1/144 USS Fletcher DD-445 (Revell)

This is the Revell 1/144 scale kit of the USS Fletcher.  I depicted the ship as it appeared during March of 1943 in Measure 21 camouflage while serving in the South Pacific.

The Revell kit is basically sound, with some known but minor errors that need correcting, and some compromises caused by the use of the base parts for both a wartime and post-war version of the class. The only real howlers for an early Fletcher are the gun mounts with hoods, the angled rear face to the MK 37 Director and strangely enough the bow in profile - which is more typical of the post-war DDE addition of a straight reinforced forefoot for ramming submarines.  A couple of minor niggles are the inclusion of Bath Iron Work style navigation sideboards under the bridge wings, and the wrong pattern of non-slip deck pathway on the forecastle - this really is nitpicking.  Oh, and the deck is designed to sit into the hull edge and needs to be raised to be just clear of the side plating.  I think Revell did it that way to ensure a tight deck edge joint if you go the RC route - the interior of the kit has lots of indications that someone was thinking about dual use for this kit.

The kit is surprisingly sparse on detail for such a large model.  A lot of detail was added to put flesh on the bones, from keel to masthead. Some is photo-etch, suitably enhanced with additions.  I used parts from both the Eduard 'Big Ed' set and the Nautilus models etch, picking whatever version best suited the Fletcher.  The bridge equipment, anchors and 5 inch gun houses are 3D printed. The bofors mounts are, with the exception of Aber turned barrels and etched sights,  scratch built as I couldn't find any aftermarket versions that accurately depicted the very early Mk2 mounts that Fletcher carried. Other kit components, such as the torpedo tubes, whaleboats, searchlights and MK 37 director were corrected and detailed.  L'Arsenal resin and brass 20mm guns replaced the kit guns, while larger 600 lb depth charges were made up from aluminium tube to fit the Nautilus etched rails.

Stanchions for the wire rope safety rails were scratch built from brass and nickel steel micro tube and strung with Infinimodel lycra thread. The kit-supplied plastic stanchions are actually a pretty good idea, but a little thick and quite fragile. Etched railing in this scale looks flat and unconvincing, especially as the available Eduard etch has the proportions of a farmyard fence.  I did use the Eduard safety netting, fixing it to the middle rope before attachment to the stanchions.

The paint scheme is Colourcoats 5-N Navy Blue, modulated with some 5-S and the use of oils to create a chalky and slightly faded look, all over a black base with masked in lines to show the characteristic oil canning of the welded hull against the frames. Rigging is a combination of silk thread for the standing and running rigging, Syren miniature rope for the boat lines, and modelkasten elastic thread for the radio lines.

Dark Blue ships are hard to photograph so I apologise for the quality of the images.

Gallery updated 8/28/2018

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