Thank you for the information, gents.
Bill
Hi!
One thing I do remember from Pre-Fram days on our Gearing. It was as crowded in the wheelhouse as on a Fletcher. The captain had the Shipfitters move his bridge chair to the Starboard wing still under the protection of the Canvas and Poly Sheet!
I guess I am still a die-Hard Shellback! I didn’t feel really at home on a civilian ship bridge(Tankers) because of all the Electronics and “Stick” steering and a console with buttons on it for managing Speed and such. I liked the old idea of a Wheel/Binnacle and an Engine Telegraph with the Radar Repeater on the starboard side of the helm.
A Bridge to me now looks like a take-off from a Science-Fiction Show! It feels strange and cold(No Personality),Whereas the old way, She,(the Ship) would let you deal with her quirks in Steering, Propulsion, etc. in a more personal Hands on way! This way each watchstander had a more personal and direct 'Feel" about the old Girl and would know if she was “Twitchy” or Calm.
One of the other things I was surprised about. No Lookouts on the bridge wings in most cases. Not a good way to be in station keeping with the Battle Group or such. Two ships recently(In the last five years) got hurt, Because, of NO bridge lookouts. That’s criminal to me! Especially since Twelve sailors paid the ultimate price between the two accidents and some were in their racks!
Well, Ben, over at Midwest Model Shop (on YouTube) has a second batch of test shots for the 1/200 Trumpy Fletchers he kind of instigated.
When these finally get released, they are to be USS Fletcher in as-launched fit, USS Stevens as fitted with a OSU Kingfisher and catapult, and USS The Sullivans in as launched fit.
Ought to be about 22" (56cm) long, so a really good size for modeling without being excessively repetitive.
From the video, Trumpy needs to add bilge keels and the sonar dome, but the rest of the detail is pretty good. The superstructures were molded with multiple slide moulds as they are detailed on 5 faces.