USS ROPER (DD-147) by Schooner - Revell - 1/240 - PLASTIC

[schooner]

 

 

 

ROPER was one of the numerous WILKES and CLEMSON classes of “4-piper” flush-deck destroyers built during WW1. Commissioned in 1919 she served on active duty for about 3 years then spent the next 8 years in mothballs. Recommissioned in 1930, she remained on active duty until 1945, first as a destroyer, and then later as a fast transport.

 

Why this kit?

 

There are several recent resin kits of these ships on the market, both in 1/350 scale and 1/700 scale. Bluejacket ship crafters has a big 1/96 scale in wood. This Revell kit has been around forever and it shows. It’s a mixed bag of decent detail, some odd additions (e.g. wood deck planks) and some really bad moulding, which was typical of plastic kits from 50-60 years ago. I picked up the kit on Ebay where it shows up now and again.

 

I picked this kit because I’ve always liked the look of these ships. I picked this scale because I want to try some detailing that would be too hard at 1/350 scale and I just don’t have the room for a 1/92 scale model. The availability of aftermarket PE and 3D printed items will hopefully correct many of the kit’s issues.

 

 

Why the ROPER?

 

While there are a wealth of 4-pipers to choose from, I decided on ROPER because of her North Carolina connection. In April 1942 she was on independent patrol off the Outer Banks. Near midnight she detected a surfaced submarine, U-802. The U-boat was apparently in such shallow water that she was not able to dive and was subsequently sunk by the ROPER, which was credited for the the first US sinking of a U-boat in WW2.

 

References. I’ll be using 3 references.

 

1. The Destroyer Campbeltown by Dr Al Ross, Anatomy of the Ship Series.  A wealth of drawings and photos that shows the Campbeltown in her earliest life as the USS Buchanan (DD-131), her 2nd life as a RN escort, and her 3rd, and most famous transformation, into a German patrol boat look-alike for the raid on St Nazaire.
   
2. Flush Decks and Four Pipes. This is an out of print large paperback book from the US Naval Institute that covers all the 4-piper classes. It has a lot of photos, some drawings and tabular data about the disposition of each ship.
   
   
    
3. Four Stacker Comic Book. An odd but interesting memoir by a sailor about his years on a 4-piper. Lots of cartoon drawings and descriptions of life onboard. Helps bring the ship to life.
   
   

 

 

 

After market items

 

After several months of waiting, a set of PE from the now closed Gold Metal Models showed up on Ebay. It contains parts for the Revell USS WARD kit, as well as Revell kit of the Destroyer Escort USS BUCKLEY.

 

 

One of the biggest weaknesses of the Revell kit is the 4 4-inch guns, just awful. Fortunately the online supply house DISTEFAN has a lot of parts for this kit so I bought a set of the guns:

 

Edited 1 hour ago by schooner

[NavyShooter]

I love the cartoon book!  A great sailor's story!

[ddp]

schooner, it is not DD-214 but DD-147 as painted on the side of her bow in your 1st picture.

http://www.navsource.net/archives/05/147.htm

https://www.google.com/search?q=uss+roper+(dd-147)&oq=USS+ROPER&aqs=chrome.1.0i512l3j0i22i30l4j0i390i512i650l3.3589j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[schooner]

Thanks ddp, I don't know where I came up with that!

[ddp]

you are welcome.