Scale: 1/144
Recommended to help build any "square-bridge" Fletcher from:
- Revell 1/144 scale "Fletcher Class Destroyer"
- Revell 1/144 scale "Fletcher Class Destroyer, Platinum Edition"
- Revell 1/144 scale "German Destroyer Class 119 (Z1/Z5)"
Sets of doors are available separately.
The 2,050-ton Fletcher class was one of the most successful wartime and post-war destroyer classes of the US Navy and arguably the most significant class in the Pacific war. 175 ships of the class were produced over a 32-month period during World War II. They were produced in two groups: 58 were built with a high, "Round Bridge" and 117 (two-thirds of the class) were completed with a low, "Square Bridge" which afforded better visibility for anti-aircraft defense. Several Fletchers served in foreign navies, the last, Mexico's Cuitláhuac, the former USS John Rodgers, retired in 2001.
This model kit is designed for Fletchers with the Bethlehem Steel-type square bridge having an "A/T" door on the port, aft bulkhead and no door to the captain's sea cabin aft on the starboard side.
Our references indicate that the following ships were built with a pilot house that had what we are calling the "Bethlehem Steel door configuration". Check your own references to be sure this pilot house is correct for your model.
- DD-532 Heerman
- DD-535 Miller
- DD-540 Twining
- DD-558 Laws
- DD-571 Claxton
- DD-596 Shields (post war)
- DD-630 Braine (post war)
- DD-631 Erben
- DD-642 Hale (WWII)
- DD-644 Stembel (post Korean War)
- DD-649 Albert W. Grant
- DD-650 Caperton
- DD-651 Cogswell
- DD-652 Ingersoll
- DD-653 Knapp
- DD-654 Bearss
- DD-655 John Hood
- DD-656 Van Valkenburgh
- DD-657 Charles J. Badger
- DD-658 Colahan
- DD-659 Dashiell
- DD-661 Kidd
- DD-674 Hunt
- DD-675 Lewis Hancock
- DD-676 Marshall
- DD-677 McDermott
- DD-680 Melvin
- DD-681 Hopewell
- DD-682 Porterfield
- DD-686 Halsey Powell
- DD-687 Uhlmann
- DD-688 Remey
- DD-689 Wadleigh
- DD-792 Callaghan
- DD-793 Cassin Young
- DD-794 Irwin
- DD-795 Preston
- DD-796 Benham
- DD-797 Cushing
- DD-798 Monssen
- DD-799 Jarvis
Features:
- overall dimensions accurately scaled from builder's plans
- open, exterior 5'-6" "A/T" door locations per photos of actual Bethlehem Steel-built Fletchers
- open, interior "M/J" door frames
- interior bulkheads with accurately positioned structural framing for the pilot house forward, the starboard side light locker and the cabin's sea cabin
- interior radio, compass and electrical component replicas positioned on bulkheads as found on the museum ship USS Kidd DD-661
- scale, open, exterior 16" diameter airports (portholes) in proper locations
- scale, open, interior 10" diameter airport (porthole) on bulkhead between the Pilot House and the Fire Control Station
- integrated Mk.37 Director tower (Mk.37 available separately)
- exterior airport (porthole) wiper motor locations per Bath Iron Works drawings
- mast support frame
- ship's bell suspended from mast frame
- integrated loudspeaker (aka "reproducer")
- standard antenna lead-in insulators in proper locations
This 3D-printed model is designed to match the overall dimensions of features of the real ship as recorded in official Navy blueprints. It is not a copy of any injection molded plastic or resin kits' parts and therefore may be differently shaped and sized. Some adjustment to your kit, or other aftermarket products such as photoetch, may be necessary for best fit.
© Model Monkey LLC. This 3D-printed product may not be copied or recast.