Revell has announced a 1/144 square bridged Fletcher class:
Most interesting. There are several good ship subjects in that announcement - including what appears to be a reissue of the Zvezda Hanseatic cog. Maybe that will make it more widely available in the U.S.
That German coast guard patrol boat also looks interesting. The color scheme is so similar to the USCG’s that I did a double-take.
It continues to amaze me that the old, 1954-vintage Iowa-class battleship kit keeps reappearing. Somebody really ought to do something to keep it off the market. At least ROG admits it’s a reissue.
One slightly sour note about the destroyer: the photo shows a ship in post-WWII German markings. If the kit matches the picture, converting it to a U.S. ship in WWII configuration will be quite a project. Such things as 40mm and 20mm guns in 1/144 scale aren’t exactly easy to make - or find. I imagine the aftermarket companies will come to the rescue, but the price of a full set of WWII destroyer weapons on that scale would be pretty formidable. Let’s hope the kit turns out to be in U.S. WWII configuration. (But if it doesn’t, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. This is an exciting release in any form.)
I’ve been holding out waiting for a four stacker in 1/144 or better yet 1/72. I’d love todo a large scale destroyer. I’d also love to see a large scale destroyer escort! I’ll be looking for the 1/144 kit in the future.
gary
I will be looking forward to the kit but too bad that it’s not in 1/72 scale and of the Buckley class…see where I’m going? What a dio one could make based on the ramming scene in ‘Enemy Below’.
Scott
I’d perfer a WWII US Fletcher myself, but I can appreciate the post war/export varients too. With all the WWII destroyer kits on the market (plus some modern DDG’s), it’s good to see one from the post WWII era. Spain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, and I’m sure others bought them. The Fletchers served the US Navy up through the 60’s, so there’s about 25 years of interesting post WWII history, plus their histories in Non-US Navies.
One thing I like about ROG is that they make a few of the more unique subjects. Like that Coast Guard ship.
Semper Fi,
Chris
I agree completely. The history of the Fletcher class only starts with World War II - and the use of the old ships by foreign navies is an interesting chapter of that history.
The past behavior of Revell suggests that, if the initial release is indeed a postwar German version, other variants may well follow. Ideally, we could hope for a single kit containing an assortment of weaponry, radar screens, masts, bridge structures, etc. that would enable the modeler to build any Fletcher from any period. That’s probably too much to hope for, though.
That new German patrol boat, together with last year’s Hermann Mereweder (sp.?) and the newly-released Airfix British lifeboat, prompts a depressing observation. Maybe somebody can correct me on this point, but if I’m not mistaken, unless one counts the various (mostly dimensionally inaccurate) versions of the Eagle, the number of modern (i.e., currently in-service) U.S. Coast Guard vessels currently available in the form of injection-molded plastic kits is precisely zero.
The lack of modern US Coast Guard ships is pretty annoying. I’d love to build a cutter. I know a couple of Coasties that would love a USCGC Gallitton. Fortunately, the Coast Guard isn’t ignored when it comes to Helo’s.
I’m hoping that ROG will release different versions. A 144 scale Fletcher would make for an impressive model of over 2 and a half feet long. Imagine the cost and effort of a PE set.
Semper Fi,
Chris
Now I’m trying to think of any Coast Guard vessels, modern or otherwise, that are currently available in plastic kit form. The old Revell icebreaker and 327-foot cutter aren’t in the current catalog of either ROG or Revell-Monogram. Lindberg used to offer a patrol boat, but I don’t think it’s among the kits the newly-revived Lindberg is selling. Maybe the ancient Glencoe (ex-ITC) motor lifeboat is still around. I can’t think of any others - other than the various versions of the Eagle. And (as we’ve discussed several times elsewhere in the Forum) all of them (i.e., the old Revell one and the various reissues of the 1/350 Imai one) are based on the wrong plans. The only reasonably accurate Eagle was the 1/200 Imai one, which has been gone for more than twenty years.
Many, many years ago Hawk made a set of four ship models that were five or six inches long: an LST, a PT boat, a *Fletcher-*class (well, sort of) destroyer, and a 327-foot Coast Guard cutter. I think I saw reissued versions of them, in Testor’s boxes, in a hobby shop not too long ago. But those kits were mighty crude and mighty small.
The Coast Guard manned quite a few Navy ships during WWII; a Revell, Trumpeter, or Skywave *Buckley-*class destroyer escort could be built as a Coast Guard-manned DE. (Come to think of it, the CG continued to operate a few DEs after the war, in white color schemes. There’s an idea for a simple, nice-looking conversion.) Otherwise, I guess the CG modeling enthusiast has to turn to either scratchbuilding or the resin market. There are, fortunately, some nice resin CG ships out there.
Professor Tilley hit the nail on the head, why do we need another Fletcher, or Judias Priest, another re-issue of Revell’s Iowa class battleship(the Revell USS New Jeresy was my first model purchase and build in 1957). Lindberg is rumored to be in the process of re-issuing the old 95’ patrol boat and the Nantucket lightship as well as the WWII minesweeper. The minesweeper can be converted into a CG version from WWII or the west coast reserve vessel of the 1960’s. It’s the old story, manufacturers would rather invest in the tooling of another Bismark or Hood rather than something as esoteric as a buoy tender or polar icebreaker. The funny thing is most Coast Guard vessels wore gray paint and were heavily armed at some point in their careers, satisfying the demand for “naval vessels” which I guess is the popular motivator for selling ship kits. There was a time some of the old wooden ship manufactures produced a fair range of CG ships. I have examples of the 83’ “sub buster” patrol boat, the ice cutter “Bear”, a 165’ patrol boat, and a 327" cutter Campbell, in two different scales! Perhaps tooling up for wood hulls is easier than plastic. Plus I’ve seen kits of a 95’ patrol boat in wood as well as a 40’ CG utility boat(not the Dumas kit but solid hull). Companies like Tamyia put out the popular “pibber” model of Vietnam fame and Monogram/Revell cranked out the Vietnam era models of the USS Defiance, Swift Boats and even Aurora’s Tumcari(sp?) hydrofoil but ignored the USCG’s 82’ “POINT” class patrol boats. These patrol boats gave wonderful service during operation Market Time and were sent to Vietnam at the request of the Navy as they had NO small naval units availible. They operated with the army and were used in river operations like the swift boats as well as off shore patrol. The Navy brass concluded that “Market Time” was the only true operational sucess story of the Vietnam war as it achieved the objective of stemming the coastal flow of arms from north to south. Well so much for my blowing off steam on this subject, I’m sure the model companies are tooling up for a new Yamato in some scale as we speak…Good grief[banghead]
Seems we’re looking a gift horse in the mouth…I for one am quite happy. If the Fletcher sells, then we may yet see more in this scale.
Nevermind that we may yet see some CG boats in 1/350 or 1/700 plastic.
Very good news, although I’m slightly worried by the prospect of it only being buildable as a post-war ship, as suggested by the “Zerstorer Z1” title - however, I don’t want to make any judgments from a single photo (of the real ship, not the kit!) and line of text. I’ll be buying one whatever the case (the suggested RRP of 60 euros seems very good value for a kit of this size and complexity), if it’s only buildable as Z-1 I’ll just have to do a bit of converting and scratchbuilding!
IMHO, “we don’t need another Fletcher” would certainly apply if it were 1/350 or 1/700 (I always thought Revell made a bad decision choosing Bismarck for their new 1/350 kit rather than, e.g Scharnhorst or Graf Spee) but this is 1/144! - the first new-tool, large-scale kit of a sizeable WW2 surface warship for many years. 1/144 scale is an order of magnitude bigger than 1/350, in potential detail as well as size - more or less the same difference as between 1/32 and 1/72 aircraft.
If I had to choose a subject, I’d pick either a Royal Navy destroyer or a “4-piper” - but given that this is the first 1/144 kit of a WW2 destroyer, a Fletcher is as good a choice as any, and should provide even more potential for conversions and modification than the 1/72 Gato sub (apart from their long service in the USN, Fletchers were used by at least a dozen overseas navies, and AFAIK one or two are still in service)
Yes exactly. A post war version will acompany my USS Bluegill nicely. I’d also like to build one as USS Hoel, which of course means we need a Butler class and a CVE too!
The last Fletcher in service was USS John Rodgers. She was decomissioned in 2000 and is currently owned by Beauchamp Tower Corp. and will be towed back to the US for restoration as a museum. Incidentally, she is also the last Round-Bridged Fletcher in existence as well as the last Fletcher to go out of service.
if they price it the way they have on their last few large newly tooled models ,it will be a bargain
i bet too a few after market co’s are tooling up as well
Let me take a slightly contrary position–I’d like to see a post-WWII Fletcher just for the sake of having a “starting point” of the 3"50 twins and directors at least vaguely present (any quality of molding being a huge advantage). But, that’s an era of personal interest for me, too.
Will be interesting to see the sprues when they finally get published. The detail available in 1/144 versus what can be thermocast will be something to see, I imagine.
Nice thing about a “real” Z-1 would be the “international” aspect of it–Greece, Turkey, several south American navies all had former Fletchers in them.
Even for 60 euro (a sum as frightening as a $25 1/72 biplane), would still be a nice investment.
Lessee, a Fletcher, that’d be around a meter long at 1/144, wouldn’t it?
Noticed on Sunday, courtesy TNT, that the ship used as USS Caine was a round bridge Fletcher–small world. Did not notice until it was too late to catch the hull number–which was painted in unshadowed white 24" numerals, despite being clearly post-war, nice nod to detail there.
I believe the ship in the movie was one of the destroyer-minesweepers converted from Gleaves-class destroyers. They look like Fletchers from many angles; the big difference is that the Gleaves class had “broken” decks, with the forecastle one level higher than the afterdeck. The Fletchers, of course, were flush-decked. The movie shots go by so fast that it’s hard to spot the difference. (It is, however, pretty clear that a model was used for the “typhoon” shots.)
I’m a huge fan of the novel The Caine Mutiny; I assign it in my post-1900 U.S. military history course. (It usually shows up on the Naval Institute’s list of books recommended by admirals as professional reading for newly-commissioned naval officers.) The movie isn’t bad by any means; my biggest criticism of it is that Humphrey Bogart - a great actor - was too old for his role. One key point of the book - which, I’m afraid, lots of readers miss - is that Cdr. Queeg was a young, inexperienced officer, woefully inexperienced for the job of commanding even as small and unimportant a ship as that one.
The “real” Caine (i.e., the one in the book) was, of course, a conversion from an old four-stacker. NAVSOURCE has some interesting photos of destroyer-minesweepers - including a couple of the U.S.S. Zane (DMS 14). One of her junior officers was Ens. Herman Wouk.
the author of the winds of war series.
Actually there is some AM already available for the Fletcher.
Tom’s has some generic 12" and 16" portholes and radar screens in PE while HR makes anchors and some weapons. There is also some weapons meant for the 1/144 Gatos that could be used with some work, but odds are that the manufacturers of them will also release them for the Fletcher.
I wouldn’t doubt an early war version by someone. There’s been an upswing in 1/144 ship releases in the last couple years. The Gatos, Landing Craft, and now the Fletcher. So far it’s been Trumpeter and Revell, but a few other companys have one off releases, like ICM’s Type XXIII U-Boot, BattleAxe’s USS Monitor (why there hasn’t been an attempt at a CSS Virginia…), and a few Pitroad/Combat Sub releases as of late.
Maybe a Gearing or a Sumner is in the future as well. The Smith mine ships were based on one of those two. (Sumner I think) A through I Classes are also in that size range and time period. Battle Class, Freccia, most Japanese destroyers (though the Fubukis would be pretty big)… The Tribal Class would be nice. They’d all be around 25"-32" or so. Lots of possibilities…
Just a bit short of a meter, approximately 30", or 0.7874 M.
30 inches long … sheesh, where do you guys put these monsters after you build them?