| The Sullivans (DD-637) was a late
war Fletcher class destroyer. she was distinguished by her large square
open bridge. The Sullivans was named for the five Sullivans who served
together on the USS Juneau and gave their lives together for their country.
The Sullivans fought her way across the Pacific and survived the war and
now serves are a museum ship. |
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| HULL PARTS |
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| This new kit from Trumpeter depicts the square bridge Fletcher
class destroyer the USS The Sullivans. This new kit is molded with a separate
upper and lower hull with a flat bottomed waterline hull insert. The lower
hull is molded in red plastic and looks accurate in size and shape with
the exception of the thick bilge keels, which are typical of most injection
molded kits. The upper hull doesn't have a whole lot of detail but closely
matched the plans I have. |
Click images
to enlarge |
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| MAIN DECK |
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| The main deck is properly shaped, but the detail is not very good.
First the anti skid walkways are molded in relief and come out as incredibly
thick. I don't like to see details that are painted on molded into a ship
kit. The walkway patterns were not all the same and it will be difficult
to remove these. Worse yet, the anchor, chain locker, and capstan detail
is over simplified. The anchor is not properly routed for the port side
and your best bet would be to shave off the anchors completely and add
real chain. |
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The openings in the deck where the anchor passed through the deck
should be drilled out and the lip around the edge rounded. The chain
locker covers should also be much thicker. The bits and chocks suffer from
a lack of detail. These are typically replaced by most advanced Modelers
anyway. |
| SPRUE A |
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| the main sprue include most of the superstructure decks and walls.
Some of these are pretty nice and others have some errors. The gun tubs
are not bad, but there are tooling marks visible on the decks. The surfaces
also appear to be coarse as if the mold was not polished properly. |
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The watertight doors are not consistent in detail and some are hinged the
wrong way. Note: on a ship the doors on the port side are hinged on the
left. Starboard doors are hinged on the right. This is done so that any
waves that wash up over the deck will force the door closed and not open,
preventing the ship from taking on excessive water. |
| SPRUE B |
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| The decks on these spues also feature the thick walkway tread molded
on. The shapes of the structures look correct though. The mast included
a molded on SC radar that begs for a photo etch replacement. It is also
noticeably short. I wish the platforms on the bridge level were not molded
as thick bosses. It would be better to leave them off entirely than to
do them in a manner that makes them difficult to remove. |
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| SPRUE C |
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| The various gun tubs came out pretty well. The funnels include some
molded on grills that are overly thick and appear oversize. |
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| SPRUE D |
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| The weapons sprue has some pretty nice 5" 38 cal gun houses. They are
made up of several parts so it will be hard to hide the seams, but at least
they are the proper size and shape. They include the correct barrel offset,
but have an incorrectly placed hatch on the roof. The 20 mm guns look like
they were scaled up from a 1/700 scale kit. But at least I can't complain
about the shields being left off. The 40 mm gun mounts are over simplified,
and the railings on the gun mounts are molded like a shield, a common mistake.
The K-guns actually came out pretty good, however the Sullivans used the
newer racks and not the pedestal mounts included in the kit. |
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| SPRUE E |
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| A stand is provided for full hull display. |
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| DECALS |
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| The decals include flags, hull numbers, and stack emblems all
well registered. However unless you are modeling a museum ship, you will
want to replace the flag and jack as they both have 50 stars. During WW2
there were only 48 states. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| A 10 page instruction booklet is included to guide you
through a step by step assembly process. The parts are all called out and
placement is well illustrated throughout. A nice color sheet is included
with camouflage markings for the ship and aircraft. Paint colors are called
out as well.
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| Conclusions: |
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I am glad to have a new 1/350 Square Bridge Fletcher available for
modelers. But this kit is a step back from the innovative kits that Trumpeter
has been producing lately. Some of the problems of the kit are due to the
limitations of plastic injection molding limits, some are clearly avoidable
and it appears that Trumpeter gave this kit a low priority in terms of
research, and tooling. However if you are willing to spend the time, this
kit can be made into a respectable late war Fletcher. You can find this
kit at most any well stocked hobby shop. It is listed as 1/350 USS The
Sullivans DD537 Destroyer with a list price of $29.95. If your hobby
shop does not carry Trumpeter kits have them contact Stevens
International or try their Hobby Shop Locator to find one. |
