The Sullivans DD-537 by Jack12477 - FINISHED - Trumpeter - 1:350 - PLASTIC

[Jack12477]

For my next build I have chosen to “go rogue” and join @RGL, @COG, @Canute, @Old Collingwood, and @Popeye the Sailor and build a plastic kit with Photo Etched Brass. The kit is 1:350 scale Trumpter model of the Fletcher Class destroyer The Sullivans DD537. The PE Brass is from Tom’s Modelworks.

 

The Sullivans is a United States Navy ship named in honor of the five Sullivan brothers (George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert) aged 20 to 27 who lost their lives when their ship, USS Juneau, was sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942. This was the greatest military loss by any one American family during World War II.  She was also the first ship commissioned in the Navy that honored more than one person.

 

After service in both World War II and the Korean War, The Sullivans was assigned to the 6th Fleet and was a training ship until she was decommissioned on 7 January 1965. In 1977, she and cruiser USS Little Rock (CG-4) were processed for donation to the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park in Buffalo, New York. The ship now serves as a memorial and is open for public tours.

 

I chose The Sullivans partly  because I have visited it while visiting my daughter in Buffalo and I can easily obtain detailed photos of her as needed during the build.

 

DD-537's specifications are:

Length: 376 feet 6 inches
Beam: 39 feet 8 inches
Draught: 17 feet 9 inches
Crew: 329
Displacement: 2,050 tons
Max Speed: 35 knots (40mph)
Fuel Capacity: 492 tons of fuel oil
Range: 6,500 nautical miles
Original Armament:
     Five 5 inch 38 cal gun mounts
     Ten 40mm Bofors AA cannon in five dual mounts
     Seven 20mm Oerlikon AA cannon
     Two 5 tube 21 inch Torpedo Tubes
     Two 24 round Hedgehog Anti Submarine Mortar Projectors
     Six Depth Charge Projectors
     Two Stern Depth Charge Racks
Current Armament:
     Four 5 inch 38 cal gun mounts
     Four 40mm Bofors AA cannon in dual mounts
     Four 20mm Oerlikon AA cannon
     Two 3 tube Mk32 Torpedo launchers
     Two 24 round Hedgehog Anti Submarine Mortar Projectors
     One Stern Depth Charge Rack
Power Plant: 4 Babcock & Wilcox oil fired boilers powering 2 General Electric steam turbines driving 2 screws with 60,000 Shaft Horsepower
Launching Date: April 4, 1943 at the Bethlehem Steel Company, San Francisco, CA

 

The obligatory box and contents photos follow:

 

[ccoyle]

Just out of curiosity, Jack ... I have often thought that this sort of smaller plastic project is the way to go for someone looking to get into the plastic + aftermarket details action. How much did your kit, PE details set, and PE tool set you back? And will this be your first time working with these media?

[mtaylor]

I'm pulling up a chair, Jack.   Will you be going for the "original" or current" configuration?   Now to go find a seat and some popcorn.

[CaptainSteve]

Grab me a large popcorn, please Mark ... I'll save you a seat.

[Jack12477]

Chris,  there were 2 kits purchased at the same time including the PE Brass so I didn't break everything down cost wise.  The Sullivans kit was 25.73 and the John S Brown Liberty ship (also 1:350 Trumpeter) was $38.72 from HobbyLinc, total for 2 kits with tax and shipping $74.    The brass PE for both ships totaled $63 from MegaHobbies, tax and shipping included.  The Hold/Fold tool, Black acrylic mat, and extra bending tool totaled $99.87 from The Small Shop (Oregon ??) tax and shipping included.  So for two kits, including PE it was about $137 for both kits.  The extra tools were a "wanna-have" extra.

 

To answer the second part of your question:  I've been modelling plastic for probably 50-60 years off and on, mostly in 1:35 scale Tamiya armor, fully camouflaged/weathered using an airbrush free hand (no masking), and super-detailed using a variety of stuff. Also did a lot of N-scale model railroading models in plastic, wood and a little card-stock.    If you remember the Hubley & Gabriel metal car/truck kits, I also did a bunch of them.  

 

My Dad was a huge model railroading fan, started with Lionel right after the war (that's WWII  ) , then S-scale when it was introduced, skipped over TT-scale, and went to HO scale, built most of his HO rolling stock from Athern (and others) kits; he and I built some of his rolling stock cars together, so it's sort of in my blood. 

 

Shep Paine's books and FineScale Modeler magazine provided a lot of modeling references for the Tamiya armor models. (Before I found MSW ) - I have close to 40 some-odd Tamiya 1:35 scale armor models, including a couple of unopened kits.

 

But this is my first excursion into PE Brass detailing. Watching the builds of RGL, COG, Semourbutts, et al, peeked my interest into trying PE myself.  Another reason is that I am running out of room for the larger wood ship models and need to do something a little smaller in overall size. I still have 4 wood kits on the shelf waiting for me to open them.

 

Someone starting out could easily built these two ships out of the box without the PE add-ons and still get a lot of experience and satisfaction and not break the "piggy-bank".

[Jack12477]

23 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Will you be going for the "original" or current" configuration? 

Not sure yet, Mark.  I have to inventory the kit first and see what is included and read the instructions thru and do some more research.

[lmagna]

Hi Jack

I was wondering what you were contemplating next after your ice boat.

 

From a quick look at the box top it looks like they are representing the ship as in WWII which if you are going to do the two ships together WWII would be a common time for both.

 

I would be more tempted to build the USS Johnston of the Battle of Samar and Task force Taffy 3 fame. But that is me doing the David Vs. Goliath thing again.

 

I'm onboard for this build as well as the Fletcher class is one of my two favorite classes of destroyers and it will be interesting to see what you do with her.

 

I am also interested in your introduction to PE and the use of the bending jig.

 

[Tom E]

Jack, 

I'm pulling up a chair for this build!

With all the plastic models on MSW now, It's rekindling the kid in me that did nothing but plastic models.

 

I've never worked with PE, but I really want to give it a try. 

It does add some great detail.

 

PS - Your Ice boat came out great! I doubt I'll ever be a scratch builder, but If that was a kit....I would buy it!

 

Tom E 

[Jack12477]

17 minutes ago, Tom E said:

Jack, 

I'm pulling up a chair for this build!

With all the plastic models on MSW now, It's rekindling the kid in me that did nothing but plastic models.

 

I've never worked with PE, but I really want to give it a try. 

It does add some great detail.

 

PS - Your Ice boat came out great! I doubt I'll ever be a scratch builder, but If that was a kit....I would buy it!

 

Tom E 

Tom

 Welcome ! I've never done PE before either, so this will be interesting.

 

Re: Ice boat, Thanks.  But you could scratch build a ice boat, there's no hull to build or plank, just a keel aka backbone, runner plank, mast, spars.

[Jack12477]

Some photos of The Sullivans that I took in September 2011 showing her tied up at the wharf alongside the cruiser Little Rock at the Buffalo (NY) Naval Park. I plan to return and get some more photos and take the tour of the ship.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Jack12477

[Canute]

Sign me on for your build, Jack. Mmm, fresh popcorn.

 

I'm with Lou on USS Johnston and Taffy 3.  A heroic fight.

[Javlin]

I built the Gleaves class by Dragon was a nice kit came with the PE will be poking the head on the build Kevin

Gator Glue!

[Jack12477]

37 minutes ago, Canute said:

I'm with Lou on USS Johnston and Taffy 3.  A heroic fight.

You and Lou have me on that one. I confess I am not very up-to-date on WWII Naval battle history and even less knowledgeable about WWI Naval battles.

[Ryland Craze]

I am looking forward to following your build. I enjoy reading the current builds of our MSW plastic modelers and the photo etch really intrigues me.  I also like the weathering of these plastic models.  It brings them to life.

[marktiedens]

Hi Jack - as I recall,the Sullivans were from Iowa(please correct me if I am wrong),so being from Iowa I just might have to follow along!

 

Mark

 

 

[lmagna]

3 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

I confess I am not very up-to-date on WWII Naval battle history

Here is a short history of the Johnston and Commander Evans and their actions in Taffy 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Samar#USS_Johnston

 

There were of course other destroyers and destroyer escorts involved but Evans almost single handed took on a number of Japanese cruisers destroyers and several battleships including the 18" gun Yamoto.

 

The Johnston even managed to blow the bow off of one ship, a cruiser I think. The hull number on the Johnston was 557.

 

As I suspected the Sullivans you have sitting in NY bears little resemblance to the WWII ship.

[RGL]

I’m in. 

[Canute]

For a good read on that battle, pick up "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James D Hornfischer. He's also done a few other books.

[ccoyle]

Drifting a little off-topic here, but I had a distant cousin on the Samuel B. Roberts DE-413 at Samar.

[popeye the sailor]

just caught your build on the radar Jack........looks to be a very interesting project.  quite impressed with your portfolio......quite a background    I look forward watching this project.

[Jack12477]

Lou,

Thanks for the history lesson. I was vaguely familiar with the overall history of the Battle of the Philippine sea and Leyte Gulf from the old TV series Victory at Sea (yes, I am that ancient of days) but not the the individual battles.

 

And, yes, The Sullivans was decommissioned in 1946 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet. It was re-commissioned in 1951 and returned to active duty. Wikipedia has some of her history  There is a second ship named The Sullivans (DDG-68) an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided  missile destroyer commissioned in 1997. Al-Qaeda attempted to attack and blow her up in 2000 but they failed. They later successfully attacked the USS Cole in the same year.  I believe I saw a model of the 2nd ship (DDG-68) offered, which I may build at a later date.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Jack12477

[Jack12477]

9 hours ago, marktiedens said:

Hi Jack - as I recall,the Sullivans were from Iowa(please correct me if I am wrong),so being from Iowa I just might have to follow along!

 

Mark

 

 

Mark, welcome aboard.   And, yes, you are correct, the brothers were from Waterloo, Iowa.

[Jack12477]

Kevin, Denis, Ken, Greg, Ryland, welcome aboard.

 

Greg (@RGL), you've set a very high standard to follow. Glad to have you along for the build.

 

Chris (@ccoyle), drifting a little off-topic is okay with me as long as we don't get too far adrift.

[Jack12477]

Well, the "newbie" to PE just encountered his first screw-up.   While looking over the kit and PE parts, I discovered that the PE enhancement kit does not include doors or deck hatches, those are in a separate package. So it's back to MegaHobbies for the remaining parts. (what's that old saw about a ship being a big hole in the ocean into which you pour money ) In the meantime, I can work on prepping the hull and deck for priming and painting while I wait for the order to come in.

[jud]

 

 

 

 

Going to be sitting in on your Sullivans build, My first ship was the USS Ammen DD 527, a Fletcher, so your model will look like home to me.

[cog]

On 11/6/2018 at 1:01 AM, Jack12477 said:

Tom

 Welcome ! I've never done PE before either, so this will be interesting.

 

Re: Ice boat, Thanks.  But you could scratch build a ice boat, there's no hull to build or plank, just a keel aka backbone, runner plank, mast, spars.

Don't sell yourself short o the ice yacht Jack. It is hard enough to do

 

I think 'll keep my distance from this versatile bunch of builders and sailors. I'll throw popcorn from the rafters when they distract you!

[mtaylor]

We've upped our standards Carl....  beer.

[cog]

53 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

We've upped our standards Carl....  beer.

you call beer an "upped" standard .............................................

[mtaylor]

For me it would be...  What would you prefer?

[cog]

A Yamazaki Single Malt 18 yrs old ... maybe ...

 

 

By the way, Jack, I'm hanging in the rafters by my finger nails, waiting on some P&PE movement ...