ive got and want to start this kit problem is i cant seem to find any after market photo etch for it anyone know where to get any any help will be greatly apreciated thanks
First of all, closely read Jeff Herne’s article on SteelNavy titled ‘Trial By Ordeal’. There are many problems with this model. They can be corrected but you must be aware of them and go into the project with your eyes wide open. It WILL be a long process.
http://www.steelnavy.com/BDFletcher.htm
Secondly, to the photoetch. Tom Harrison has just released a new set of PE for this kit
There is a second fret of railing & netting
http://www.tomsmodelworks.com/detail.asp?New!Releases|4th!Quarter!05
It looks good but until you make the basic corrections to the kit - is it just polishing the turd?
Ed is right,BUT if you put the time,effort,expense into it,you can make it worth something great. I took Dumas PT109 kit(see Eds remark[;)])and turned into something neat. See my PT159 post for a incentive.Gooooooooood luck…Alan
Having been there, done that, bought the T-shirt and realized it was the wrong size…I can assure that the time you spend on making the Lindbergh Fletcher accurate will be an exercise in diminishing marginal returns.
I jumped into the kit with a vengenance back in the late 90s, thinking I had the next award-winning ship. What I found when I opened the box was a pond toy, but I decided to put forth my best effort anyway. Ah…the days of no deadlines!!
The hull shape is wrong, with the Lindbergh kit having no hull sheer whatsoever. The stern angle is incorrect, and unless you cut nearly 1/4" from the bow, the model will have far too much freeboard forward.
You also have to correct the rudders, as Fletchers had a single rudder, not twins. The only way around this is to model one of the last four Fletchers built, DD-800 through 804, USS Calhoun, Gregory, Little, or Rooks. They were equipped with twin rudders.
Once you get to the superstructure, the fun begins (tongue firmly planted in-cheek). Replace the midship bulwarks, as they’re set too far inboard, are the wrong shape, are too thick, and are too short.
Then you’ll need to remove those concrete highway dividers they call railings at the 01 and 03 levels. Those should be replaced with stanchions and rails. The forward bulkhead of the pilothouse has 5 portholes, not 4 as shown in the kit. No exceptions, there were never 4 portholes on square-bridged Fletchers.
From there, we move on to deck fittings and AA guns. The Mk 37 fire control director is too small, and the turrets are wrong, in fact, the barrels are too short, the gunhouses on Turret 1 and 5 are incorrect, and each of the turrets center ring is too far forward.
40mm guns are pretty clunky, but you can replace those with HR products metal guns if you can get them (their availability is spotty at best). Same with the 20mm guns.
Depth charge racks will have to be scratchbuilt, and new railings are required all around the main deck. Torpedo tubes are marginal, but the splinter shield housing on bank 2 is far too small.
The mast is wrong, and will require a rebuild, and the SC radar is terrible, one solid, chunky piece.
Then you have a complete lack of fittings, hoses, fueling trunks, bulkhead conduits, hose reels, stretchers, etc…
By the time you get done outfitting the model with the necessary fittings, you will have spent far more than the price of the kit. Even if you scratchbuild the parts, the time you spend will far outweigh the results.
The best advise I can give…if you want a large scale Fletcher, is to either purchase the Bluejacket USS Kidd (late war configuration), which in 1/192, is a pre-cut wooden hull with resin, white metal, and photoetched parts, or the Iron Shipwrights Fletcher (early war config and also 1/192) which is a pure resin kit with photoetched parts.
If you decide to tackle this model, then at least be prepared by having good references. My book, Warship Perspectives Fletcher, Gearing and Sumner Class Destroyers in WWII, is an affordable book with lots of detail shots and drawings. If you’re serious about references, then look for a used copy of Alan Raven’s Fletcher Class Destroyers, or the Grail of Fletcher references, the Floating Drydock Plan Book. The Anatomy of the Ship - USS The Sullivans by Al Ross is currently available is a great resource as well.
I put more than 400 hours into building my ship. I could have easily put another 400 into it. In the end, it was still a Lindbergh Fletcher.
Jeff
I have made several replacement fiberglass hulls for the Lindberg’s 1/125 Fletcher. Anyone interests?
Please view:
I shall return on next thursday for any asking.
thanks for all the posts guys i know tis kit is innacurate and i can live with that when i look at it i will still see a fletcher its just a kit i had as a kid and i want to redo it with a bit more than i had back then like the photoetch someday ill make one accurate or purchase an aftermarket hull for another one but for now i just want to have fun with this one and relive some memories 
thanks again
i was thinking of picking this one up hey for 30 bucks what the heck
i will do some changes, but not the major rebuild (like jeff did)
i want to float it in the pool in the summer
so…
1 what changes were the easyist
2 other than that how was the fit … will i have to use a lot of filler (i don’t want it to sink with 30 lbs of the stuff)[(-D]
If your goal is to play with it in the pool - then build it out of the box and enjoy it.
Any changes which you begin to make will begin to cascade and sooner or later you will be up to what seems to be a never ending project.
Since this beast is designed to be the basis for a RC pool toy anyway - you will find that there is designed access and the some of the seams are functional. If you are not rebuilding the hull - you will not be applying tons of putty. If you are not rebuilding the gunhouses you will not be adding putty. If you are not replacing the plastic guns with metal ones you will not be upsetting the design waterline & buoyancy.
As long as you are building an out of the box pool toy, why consider the expense (time & $) of adding the PE? Wouldn’t that be like putting lipstick on a pig?
I agree, oink oink.
Jeff
yeah but i’v known a couple of pigs in my life that wore lipstick[;)]
That sounds like a personal problem.
That sounds like a personal problem.
Saiden:
If you really want to see what this kit COULD look like when it is done well, I’d suggest that you go over to www.steelnavy.com and go to the model gallery, to the Destroyer section and scroll down to the photos submitted by Len Roberto of the USS KIDD built by Ernie Webber.
It is really an excellent model. I’ve seen the model up close and personal too and I’m simply blown away by the workmanship. Just my two cents.
Garth
Besides, wrestling a 300-pound sow to the ground just to put lipstick on that drooling, mucous-encrusted snout would just be too … weird …
Go join the Yahoo group Lindyfletcher. There are a lot of people there that have built and R/Ced this model and other plastic ship models.