Dd-793

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Got one propeller guard and the twenty MM gun together and on the stern. The assembly down to thirteen pieces. Two photos show the gun on the stern and one, next to a dime so you can see how small it is.

Regards rjccjr

[Cybermac]

I may not be a big fan of ships, but you are doing a great work here!

Cybermac

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

The propeller guards, two pieces each, and the anchors, six pieces each, are now in place.The air trunks near the forward stack on the port side, two pieces each, are also. Clearly, the "heaven only knows the number of pieces" days are over. There were a number of lockers placed aboard during the reconstruction and a determination of which ones are proper to the ship still in service and which were used as storage for the volunteers later on, is still to be determined. Before the plans are finalized, the number of parts will be reduced and a list of parts will be composed. I dread doing the list, because it is truly tedious and only done to make the work complete. The painting,rigging and over spray will occur in the final stages. Whether to do an ocean or keep the base simple has yet to be determined. The initial drawings for the mock up of the USS Juneau are under way.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

The starboard davits are in place and there is no decision as yet whether to install the Boats, although they are drawn. It seems that every step sets a scramble for more research . As the ship sits today, the boats are dismounted and are lying around the yard. I'm leaning toward mounting them on the model as when the ship was in her last days of service. It seems reasonable since they are available and could be installed at any time. There are a number of vents and trunks aboard which were installed after the Korean era. Most of them are in the vicinity of the forward stack and of course are asymmetrical port and starboard. They each are different in configuration and require separate drawings. Fortunately a good picture, taken from high up in the mast, shows their locations. It also shows a number of hatches, lockers and trunks that you would never see unless you were aboard the ship and looking for them. The result of this will be a model which is not the best built, but will be unquestionably accurate.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

It was decided to build and install the boats after all. Of course that set off a scramble to determine exactly how the boats were shipped during the last days of DD-793's service. They were suspended from the davits and did not rest on any part of the superstructure. The rig held the boats pretty tightly in place and the davits angled to swing outboard for rapid deployment. Each boat has only six parts, each davit has only three and eight more for the falls. That's thirty two pieces total. Compared to a single quad forty mount that's not bad. It is amazing how tightly fitted all these components are. There is not a lot of clearance for people to move around on a Fletcher, especially if it is moving on a rough sea. The old rule "One hand for the ship and one hand for hanging on", certainly applies here. Compared with DD-793, DD-850 is absolutely palatial.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Attention has now turned to completion of the foredeck and anchor handling equipment. A redesign of the winch is about complete and will be test built shortly. Several lockers between the forward stack and rear of the bridge are now in place. Progress is slow, but steady. The local weather has been quite a challenge recently, either drought conditions or semi monsoon. Fry or flood, this will be the worst gardening year in more than half a century. At least in the downpours some parts can be attached.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All,

It has been a while, but there is some progress. The pictures are over exposed, but it was the only way to get enough light in there to show the small parts. What was accomplished was to install two inclined ladders between the main deck and level one. They are behind the ships boats. Next was to construct and install a winch between the deck houses near the torpedo loading crane. There are now several lockers, a scuttle and couple of vents between the foreleg of the mast and the vicinity of the forward stack. It is interesting to discover how cramped it all is. There is not a great deal of space between one object and another. The going is slow and the pieces are tiny.

Regards rjccjr

[aansorge]

Always good to see your progress.

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

The situation has changed rather significantly over the last couple of weeks courtesy of a cataract removal and the insertion of a Toric lens in the left eye. Visually, everything is brighter and cleared than it has been for years. It helps to actually see what you are doing. Never had so much fun reading license plates before. There are now two cable reels installed between the two after turrets, and a couple of forty millimeter directors, one on the aft stack and the other just forward of the twin forty mount. There will shortly be two more directors just forward of the quad mounts.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Now that the stack brace and all of the 40 mm directors are in place, DD-793 has been placed on an ocean. Interesting how a little water makes a model look more like a ship. It is nothing fancy. There was no effort to texture an ocean, just a simple paint job. There isn't space to add much wash, just a little bow wash and turbulence at the stern. It was done with artists acrylic paints. There is still a lot of work to go, a multitude of minor deck fittings, mast work on the after stack, various antennae, homing torpedo racks, and the five inch practice machine. Rigging will not be a consideration until everything else is in place. The weather around here has been continually cock eyed going from very humid to very dry every several days. The result is that much of the structure moves along with the humidity, particularly mast and antenna work. One day everything is straight. Next day everything is leaning. When the tremors subside some watercolor painting will be done to get rid of edge glare. Most days the tremors subside for a couple of hours in the afternoon and there is some control. It's all a matter of compensation. Don't have much for hands, but at least there are eyes that work. As you get old, you just have to cope with what you have left. It's very frustrating, but you simply go on and keep getting older. The final event will be to overspray the entire model to control the gloss and make the ink water resistant.

Regards, rjccjr