Author Topic: USS Asheville Class (PG-84/PGM-84)  (Read 5700 times)

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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USS Asheville Class (PG-84/PGM-84)
« on: February 17, 2012, 01:18:59 PM »
One of my pet projects for the past few years has been an attempt to kit bash the old Revell 1/130-something scale USS Asheville class gun boat model of the USS Defiance (PG-95) into something with a better weapons fit.  Finding suitable parts and pieces has been a challenge as there are very few ship models in comparable scale or that are compatible for that matter. 

I toyed around with modifying an image from the reference books to see what a Defiance class would look like armed with 76mm Mk75 automatic guns and I must say that it looks quite enticing.

A decent (but not quite the same scale) source for parts to tart up the Revell Defiance kit can be found in several 1/144th scale kits that are now available such as the Revell of Germany Leopard Class (Type 143A) and Albatross Class (Type 143) Fast Attack Craft model kits or even the USS Fletcher kit for a nice little kit-bashing with a dash of scale-o-rama for added zest. 

« Last Edit: February 17, 2012, 01:55:47 PM by Jeffry Fontaine »
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline finsrin

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Re: USS Asheville Class (PG-84/PGM-84)
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2012, 01:54:32 PM »
Jeff - I also have that kit and would like to make it into a 1/72 gun boat.
Have you looked here for parts:   http://www.floatingdrydock.com/fittings.htm

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: USS Asheville Class (PG-84/PGM-84)
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2012, 02:00:10 PM »
Jeff - I also have that kit and would like to make it into a 1/72 gun boat.
Have you looked here for parts:   http://www.floatingdrydock.com/fittings.htm


Thanks for the link Bill.  I have looked at The Floating Drydock in the past but never found anything useful for what I had in mind.  While H-R Castings does have 1/144th scale parts they are metal and I am not a real fan of working with lead.  At least with the Revell Leopard and Albatross kits you get a selection of plastic parts that can be easily modified to serve new purposes.  Now if I could just find some spare 20mm and 40mm cannons from that Revell USS Fletcher kit I would be a very happy camper. 

*** just remembered that one of the side benefits of the kit bashing is that the gun houses from the USS Defiance kit are excellent for adaption to a 1/72nd scale 40mm gun to come up with something that looks like the Breda version of the 40mm Bofors with a weather cover for the gun crew.  For your 1/72nd scale 40mm cannon you can also use a 1/35th scale 20mm gun barrel from the FlaK 38 as your 40mm barrel if you want to increase the barrel length without too much effort. 
« Last Edit: February 17, 2012, 02:04:20 PM by Jeffry Fontaine »
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg