Posted by Don Murphy on September 9, 2013, 9:46:37
Uncle with Alzheimers reacted to a photo of his old ship, the USS Frank E. Evans. So I decided to build him a ship as a talking point for when family go to visit. The USS Frank E. Evans was an Allen M. Sumner Class destroyer built in the later part of world war two.
There are no large scale plastic kits of a Sumner Class destroyer: only resin. So our only choice is to crunch a Gearing Class kit. Enter the Dragon USS Gearing kit. The fit is typical Dragon - shit. The side walls are over-engineered to the point of severe pain. More than five wall pieces each side. No ####ing reason for that other than blatant over-engineering. The top deck does not fit in to the lower hull. So be prepared to glue and putty. Why? Who knows. Once you've painfully affixed the side walls, you then get to glue the superstructure deck to the top.
Yup...doesn't fit. That's okay, you like a challenge, right? Apparently the plastic doesn't. Snip the bastard off at the middle and glue one piece at a time. Yay...four piece deck. And this folks...in the year 2013. Luckily this is going to my uncle.
Sanded down all 40mm gun positions. Forward 20mm guns will make way for Hedgehog ASW projectile launchers. These will need to be scratchbuilt.
First off, all the AA needs to go. Tubs and all. All the 20mm and 40mm guns were abandoned during her first minor pre-FRAM upgrade. In their place were the new rapid-fire 3inch (75mm) guns. Notice the huge gaps. This isn't dry-fitting folks! This is actual construction!
Bridge and main superstructure parts do not fit. Flag bags, director base, etc. Nope. No way. Hmmm. The gun deck behind the bridge superstructure is a combination of broken/shaved/trimmed pieces. Why, Dragon? Why? No...it's not me. Every review of Dragon ship kits has similar horror stories. Resin kit is starting to look juicier by the minute...
The ship - like many - received an update/upgrade post-war. Many upgrades. The first of these updates (FRAM I) included new AA guns and a tripod mast. Toothpicks are your friend and a tripod mast is easily constructed using scrap PE and Evergreen.
Once the mast is set up, we will need to use more PE scraps to construct a radar.
On the home stretch now. Just need to throw some paint on her. The differences between the Gearing Class destroyers and Allen M. Sumner Class destroyers are minimal. Even more so when you're elderly and have never seen a model of your ship before. It's been over fifty years since my uncle set foot onboard her.
did that for a member on modelwarship.com in using a gearing model into a Sumner class. I did the main part as in cutting & shortening the hull & deck as the member hasn't done that before wereas I have using 1/426 Arizona to build the Nevada class plus doing the Texas. the member did the rest of the ship after I did my part.
Good Day, As my uncle served on the Evans, I have a particular interest. I try to keep up with all related references. I am hoping to contruct a scale model myself. Best regards, John Kramer The Woodlands Texas
Thanks for "dredging" this thread back up to the top of the board - a very interesting revisit of a couple years ago.
Although Don did not make it clear whether his build used a 350-scale Dragon "Smart Kit" - a couple of which I since came to own, and which I can tell you in the box each one looks just great. The only SmartKit parts I've fitted, however, were from the Dragon 350-scale Benson/Gleaves DD - comprising a couple of 5-inch turrets, which assembled quite nicely, IIRC. Plus, both these SmartKits have just spectacular molded-in detailing, as well as dedicated (small) photo-etched brass frets with specialized details. Perhaps these SmartKits upgraded/replaced the one found so bitterly disappointing by Don, here.
But now I've got more news for you, too: soon after the above start of this thread, I made significant progress on a project I'd had, to essentially scratchbuild a Gearing/Sumner, in about 1/500 scale, for mass-production in resin. Getting as far as some prototype lower hulls: not yet perfect, but already quite useable. Plus of course having finished production stock of 550-scale resin Twin-5inch Turrets, Twin-3inch Open Mounts, Quad- (also convertible to Twin-) 40mm Mounts, and Mk37 Directors (including options for their Cold War fits).
That's the Good News.
The Bad News is that by today (once again) I have to pack up and move my production workshop, including all the above having to go into boxes/storage, for some months. So, at the moment I am unable either to show you any example/demonstrators, for comparison with the above, nor to make further progress in refining/completing the hull (to be followed by the deck, etc.), as well.
Still, it is coming - one day - and in any case you are most welcome here, John: to watch for new developments, ask any questions and/or post any naval-related modelling (or related historical) items of interest you may have, John.
Not far, David - it's just that during the Tourist Season this time of year, it's hard to find another place - so I'm forced to pack everything into storage, until I finally can find one and (then immediately complete the) move.
Ironically, I'd be able to move and get back in operation faster if I were relocating further away (i.e., north)! But I hadn't been prepared/looking into such other parts of the country (yet...).
Do you have any decent pics of your old BBs - or whatever you're working on, these days - to send me, buddy?
i'll see about taking some pictures today being the sun is out of a group shot of all the Arizona hulls both unmodified & being worked on. will include pictures of the Arizona I built over 36yrs ago along side the 1 I'm working on off & on. will also include pictures of my 1st modified Arizona into the uss Mississippi that I built while in high school. that 1 will eventually get a total rebuild as not built right. will also do some pictures of the ap130 general squire attack transport using the revell hospital ship uss hope.
To think: Modelling as Therapy, for an older Vet - Bravo, buddy!
As for your excoriating (often hilarious) evaluation of the Dragon kit, it's truly shocking - even after having personally seen how bad was their 1:700 San Diego CLAA.
Before going to resin, however, there may be another (at least, partial) option: reworking a boneyard Aurora "Halford", if you can find one for cheap. "Halford" in quotes, because this mold does not depict a (floatplane-modified) Fletcher, as was the real USS Halford, but a Sumner/Gearing. (No idea how that mixup came about.)
As such, the kit has absolutely no value other than as a pristene, unbuilt collector's item (with the box-top/art worth more than the plastic, IMHO). As one of Aurora's very earliest molds, it is of course heavy and crude, as was the standard - but even so, a lot better than the new Dragon, sounds- (and looks) like. A rough contemporary of the Revell Fletcher, the Aurora Halford is likewise a flat-bottomed boat - but personally, I'd much rather put the effort into slapping on a hull-bottom extension (or waterlining it) and detailing the superstructure - which I notice, you doing a bit of, anyway - than having to chop up the deck OOB, and glue-up a needlessly-segmented hull, to begin with. With which, you are absolutely right: Dragon has now outdone even Trumpeter, for sheer ridiculousness! (Plus, am I wrong or - just like on Dragon's 700-scale CLAA - does the hull-bottom look a bit too flat, especially for a DD?)
Finally, if you did restore a boneyard Aurora Halford (for which you should pay absolutely nothing), what you would end up with would be significantly larger - closer to 1:300 scale - yet not so much so that you couldn't also use spare 350-scale detail parts and PE - the most abundant/economical of these, available. One day I may make a hull-bottom correction for the Revell Fletcher, which could also "bolt-on" to the Aurora Halford hull, which is almost identical in size.
In any case, you're doing a yeoman's job on that Dragon "SumRing" (or "GearNer" ) - and even more so in Therapy for an ageing family member - that's really awesome, Donny!