1/200 GPM USS Ward..

[RAFleischman]

I'm not sure if I should be ticked off or not...

I recently bought a copy of GPM's 1/200 scale USS Ward. The photos on the cover look nice, but the color of the actual parts is a much darker gray than the cover! I was hoping for a model the way she appeared on December 7, 1941.

If anyone knows what color she was that morning I'd appreciate some information.

Thanks,
russ...

[CMDRTED]

I have the jsc version and it is blue. not the prewar blue or navy blue but an odd cyan version not cataloged by any standards, but blue.

[Don Boose]

Hi Russ -

I'm sure you are familiar with this image: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...000/h80393.jpg

In that July 1941 photo, Ward appears to be in Measure 1 (overall dark gray [5-D] with light gray [5-L] above the funnel tops), which seems to have been the most common color scheme for the ships at Pearl Harbor and would be generally consistent with the color of the GPM model. [United States Navy Camouflage of the WW2 Era, Philadelphia, PA: Floating Drydock, 1976, p.5. This resource quotes the relevant U.S. Navy publications verbatim.]

Don Greer's painting of Ward on the cover of Al Adcock, US Flush Deck Derstroyers in Action (Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal, 2003), which depicts the action on 7 December 1941, seems to show Ward in Measure 3 (overall light gray [5-l], pretty much as on the cover of the GPM model. But the caption states that "WARD is painted in Measure 11, the Sea Blue System." [Sea Blue = 5-S with decks painted deck blue (20-B), according to the Navy pubs quoted int eh Floating Drydock book, p. 11.]

Al Adcock's US Navy Ships Camouflage WWII: Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts (Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal, 2008) does not shed any specific light on the way Ward was painted on 7 December 1941, but the color illustrations show Sea Blue (5-S) as looking very similar to Dark Gray (5-D).

I wait to hear from someone with more authoritative information.

Don

[RAFleischman]

Don, you are, as always, a wealth of knowledge.

This one will now go to the top third of my pile. That's actually pretty high praise!!

Thanks again Don!

russ...

[OhioMike]

Russ...any idea where a good place is to order this stateside?
Mike

[OhioMike]

Let me try this again, does anyone know a reliable and safe place to order this from the US? Thanks.
Mike

[RAFleischman]

I don't think there is anywhere in the States to order this from. I've never had a problem ordering from: kartonmodellshop.de

russ...

[Longbow]

Mike,
You can order using the GPM.pl site directly.
They are fairly fast and refund the postage not used.