Rudderow class DE 1/700

[bianfuxia]

Well, I know the present global situation affects everyone differently, and many very, very badly. But the main effect on me is that I have a little more time on my hands late at night. Thank goodness for this group build, because it takes my pre-sleep mind off the things I could worry about - my wife's income which has crashed to zero, keeping her (with underlying respiratory issues and of Chinese descent) safe in the present mess, worrying about whether my young kid's education is going to be forever ruined by these malfunctioning zoom calls...basically some of the same stuff you all must be worrying about to some extent, and in many cases I'm sure with much more to worry about than I have. So I've basically raided my stash for ships and I am just churning them out like those yards that pumped out Liberty ships in WW2.

 

Anyway so now I have finished my JMSDF destroyer and my JMSDF landing ship, I'm quite close on my IJN cruiser Natori and similarly close on my PLAN submarine. Time to roll out this cool little two-pack kit of the Rudderow class destroyer escort from WW2.

 

 

 

 

The kit has two of these sprues.

 

So in a GB some time back, 2018 summer I built this:

 

And recently when I bought this Rudderow kit I figured it was because it could escort this carrier. In the GB and in the kit, that's the USS Bogue. Well my super quick and cursory research tonight showed me that I couldn't prove a Rudderow had ever been on a taskforce with USS Bogue. Most of the Rudderow ships seemed to serve in the Pacific. 

 

But one, the USS Eugene E. Elmore (DE-686), served in the Atlantic with a carrier called USS Block Island, which turns out to be a sister ship of...USS Bogue.

 

So, my USS Bogue is henceforth re-designated USS Block Island. They look near enough the same for me (remember, if you've seen my builds before, I'm a shelf-distance build-for-turnover modeller, I love seeing the deeply researched super accurate models others make but actually doing it is not the way I enjoy building). 

 

So I will try to build one of these Rudderows as the EEE. That will be my entry in the GB for this kit.

 

But one thing I really find interesting about so many of these WW2 ships - destroyers and smaller - was how some of them wound up having long, long post-war careers with smaller navies. These Rudderows, for example, served Taiwan, South Korea, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico after the war. A Taiwanese one was upgraded with modern triple torpedo tubes and a small SAM system, and served into the late 1980s.

 

That got me wondering what I could do with the second kit and some Skywave weapons sets (which come with pretty much all these kits I've been building). 

 

So I might do that at the same time and while it's not part of the GB rules, unless anyone objects I will record that here too (though not put it in the gallery). 

 

Your opinions on both builds are very welcome.

 

For reference, the ship is basically the same size as this modern Chinese corvette, a ship which packs a big gun, launchers for SSMs (amidships, not yet installed), a small SAM launcher, two small AA guns, and a flight deck and VDS (but no hangar). The pic is a bit distorted by the camera but the hulls are about the same length.

 

 

So for the upgraded fictional one, I was initially thinking I'd:

. replace the front gun with an OTO Melara 76mm - because as far as I can see these came into life in about the early-mid 60s and I want the upgraded version to fit in around there

. remove the rear quad 40mm and replace it with a DARDO (a little bubble mount with a twin 40mm, so the same-ish gun but more modern and radar guided), from 1965

. add triple Mk 32 torpedo tubes - from the 60s on

. put a radar on it

 

Then maybe delete the rear main gun, the rear smaller guns and the depth charges, and maybe make it an open working space or something. I wondered about a flight deck but maybe that's going too far. This would turn it into a reasonable small navy mixed purpose corvette - a bit of ASW capability, and more modern guns. The small flight deck or open work space could be for small detachments of marines, say, for patrolling islands or whatever.

 

Anyway let me know what you think!

[dnl42]

Looking forward to this! 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

4 hours ago, bianfuxia said:

I love seeing the deeply researched super accurate models others make but actually doing it is not the way I enjoy building). 

Gidday Bianfuxia, I think you're a man with a similar modeling ethos to myself. These two projects of yours will be very interesting I think, and like you I enjoy converting one model into another. When I do I like to be as accurate as I can (plausible in the case of a whiff) but I'm no rivet counter (no disrespect to those that are, I admire your dedication). Besides, I can only count to 10. ✋🤚 As for whether one of the models break the GB rules, it's not for me to say, but I have no objection. Just be prepared to forfeit all your prize money. 😁

     Looking at the box art of the destroyer escort she seems to have considerable AA fire power. I haven't seen a quad 40mm on a ship that small before. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with these. Regards, Jeff.

[dnl42]

If you want background on these vessels, the destroyer's and destroyer escort's finest hour is well told in The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer.

[bianfuxia]

Bad news on this one. I think I somehow managed to put it out with the recycling! I had a bunch of boxes on the floor and I threw them out a little while ago. Now for the life of me I can't find this kit anywhere in my room at all. So disappointing. Apart from the cost - I mean, it's like ripping up a $20 bill I guess - it's just really annoying that I'd do something like that. 

 

Anyway, if it turns up I'll bring it back to life.

[Ray S]

2 hours ago, bianfuxia said:

Bad news on this one. I think I somehow managed to put it out with the recycling! I had a bunch of boxes on the floor and I threw them out a little while ago. Now for the life of me I can't find this kit anywhere in my room at all. So disappointing. Apart from the cost - I mean, it's like ripping up a $20 bill I guess - it's just really annoying that I'd do something like that. 

 

Anyway, if it turns up I'll bring it back to life.

I know carpet monsters are hungry @bianfuxia, but this goes beyond the pale! Something like that happened to me once in the dim and distant past, I thought I had forgotten it!

 

Take care,

 

Ray

[Alan P]

Wow, first time I've heard of a total loss to the Bin Monster 😂😂😂

 

What's on deck next? 

[bianfuxia]

3 minutes ago, Alan P said:

Wow, first time I've heard of a total loss to the Bin Monster 😂😂😂

 

What's on deck next? 

So annoying! I mean, everyone has a lot on their minds at the present time but that was some pretty first rate stupidity on my part.

 

Anyway, I am still going with a couple of builds in this GB - I have the Chinese frigate and the last bit of my Japanese landing ship diorama. Also my big Japanese amphibious assault ship.

 

Still a few ships in my stash but I'll do these ones and see how I feel. 

 

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Bianfuxia, I'm sorry to hear about your lost model. Besides the disappointment and cost to yourself I thought it was going to be an interesting model. But I can understand how it could happen. Many years ago I threw out my favorite pair of pliers with the scraps from a job I'd just completed.

     Hopefully you've simply put it away somewhere and forgotten where (I do that all the time). Hopefully it will turn up. Until then, crack on with your others. Regards, Jeff.

[dnl42]

Dang! So sad to hear this.