Scale: 1/125    

Set includes 5 mounts (turrets) with barrels:
2 "Double Knuckle" mounts with blast hoods
3 "Single Knuckle" mounts
5 barrels
 
Recommended to help build an early Fletcher class destroyer from the Lindberg 1/125 scale “Blue Devil Destroyer”, USS Melvin DD-680.

Among naval historians, the US Navy 5"/38 caliber cannon is considered the best intermediate-caliber, dual purpose naval gun of World War II. These models represent the 5"/38 cal. Mk.30 single-gun mount fit to several classes of warships and Coast Guard cutters.
 
Of the five 5-inch/38 Mk.30 single mounts normally fitted to a Fletcher class destroyer, two mounts were "Double Knuckle" heavyweight mounts fit to the main deck. The "Double Knuckle" mounts were known as "Mount 51" and "Mount 55".  Three "Single Knuckle" lightweight mounts were carried, all fit on top of deckhouses in superfiring positions, known there as "Mount 52", "Mount 53" and "Mount 54".
 
The two "Double Knuckle" mounts had a reinforced roof with two "bumps", called "knuckles", that resisted blast from another 5-inch turret firing overhead.  Double Knuckle mounts were usually fit with blast hoods to protect the gun mount captain.  The "Single Knuckle" mount was so named because of the single "bump" on the turret roof.
 
Compared to the "late version", the early version, reproduced here, appeared sometime before 1943, had a different arrangement of stiffeners on the front of the gunhouse and fewer fasteners on access hatches.
 
These mounts are often seen on "round bridge" Fletchers such as USS Fletcher DD-445 herself, and earlier Sims, Benson, and Gleaves class destroyers.  Please consult your references to know if this type is correct for your model.

Features:
overall dimensions and details scaled from official US Navy O.P. 1112 drawings dated March, 1945 and measurements taken from surviving mounts aboard the museum ship USS Kidd DD-661
details were confirmed by careful study of photographs of early Fletcher class destroyers
mount can be made rotatable and the gun can be positioned at any realistic elevation
an accurately shaped asymmetrical gunhouse (turret)
accurate, offset gun opening
forward face stiffeners
detailed turret bottom supporting structure with accurately placed bolt-head detail
rear vent
detailed gun captain blast hood, fit to the right side of the Double Knuckle mounts' roofs as they were during World War Two
barrels have an open shaft all the way through​
 
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