1/144 USS Fletcher, Revell kit with many extras

[Alan P]

Hi All,

This has been an on-off project for a couple of years since I busted up my knee in a football accident very early in 2012. Build thread is HERE. The sheer size and scale almost put me off it for months on end, and it seemed it would never get finished, but a late burst this autumn saw it finally completed.

The kit is very impressive, if a little under-detailed for the scale. The Eduard Big Ed set saw to those deficiencies, along with some scratchbuilding of searchlight mounts, deckhouse details and hose reels. I also used BMK metal barrels for the 5in turrets. The ship is painted in WEM Colourcoats enamel for the camouflage (5-H Haze Gray, 5-O Ocean Gray and 5-N Navy Blue), the black is Lifecolour acrylic, the hull is Halfords red primer. The deck blue is Tamiya XF-17 Sea Blue. I used Gator masks for the hull pattern. Despite the longer drying time required for enamels, these Colourcoats are the best paints I have ever used, and I was so happy with them, I spazzed about £60 on the full range!

The ship is portrayed as commissioned, and represents the look of the Fletcher when she went on shakedown trials in July 1942. This is definitely the best model I've ever made, and I hope you like it too!

All pics courtesy of Farnborough IPMS website, taken by the polymath Dr Flangemeister!

[Shar2]

Another top build Al. She looks absolutely superb.

[Stuck]

Colorful ,interesting , fantastic !!

[Brad]

Fantastic build, I really like it.

[russ c]

I like it too ! Great build

Been looking at the Tamiya `350th one, you may just have convinced me

[longshanks]

Cracking portrayal of beautiful ship

[snapper_city]

She is looking good. Was a pleasure to see her at Farnborough...

[Dave A]

As fine an example of a "tin can" as I've seen...

[Martian]

It may have taken a long time but you have ended up with a real masterpiece.

Martin

[david v]

Lovely job, times not important when you end up with something like this.

Dave

[AirfixAndy]

That seriously floats my boat !

Andy

[Alan P]

Thanks very much you guys!

Cracking portrayal of beautiful ship

It is a very handsome design. The whole class really made a nuisance of itself in the Pacific, particularly at Leyte Gulf.

I like it too ! Great build

Been looking at the Tamiya `350th one, you may just have convinced me

Glad Revell made such a good job of the kit, and likewise the Tamiya 1/350 version. I did it as the USS Spence, the pics are on this forum somewhere. The build might prove useful if you want to upgrade the kit to a later timeframe in WW2.

Thanks again, Al

[AntPhillips]

Super build and finish.

[Deacon]

This is just superb mate.

[Arkady72]

Great job. Model must be huge?

[Alan P]

Thanks very much again guys.

Great job. Model must be huge?

Thanks Artur. It's just under 79cm long, which is still shorter than the Revell 1/72 U-Boats.

[stevej60]

Looks stunning,great build thread too,

[HOUSTON]

Very nicely detailed

[Tabio]

Lovely job, very crisp

[Gisbod]

Great job Al,

Very tempting.. Wonderland models have them on sale for £33. I'd love to have a bash...

Guy

[phildagreek]

Looks super, congratulations on the build.

[Sinx]

I'm building that kit at the moment and am getting close to painting and I wondered what order you painted it in, especially on the superstructure - decks then vertical surfaces or vice versa?
Cheers

Martin

[Alan P]

I'm building that kit at the moment and am getting close to painting and I wondered what order you painted it in, especially on the superstructure - decks then vertical surfaces or vice versa?

Cheers

Martin

Hi Martin,

I usually stick to the general rule of lightest colour first, so I did the Haze Gray, then the 5-O Ocean Gray, and did the decks last.

It worked pretty well, and the slab sides meant i didn't have to do much masking either. Good luck with yours, I actually have another one of these which i plan to do as a waterlined diorama. Someday.

Al

[Sinx]

Thanks Al

After the hull I had wondered about doing the main decks first before I added anything to them, and then painting the 'sub assemblies' - vertical then decks. It was the latter I expected to have problems with - trying to mask the vertical. Any tips?!

Martin

[Alan P]

I find the slab sides meant that you only needed to mask the very edge around the part where the deck meets the deckhouse sides with 10mm Tamiya tape. I then airbrushed from directly above so there was no overspray on the deckhouse sides. Worked out fine!