A well known class for sure. Now, here’s one for you. Every ship modeler has heard of or seen the “Lindberg-Blue Devil” Destroyer. At least i think so. Anyway here’s a long term project I undertook to see if it could be done. I converted my R.C. one “Lindberg’s kit” into a Gearing Class. When I got her done, I then bought another and converted her to a Fram Gearing just like they did to the real one I was stationed on. That was a job unto itself for sure!
Fast forward twenty five year.Looking worse for wear My Gearing still exists as well as at least five 1/350 FRAM conversions .Yep, like the original FRAM’s no two were alike in all ways. Ours had a Helo deck and Hangar plus Asrocs and other stuff I don’t remember, but, looked like shortened Missile launched torpedoes forward on the 01 deck. I never saw, nor did anyone else, the helo we were supposed to get.The Navy just never seemed to get that one right I guess.
Great place to stow the stuff we all bought in the Western pacific and brought home as souveniers. Cars, Bikes(Motorcycles) and othet stuff. Lotsa “Boom” boxes as they were known then. Big(For Then ) T.V.s and other furniture. Our dockside looked like a freighter when we offloaded. I brought home a PWC and a Boom box! You shoulda seen my neighbors on the lake when I went out on it!
Anyway, remember, like the Fletchers,no two gearings were alike either But they were All gun ships too. The Fletchers started it all and yes, some of those still in service got Frammed too!
My older brother was on the Big E in the 70’s they had lots of space to store souvenirs too. He brought back a bunch of stuff from Japan, a couple of high-end stereo systems, one for himself and another for our mom but my favorite trinket was the very first Pong video game system.
I was in awe that the TV could be interactive – Something totally taken for granted today, but so incredibly mind blowing at the time (for me anyway).
To keep this somewhat model related - I’ve had a Blue Devil since getting my first 3D printer, so about 6 years, I thought it would be fun to print up a bunch of replacement parts and detail pieces, still do but it’s been back burnered. Hope to get to it sooner than latter…
i’m going to kitbash a 1/350 scale ww2 Gearing class destroyer into USS PERRY (DD-844) after it had gone thru the FRAM conversion. i also have a 1/350 scale FFG-7 USS Oliver Hazard Perry that i am going to build as that ship. i’m going to kitbash 2 of Revell’s 1/242 scale USS Ward’s into USS PERRY (DD-340 & DMS-17).
Getting set to install the rails on a Sumner mine layer as the USS Aaron Ward. She was bludgeoned by multiple kamikazes at Okinawa.
In my spare time I’be added the underwater intakes & exhaust ports using scaled drawings in the Anatomy of the Ship - USS Kidd to a Trumpeter Square bridge kit. Plus sonar dome, depth sounder hydrophone head and zincs
I had the plans for the Gearing and the Fletcher on the wall in my shop. So yes, I cut the hull up by quarters and installed the structure to create a proper Gearing hull. Remember the Gearings were a wee bit wider. I can’t remember how much. It wasn’t so much it was noticeable though! I ran a Keel Strip 1/16 wide on her then did the 14’ extension right in the middle. Didn’t affect that beautiful Sheer curve that way!
I thought it wasn’t much, It just made us (A Gearing ) a longer, slimmer, and yes, faster small Grey ship! When we danced on those big waves they like to show us in. You know, water over mount one etc. We did it like a ballet dancer. I won’t address what it was like to be aboard then though! T.B.
Saw an IG post that the State of New York has delivered a check for $10M to the city of Buffalo earmarked for a dry docking and maintenance of the The Sullivans
That’s good news. We were there in late June for a family memorial, and I put DD 537 into the itinerary. My relatives were ambivalent, “isn’t that the one that sank?”, but Debra knew that nothing would hold me back.
I’m working on DD 560 USS Morrison using the Trumpeter kit and a set of Tom’s PE. AK Interactives which is treating me kindly. Measure 32 13d.
The Sullivans seemed to be in decent shape topsides. Not the usual clutter of hoses and buckets and scrapers that are common on ships maintained by volunteers. The square bridge had essentially a round wheelhouse inside of it, which I suppose added some armour protection for the helm. I only took one or two photos as it isn’t something I can’t find elsewhere.
The Trumpie kit comes with 43 and 45 options. Good thing too because the 43 forward gun director deck part was split in half, but the 45 part was the same pattern except for an additional antenna mounting point which was easily removed.
Morrison was sunk at Okinawa in May 1945.
One difficulty so far is the 5" gun houses. They have two different cores to choose from- with and without the gun captains hood. The sides are separate parts, which create a difficult seam to hide, even with super careful alignment during assembly.
The two ‘flavors’ of 5"/38 single gunhouses on the typical war-time Fletcher were often termed ‘single knuckle’ and ‘double knuckle’. The single knuckle mounts had only one bend in the gunhouse roof, and lacked a gun captain’s hood. These were mounts identified as 51, 53, and 55. They were located below a superfiring gun and provided better blast protection. Double knuckle mounts had two bends in the gunhouse roof and had a mount captain’s hood. These were the superfiring guns at mounts 52 and 54. Good cement technique with the correct sides for the proper gunhouse core minimizes seams (use CA). The barrel should also be located off-center to the left of the mount centerline. I think Tamiya got that right, but Trumpeter missed it.
Of course there are better aftermarket options; Black Cat, Model Monkey, and L’Arsenal.
Plans are afoot to kit-mingle the Tamiya and Trumpeter offerings to make an as-launched USS Kidd with 20mms in place of the twin 40s on the deck forward of the bridge, remove the CIC extension on the bridge face, and add a square 20mm tub to the forward of the bridge deck.
To an earlier post that there was round-bridge inside of a square-bridge??? As war production efforts grew, shipyards learned that rolling steel plate to make round structures took more time and effort (read as $$) than welding flat plate to make an angular structure. Initially the equipment & locations within the square-bridge may have been similar to that in a round-bridge. That soon evolved with wartime equipment changes.
And the picture of the bow with Roman numeral depth marks. That is non standard for US practices. The US uses Arabic numerals, the size and font of which is identified in the detailed construction drawings. They are surface welded to the hull, over painted in wartime camouflage or picked-out in contrasting color in peacetime paint. The name is handled similarlt
6" tall numerals at 1" on center, which alllows measuring draft to the half foot by eye.
Roman numberals were used 19th century as part of the increasing Lloyd’s (and similar underwriter insurnace) company requirements for all shipping. Cutty Sary is a famous restored example (which also uses 6" tall numerals 12 inches apart).
Modern maritime marking will be to have markings in meters and “ticks” one decimeter every other decimeter, and a second batch in feet with half-foot ticks or numberals. These fit the various “Plimsoll” marking rules internationally.
Every so often it prompts an Operational discussion as the only way to actually “use” draft markings is to get in a raft or small boat and row around the ship to see, and you need rather still water to do so. (This also renders the notion of draft makring on a submarine a touch daft.)
