1/350 USS Henderson DD-785 (Dragon)

I just started in this hobby again and this is the first ship I have done.  I made this for a friend who's grandfather served on this ship in the Korean war.  He was the fire direction officer and sat in the hatch on the directional radar on the top of the superstructure and controlled the 5 inch guns, as well as the ability to control the quad 40mm Bofors.  I got the chance to talk to him when I gave it to him for his birthday and he had some great stories.  He also pointed out some details I got wrong for this particular Gearing Class ship.  From what I can remember, there were no dual 20mm guns located near the bridge of the ship, and the 3rd rear quad 40mm was not there while he served on the ship.  I made this from the Dragon Models 1/350 U.S.S. Chevalier DD-805 kit and modified it slightly from pictures I found on the internet.  Mostly omitting the rear radar tower and adding some scratch built pieces to the rear boiler smoke stack.  The kit was great to work with, and was a fun way to get back into the hobby.  I learned a lot and hopefully will incorporate my learning's into my next ship.  I learned a ton from the builders on this site and always enjoy seeing the new gallery items - there are so many extremely talented builders here.

I used Vallejo primer, and Tamiya paints.  I also used Abteilung oils for the minor rust and sun/salt stains on the hull.  The rigging was done with Caenis 20 Diner thread.  The photo etch that was used came with the kit.

Gallery updated 5/7/2015

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