OOps, my bad, USS SLater, DE-766 is in Albany, and not a bad tour.
Ok, and “too far for a day trip” does mess with my Texas sensibilities, abotu 280 miles, Albany to Buffalo, or about the same distance as DFW to Houston, a trip I take once a month for work.
And, I “get it” places are different in size and scope. DFW is near-nigh 80 miles across, about the same distance as Boston to Springfield.or Springfield to Albany for that matter.
DFW metro is around 5.2 million in population, not quitethe Massachusettes population of 5.8 million (Although the 7-county “dfw area” is well over 6 million. Houston is right at 60 miles E/W and 75 mile N/S (depending on whereand how you measure). The immediate metro is 7.8 million, the 9 county coverage is over 10 million, or nearly a third of the entire State’s population.
I hear ya Cap, but we don’t have those wide open spaces you do. Buffalo’s a pain to get to from Burlington VT, lots of secondary two lane highways, mountains and forests. Google says 6.5 hrs one way
Burlington to Albany is more doable, mostly interstate and decent highways.
I knew there was a DD in Albany I wanted to see, but my next trip will likely be the USS Salem & USS Massachuettes, though the’re a bit out of the way too*.*
All on my post retirement bucket list though, along with USS Olympia, and across the river from her, the USS New Jersey. Those last two I just descovered, are almost exactly the same distance, timewise from me as is the Little Rock.
Battleship Cove is pretty cool. But, it’s a better trip in milder months, like April or May. You need a day just for Massachusetts. The Kennedy is actually a pretty quick tour. They no longer have the Soviet patrol boat.
The real problem is that there’s not really a good place nearby to to stay, from Fall River to Springfield to Attleboro is kind of sketchy/skeevy. Taunton used to be decent, but, it’s not great, and Providence is complicated.
Note that Salem is only open on weekends–but, there are a number of quaint places to stay near Salem town itself–even if the town is a bit of a tourist trap.
Well, perhaps by that time they will have picked out a spot to put her, and gotten the hot dog stand going again (I’m sore jaded on BTC and their motivations [my reference was to the previous “Commission” that had a hot dog stand on the Main Deck aft of the Galley]). The paint scheme still scans ridiculous to me, it’s a mix of Meas 11 and 12 and not at all Meas 22 in the slightest.
Thank you, great info. Hopefully I’ll be able to con…vince the wife to come along. Sounds like we can: Drive to Salem first on Saturday, check out the cruiser, walk around town, have dinner and stay the night there. Sunday, have a short drive to Battleship Cove, spend as much time as she’ll tolerate then head for home.
Brandon Lowe of Squadron said he will have a pre-release copy of the Fletcher at his booth at the IPMS Nats later this month. It will be available to be pawed over
Squadron is still showing “Pre-order only.”
Internet Hobbies is showing a reduced price, US$118, for preorders.
I found a UK site showing a £99 price.
Ben at Midwest Model shop was given one of the first-run copies of USS Fletcher, and has started an out-of-the-box series on his YT channel.
From that video, the hull numbers all appear to be shaded, and it’s not very obvious if the US flags are 48 starred or not.
Hopefully, our man Steve (aka ModelMonkey) will get his Fletcher products up and running in 1/200.
A sonar dome, wartime and postwar is very much needed for the kits (and the 1/350 editions, too).
The first shipment to Squadron is reportedly in country (pre-tariff) and the container is enroute between Long Beach and Georgia. Most of that order is supposed to have been spoken for, but according to Brandon at Squadron, there may be some extras available. Brandon has said that he will maintain pricing as best as he can.
A second container is on the ship and is expected to arrive within the month. What the price will be at that time is a matter which changes daily, if not hourly. Other announced products from Asia are on hold.
Jeff Herne, former FSM editor, is a Fletcher afficiano, author of a book on the subject, and ‘expert’ (that means he is more than 15 miles from home and has a slide show), is working on 3D items. He showed a MK37 director last night on the Squadron Live podcast. He says he has 20mm, 40mm, 1.1 inch, directors, radars and other items in the can and ready to go. He said that he was working on correct configuration gun tubs to allow the depiction of any ship through its life. Mix and match.
At 200 scale in addition to the sonar, he needs to add the engine room gozins and gozouts, Their configuration and locations are well documented
To add to Ed’s comments, below is a picture of the book that Jeff Herne wrote long ago. It might still be available through Amazon, Ebay, or some other sites.
Very excited about these finally coming out! I built the old Lindberg 1/125 Fletcher and I have the Revell 1/144 in the stash that I hope to start this Summer. I hope to get at least one or two of these new destroyer kits this year.
My Fletcher kit is on the way from Squadron. Just over a hundred at pre-tariff price. Expect it the first of the week. I had preferred the Stevens version with the aircraft catapult but after the recent upheavals in the market I decided to pull the trigger now.
During last nights Squadron Live podcast the future availability of the kits was discussed. The head of MMD (Squadron’s parent importer) indicated that the plan was 3 to 4 months between versions. All things normal, that would put the Stevens in the July-August timeframe and the Sullivans in the October-November time (just in time for Christmas), Prouction may be slowing. What the price would be is an open question. Brandon indicated that new import versions would likely run north of 200 and he’s not sure of the value for money question
Ordered mine yesterday. I’m not a ship guy, but this boat in this scale, well I just couldn’t resist. The price was reasonable, so I figured I’d grab one before the tariff prices kick in. If Squadron is correct in their estimate of future prices, that’s a 100% increase over pre-tariff prices. I sure hope he’s wrong as that will definitely slow down my purchasing.
