[rjccjr]

Hi All;

For those of you who have ever hit the dreaded builders block and didn't want to give up the hobby completely here is a story for you. Years ago before arthritis got me, I was a runner committed to at least four miles a day every day, all year round. The experience taught two vital lessons. First, it is a test of stamina, not patience. Second, no matter how foul the weather, get out and do it. With careful planning after ten minutes at ten degrees and snow you actually get to be quite comfortable in a relative sort of way. What has this got to do with DD-793? Plenty. After weeks of drawing the urge to build had departed. Procrastination set in. About two weeks ago, I simply went over to the bench and started construction disregarding whether I wanted to not. Guess what. Breeze up. Doldrums gone. On with the show.

First up was to strip everything off the old build down to the frames and side plates. Then reconstruct with the new color correct and more accurate parts. The first shot shows the new weather deck, after deck house, and bulkheads forward. Secondly, comes a frontal shot of same. Third is all three deck house sections in place. It took hours of pouring over photographs to get the shapes right. Fourth shows the level two structures going into place. These are much different from a World War II configuration. The last shot shows the aft twin 40 MM foundation, the mid Quad 40 MM foundations and bridge house in place. One nice thing is that in the shop I can build at the work table and run over to the computer to correct the drawings as I go along. Next on tap test build the five inch turrets and stacks. That part is undoubtedly going to be nasty. Started a separate set of drawings so the ship as it was just before retirement can be built as well as the present day configuration.

Regards, rjccjr