1/311 USS Buchanan DDG14 (Scratchbuilt)
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by Phil Toy |
1/311 USS Buchanan DDG14 (Scratchbuilt)
USS Buchanan was the last Charles F Adams Class equipped with the twin arm Mk11 Tartar Launcher. The 23 ship CF Adams class DDG was the most abundant and important of early USN guided missile destroyers with three additional ships built for West Germany and another three built for Australia. They were developed from the previous Forrest Sherman gun destroyers, retaining the attractive classic American Destroyer Profile, and were well armed for anti-air, anti-submarine, and anti-surface warfare with rapid fire 5” guns, tube launched and rocket boosted homing torpedoes, and radar guided supersonic missiles.USS Buchanan was built by Todd-Pacific Shipbuilding in Seattle, launched 5-11-60, commissioned 2-7-62, decommissioned 10-1-91, and sunk as target 6-14-00. She was based on the American West Coast during her entire life, and deployed to western Central America, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, South Pacific, in addition to the normal WestPac destinations. During the Vietnam War she deployed multiple times with the carriers and engaged frequently in NGFS, twice suffering minor damage and on one occasion casualties, from counter battery fire. This model depicts DDG14 as she appeared on 5-20-84 during an open house on San Diego Bay’s Broadway Pier when she was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 31.
This 1:311 model was scratch built in 1986. The anchor chain was purchased from a model train shop. Hull, superstructure, and masts were fabricated from sheet styrene and plastic rods. The captain’s gig was modified from the Monogram Brooke kit. The motor whaleboat was scratch built by laminating roughly shaped and pre-hollowed layers of sheet styrene modifying the Monogram kit’s whaleboat shape. The Mk42 gun mounts were modified from the Revell Forrest Sherman Kit. All other weapons and radars were scratch-built. Stretched sprue was used extensively for railings, lifelines, radar antenna and other details. The DesRon 31 shield was hand painted. Campaign ribbons were painted on white decal sheet which were cut into strips. Testors Model Master flat enamel paints were used with a final Dullcoat layer. The waterline model is mounted in a recently refurbished seascape of plexiglass, cotton, acrylic gel, acrylic paint, and gloss varnish.
