Black Cat Models
1/350 John C. Butler-class (late)


 
Reviewed October 2023
by Martin J Quinn
HISTORY
The John C. Butler class—the Westinghouse Geared Turbine (WGT) type—featured a 12,000 shp Westinghouse steam turbine with double reduction gears. Gibbs and Cox prepared the detailed design and both Westinghouse and General Electric supplied machinery.  In December 1942, before the first ship was laid down, the design was altered to include the low, enclosed bridge planned for the Rudderow class.  The lead ship was USS John C. Butler, commissioned on 31 March 1944. Of the 293 ships originally planned, 206 were canceled in 1944 and a further four after being laid down; three were not completed until after the end of World War II.  The ships of this class were built at Boston Navy Yard, Consolidated, Houston, and Federal-Port Newark.  In 1949, the John C. Butler arrangement formed a point of departure for the first post-war ASW escort design, the Dealey class.

Famous members of the class include the Samuel B. Roberts, which gained fame during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where she, along with several other ships, engaged a number of cruisers and battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, while defending the carriers of "Taffy 3" and also trying to prevent the Japanese from reaching the invasion fleet off the shores of Leyte.  Another notable member of the class was Tabberer.  In December 1944, during Typhoon Cobra (aka "Halsey's Typhoon"), the ship lost her mast and radio antennas riding out the storm, which killed 790 sailors, and in which the destroyers Spence, Hull, and Monaghan either capsized or were sunk after water flooded down their smokestacks and disabled their engines.  Although damaged and unable to radio for help, Tabberer was first on the scene to recover 55 of only 93 total rescued from three destroyers which capsized in the heavy seas. As a result of their actions, Tabberer's Captain Henry Lee Plage earned the Legion of Merit, while the entire crew earned the Navy's Unit Commendation Ribbon for taking the initiative to rescue the sailors from the lost ships. 

Towards the end of World War II, some members of the class received the "ultimate" AA upgrade, omitting the torpedo tubes and increasing the number of 40mms weapons carried from 2 twin 40's to 1 quad 40 and 3 twins. 

For more information on the John C. Butler class, check out the Destroyer History page on this class, or the Wikipedia page.  The information above was cobbled together using both these sites. 

The Black Cat USS John C. Butler

John C. Butler is packaged in a large, flip-top cardboard box, with a nice rendering of the ship in at sea.  Inside the box is the hull, four plastic clamshell containers with 3D printed parts, photo-etch, turned brass and decals.  The model depicts a late-war member of the class, with the aforementioned "ultimate" AA upgrade. 

THE HULL 
The hull is cast in a light gray colored resin.   The hull scales out just about perfectly to the real ship, in both length and beam.  It is cast in one piece, minus the struts, shaft, props and rudders, but includes nice detail like eyebrows over the portholes, splinter shields with bracing, watertight doors, and a very busy open bridge area.  Overall, casting is good, except for a few spots on the bottom of the hull, where it looks like the casting plug was removed.  A faint scribed line runs around the sides of the hull, marking the waterline.  On many USN destroyer/destroyer escort models, the bulwarks/shields alongside the amidships sides of the hull are presented as plastic, or photo-etch parts, which you have to add and then blend into the model.  Here they are cast as part of the hull.  On the plus side, you won't have and seams to fill and sand.  On the other hand, you'll have to open up the flood holes.  On the port side, the "posts" for the davits are cast into these shields, which is a nice touch, though the shields in this area do have a slight "wave" to them.  This small wavy area should be hidden by the boat hanging from the davit. 

AFT DECKHOUSE
The aft deckhouse is the second poured resin part in the kit, and features the late war gun tub configuration, with room for one quad 40 and two twin 40s.  Other than some slight over pour on the bottom of the part, which will have to be sanded down, casting is good. 

3D PRINTED PARTS
The rest of the kit, outside of some photo-etch and turned brass parts, is exclusively 3D printed, and the quality is top-notch.  There are eighteen (18) print rafts, labeled A through P, contained in the four plastic clamshell containers.  Here is everything you'll need (plus a few spares) to build the model.  The instructions list the print rafts as "bars", and each one is assigned a letter. Here is what's included.

 
BAR A
This bar includes chocks, bollards, cable reels, hatches and the navigation lights for each side of the bridge. These are a nice touch.  A lot of models don't include these parts, or include them as photo-etch parts.

BAR B
Here we have ready ammo boxes, arbor trays for the K-guns, floater net bundles and life rings.  The arbor trays, which hang on the bulkheads of the deckhouse, are impressive. 

BAR C
Flag bags, the mounts for the twin 40mm guns, hedgehog thrower, anchors, props, rudders and two different struts for the propeller shafts are on this bar. 

BAR D
Included here are the practice loader, floater net baskets (with floats), inclined and vertical ladders, rafts and a director tub.  The vertical ladders are especially impressive.  They even have little bits which will help them stand away from the bulkhead when attached to the model, like real ladders. 

BAR E
You'll find Mk 51 directors, more cable reels, mounted binoculars for the lookouts, ready ammo boxes and the smoke screen generator. 

BAR F
This bar has the SC radar and parts for the mast, including the many lights that were festooned on USN destroyer escorts.  In some kits these parts are photo-etch.  They look much better 3D printed. 

BAR G
On this bar, we have the funnel, vents, support posts for gun/director tubs and more of those very nice vertical ladders, as well as gun barrels for the main battery.   The funnel really jumps out for all the detail that's printed as part of it - the foot rail, inclined ladder and gaff for the ensign. 

BAR H
This small bar has the ships 26' boat and more vertical ladders.

BAR I
Here are the main battery turrets.  Both turrets have fine detail, like handrails, handles for hatches and vertical ladders. 

BAR J
Here we have the stern depth charge racks.

BAR K
Appropriately enough, Bar K consists of K guns and their associated stowage racks (we see what you did there, Ben).

BAR L 
This bar has twelve (12) 20mm guns. 

BAR M
A pair of 20mm gun tubs, with supports for a ready ammo rack.

BAR N
This bar has parts specific to the late-war AA upgrade version:  an extra twin and one quad 40mm base, as well as pair of director tubs. 

BAR O (2 rafts)
This "bar" is actually two separate print rafts.  One raft has a director tub for the bridge, RDF loops and 40mm gun barrels.  The second contains one type of splinter shield configuration for the stern 20mm gun tub, more 40mm barrels and some parts that aren't numbers and may not be applicable for this version.

BAR P (2 rafts)
Finally there is a pair of print rafts that make up Bar P.  These include signal lamps, a second splinter shield for the aft 20mm gun tub more Mk51 directors and a ready ammo box. 

TURNED BRASS PARTS
A small bag of turned brass parts, from Master Models in Poland, are included.  Included are masts, yards, jack staff, and prop shafts.  All the turned brass parts look terrific, and are up to Master Models usual high standards. 

PHOTOETCH
There are two small frets of photo-etch included.  There are railings, vertical ladders (the 3D printed ones are nicer), supports for gun tubs and rafts and other small parts.   The second, and smaller, of the two frets is labeled as being specifically for the late-war ship. 

DECALS
There is one small decal sheet included, consisting of the hull numbers, which will allow you to build other the members of the John C. Butler class. 
INSTRUCTIONS
If you purchased a Black Cat kit before, the format of the directions is familiar to you.  They are in the form of a booklet, with the different parts (resin, 3D printed, brass) all laid out, and shown in different colors, for ease of identification.   The build sequences seem to be fairly logical and straightforward, and should be easy to follow.  The color callouts show the ship in Measure 22.  Looking at Navsource, other members of the class that were built with the late-war AA upgrade seem to painted in either Ms21 or Ms22. 

CONCLUSIONS  
This is another terrific looking kit from Black Cat Models.  As with some previous Black Cat releases, their kit isn't the first of this class to be released in 1/350 scale, but it's certainly the best, being much better than the earlier Butler-class releases out there.  While some will take that comment as a dig, I mean that as no disrespect or insult to other manufacturers: this kit takes advantage of the newest technology to elevate itself to the the top spot.  It's the 3D parts that make this kit so good.

What you are getting here - like earlier Black Cat models -  is a 3D printed kit, with a resin hull and deckhouse. The poured resin parts are well cast, and the 3D printed parts are just terrific. Add in the turned brass parts and PE, and you've got everything you need to build a unique version of this class of USN destroyer escorts.  Really, the only "nit-pick" is that there were so few of the class built to this configuration. Most of these "late" versions got to the Pacific War zone too late to see any significant service, or arrived after V-J Day.  That is a very minor point, and this model is highly recommended!

This is Black Cat Models USS John C. Butler, kit number 350-015b.  The model lists for approximately $117.00 USD, and is available from many of our fine sponsors, or directly from Black Cat Models, who I'd like to thank for the review sample.  Hopefully we'll see a Rudderow from the Black Cat shipyard in the future.

This is an in-box review, your mileage may vary once you commence construction.