reduced to minimums, seems to me quite acceptable :Attachment:
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I hope you like them, and warmest regards from this side,
Willie.
_________________
Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).
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