USS Pillsbury DD-227 by michael.denigan - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1/96

[michael.denigan]

I've started work on the Bluejacket 310 destroyer. I am building her as USS Pillsbury DD-227. She was lost in the aftermath of Java during WWII with all hands. Taken by surprise, this aging destroyer nonetheless reacted valiantly, returning fire and launching torpedoes before being sunk by overwhelming IJN firepower.

 

Bluejacket makes a great model. It does need some modification to resemble a late 1930s Asiatic fleet DD. I am representing DD227 between 1937 and Oct 1941 as that represents her most complete configuration prior to her collision with USS Peary. Many thanks to "rcweir" for his assistance and to my fiancee, Sarah, for tolerating my latest obsession.

 

I am all ears for any critiques or suggestion for improvement. I am very much an amateur modeler.

[schooner]

I'll be following along as I recently bought one of the old Revell plastic kits of the Buchanan along with the PE set from GMM. I always thought the 4-stackers were an elegant design. 

The Anatomy of the Ship The Destroyer Cambelltown by BlueJacket's Al Ross (who designed your kit) has some vey good line drawings of the ship in her USN days, albeit without any of the China Station modifications like the searchlight tower.

Enjoy your build - it should turn out to be an eye-catching model.

[michael.denigan]

AOTS is an amazing resource, as are the plans for USS Pope from Floating Drydock (a hearty thank you to another member of this forum for sending them my way!)

[michael.denigan]

Forgive the poor quality pics but here is the current status. As always, feedback welcome.

[ddp]

i think your black waterline is too high as should be below the reinforcing hull strake not above it according to the US Navy's Booklet of General Plans of that class i have saved on my computer.

[michael.denigan]

Rather interesting you point that out... the plans show the waterline beginning well below the strake but some of the better photos I have show the boot topping extending above.

[ERS Rich]

An example of the normal difference between the Plans, the ideal, and what happens in the field….

 

Good luck with your project.

[michael.denigan]

Latest update on the bridge. The more I study photos of the Asiatic Fleet DDs, the more modifications I'm realizing the Bluejacket kit needs. 

[ddp]

what material are you going to make the 2 prop guards out of?

[michael.denigan]

22 hours ago, ddp said:

what material are you going to make the 2 prop guards out of?

I ended up using brass and styrene tubing. Pretty straightforward once I got started.

[michael.denigan]

For what it's worth, I loathe scratchbuilding. Does anyone have a source for 1/96 or even 1/72 Lewis guns and watercooled .50 cals?

[Dr PR]

The boot topping and the waterline are not the same thing.

 

The bottom of the boot topping is usually about the light load waterline - no fuel, ammunition or crew. Like the ship came from the shipyard before commissioning.

 

The top of the bott topping is about the full load waterline -  maximum fuel, stores, ammunition and crew aboard. More than the normal load.

 

The normal operating waterline is somewhere between the light and full load, somewhere about the middle of the bott topping. Look for the draft marks to show where the normal operating water line should be.

 

Add to this the fact that these waterlines changed every time new equipment, guns and such were added, and it is a bit tricky figuring where to paint the boot topping on a model.

 

Given this, remember that ships stationed overseas often did not have the resources of a shipyard and drydock when repainting, and the resulting boot topping can be just about anywhere the crew painted it.

[schooner]

I looked hard for 1/96 water-cooled mg's for my Liberty Ship build - no luck. I ended up scratch building them, not hard. You can see them on post #183 of the attached link:

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/13443-ss-stephen-hopkins-by-schooner-finished-bluejacket-shipcrafters-liberty-ship/page/7/

 

 

[michael.denigan]

8 hours ago, Dr PR said:

The boot topping and the waterline are not the same thing.

 

The bottom of the boot topping is usually about the light load waterline - no fuel, ammunition or crew. Like the ship came from the shipyard before commissioning.

 

The top of the bott topping is about the full load waterline -  maximum fuel, stores, ammunition and crew aboard. More than the normal load.

 

The normal operating waterline is somewhere between the light and full load, somewhere about the middle of the bott topping. Look for the draft marks to show where the normal operating water line should be.

 

Add to this the fact that these waterlines changed every time new equipment, guns and such were added, and it is a bit tricky figuring where to paint the boot topping on a model.

 

Given this, remember that ships stationed overseas often did not have the resources of a shipyard and drydock when repainting, and the resulting boot topping can be just about anywhere the crew painted it.

Exactly. It looks like the higher boot topping was just about universal by the 1920s.

[michael.denigan]

2 hours ago, schooner said:

I looked hard for 1/96 water-cooled mg's for my Liberty Ship build - no luck. I ended up scratch building them, not hard. You can see them on post #183 of the attached link:

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/13443-ss-stephen-hopkins-by-schooner-finished-bluejacket-shipcrafters-liberty-ship/page/7/

 

 

They look amazing, thank you!