1/700 U.S.S. Fletcher (DD-445)
This was a quick build of the 1996 Tamiya kit to get myself back in the mood for building ships. It was more or less out of the box - the only modifications were to paint the black antiskid strips on the deck, a PE rail over the bridge, and addition of a SG radar below the kit's SC.
This is also an upgrade from a prior build. Around 1994 I bought and built a 1978 Matchbox Fletcher. 25 years later in 2019 I rebuilt it, changing the paint colors to the correct shades for Navy Blue (5-N), Ocean Gray (5-O) and Haze Gray (5-H) and adding radars and other aftermarket parts. The inspiration for the rebuild was Eric Hammel's Guadalcanal: Decision at Sea, which I had just finished. The Fletcher was the last ship in the line at the naval battle off Guadalcanal on the night of November 13, 1942, and the book really got me interested in the different fire control systems on the ship. Unlike almost all the rest of the U.S. Navy ships that were there that night, Fletcher as a new ship (and first of her class) had a full suite of radars, including SC, the brand-new SG, and radar fire control.
The kit is not a bad one. It would benefit from more PE, but I had decided before I started that it would just be a quick build. I have two more 1/700 destroyers in the stash that have extensive PE, and I'll put in the time on them. One problem is the size of the hull numbers, which are too big. the correct size is shown on the older model. If I ever go back and add PE I'll locate correctly sized hull numbers.
The biggest aid in this build was the instruction sheet for the Revell 1/144 Fletcher, which has extremely detailed painting instructions for its complicated 1942 camouflage. So as the photo of the 2019 and 2025 Fletchers side by side show, the colors didn't change, but the complexity of the camouflage did.
Excellent result, especially for a quick build, Michael!
Beautiful work done, Michael @mcsmith1964
Very nice work on that camouflage scheme.
Nice job, Michael.
Nice work, Michael. A great ship.
You sure nailed the camo…overall effect works..
Nice work, Michael. Excellent paint job.
Great work, Michael. I had given up on the Matchbox Fletcher years ago, just because the parts seemed so very clunky in the box. There are only a couple of the Matchbox kits that I ever expect to building from my stash.
Your minimal PE looks fine after the great paint work. The 1/700 Fletcher is blessed (cursed?) with so many different manufacturers' tailored PE sets that they each make the other look insufficient.