Thank you, Paul!
Lars, as I�ve told you already, it was your achievement with the Savo Island group build that inspired me and helped me in finding my modelling direction,
big thanks! New findings surfaced since then but it�s no shame your build was as it was. It happens all the time and is not unlikely to happen to my build in the future, too. That said, I am really glad to see my own Wilson becoming reality
First of all I finished yesterday�s work on the hull by adding PE propeller guards as shown below.
Depth charge racks
Benham class destroyers could be seen carrying two standard depth charge racks for 6 charges on units deployed to the Pacific from the beginning (Benham, Ellet) while these racks were extended to 8 or even 13 charges for service in the Atlantic. Wilson reportedly had racks for 13 charges while serving in the Atlantic but downgraded to 8 each when transferred to the Pacific.
Matt�s 3D parts provide for 8 charges but I preferred the harder way
. My PE parts have been designed for 13 charges but can be trimmed down easily to 8 or 6 as required. Wilson had racks for 8 charges in August 1942. I punched 1mm diameter from 1mm thick styrene sheet. The correct D.C. diameter in fact should be 0.9mm but I only have 1mm and 0.8mm punchers. I then glued them together by Tamiya Extra Thin and formed the main PE part around them.
Forecastle and main bridge
Moving to the superstructure now. Matt�s 3D parts were printed using a grey resin that I�d describe as medium soft. The advantage is the material is not that brittle like some other�s I�ve used before and so it can be modified and sanded easily.
The forecastle and main bridge come as two parts plus the Mark 33 director. I made some adjustments using styrene sheets as I was not sent the latest versions of these two parts by mistake, but puting them right was easy. Signal lamps were made from 0.3mm brass tube.
FD radar
Interestingly, it turned out that Wilson was the only among Benham and Bagley class units to carry the standard version of the Mark 4 fire direction radar. All other units (except Benham and Henley that had no FD radar installed before their loss) had a truncated version of the FD radar with decreased height probably to provide more room on top of the bridge roof. The PE set provides for both options.
I also added a makeshift 'shed' to the starboard bridge wing that appeared on Wilson in 1942 and was aparently covered with canvas (it was replaced by sheet metal later in 1943). She also had a unique access ladder leading from the back to a small platform extending from the compass bridge between flag bags, probably to compensate for the original starboard access ladder which place has been taken by the shed. Some small corrections will be needed here and there but basically I think it looks fine.
). I also tried to lure some people into the idea already in 2019, but without much success at that time.
