by Dirk Mennigke
1/350 USS Fletcher DD-445 (Tamiya)
Tamiya's 1/350 Fletcher kit is a good starting point for a model of this famous destroyer class. To come as close to the original as possible, some additions and changes have to be made. A lot of pictures and plans of the original can be found in the internet under http://www.destroyerhistory.org/. Plans can be purchased at the Floating Drydock. At Destroyer History you will find about 600 pictures of USS Nicolas alone, showing every detail of the ship.
Before assembly starts we have to deal with an important point, to get a realistic look; bulwarks and platforms are always a bit on the thick side. So you are better off when you sand them thinner or replace them with brass profiles. To get additional highlights I opened doors, hatches, windows and chocks.
The bridge lacks flag bags. I scratchbuilt them from styrene profiles. The handrailing just below the bridge was sanded flat and replaced by a piece of railing from the spares box. The Mk 37 AA-director was reworked; I added firecontrol radar Mk 12 from the GMM Photoetch fret.
I painted my USS Fletcher in Measure 12 splotch, standard pattern in 1942. This means all vertical surfaces from the waterline to the deck are painted Ocean Grey (5-O) and with splotches of Sea-Blue (5-S). All vertical superstructure surfaces get a Haze-Grey (5-H) splotched with Ocean-Grey (5-O). All horizontal surfaces are painted in Deck Blue (20-B). To my great relief there are a lot of pictures on the web that show you how Fletcher really looked. Do not use the pattern offered in the Tamiya kit! I don’t know what pattern it is, but it’s not Fletcher’s!
As a colour reference I used pictures from Warship Pictorial 9, Carrier Yorktown class. The colour pictures were taken in daylight without direct sunlight.
