Tamiyas USS Fletcher in 1:350

The USS Fletcher was the name ship of a class of 175 ships. It was the largest destroyer class ever built and they were considered to be a very successful design.
They served in the US Navy during the WW2 and the Korean War. A number of them were sold to other navies during the fifties. Several of them served into the seventies and the BAM Cuitlahuac (ex USS John Rodgers) of the Mexican Navy served until 2001.

Although Tamiyas kit is a bit old by now, it's still a good kit. One nice thing about it is that the hull is in one piece. Although its level of detail can't match recent issues from Tamiya, Dragon and Hasegawa, it's still as good as some recent Trumpeter kits. The fit is very good and in general it's an easy build. A good ship model to start with, if you are new to ship modelling.

The build was straightforward enough. As usual I scratch built the mast and added thwarts to the whale boats. For further detailing I used Gold Medal Models excellent PE set. The set allows you to build the Fletcher in early, middle or late war configuration. I chose the early war configuration, since I like the Measure 12 camouflage.
Tamiya made cutting the masking the camouflage a lot simpler, by providing a painting plan in 1:350.

I finished my USS Fletcher in January 2009

11 additional images. Click to enlarge.