by John Bange
1/500 USS Phelps DD-360 (Scratchbuild)
With this model, I was trying to show a Porter class destroyer as she looked in 1944. The Porters went through a number of refits during the war ultimately serving as radar picket vessels. In this configuration, they lost one or both of their torpedo tube mounts and one of their depth charge racks.
I started with a cedar hull. The bridge is a modified piece from Lindberg's DE model as is the smaller forward stack. It sits on a deckhouse made of basswood. The rear stack and 20mm gallery are hand made of plastic and PE. The remaining TT tubes are cut from a DE kit. The mk 37 is wood with pe radar. Rails, radar,ladders,liferings, and hatches are from GMM. Phelps received two new mark 32 5" dual mounts in the refit along with a 5" single. Mine came from Lindberg as did the light AA weapons. The cutwater is brass etch and the anchor chain came from my wife but she doesn't know it.
