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1/35 Scale USN Burke class destroyer (4.5 meters length)

Nick Hoke

Nick Hoke

Joined
Oct 23, 2025
Messages
13
Points
48

Location
Cascadia
Greetings everybody from the land in the shadow of Mt. Rainier! My first ship model is under construction in my garage - a scratch-built USN DDG this is almost 15 feet long. I'm using 12"x12" 3mm basswood (plywood) and a lot of wood glue for the hull and superstructure; next step is full metal cladding with 29 gauge aluminum sheeting and then after that the real works starts of detailing - tons of fittings and painting and weathering. I started this in July and like all good boat projects I sometimes ignore or avoid it for a week or two at a time. So this is the progress report for month 4. My timeline to completion is 36 months but who knows. More details here: www.garagedestroyer.com

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Corsair said:
Wow ! That is amazing !
Welcome to the forums !
What are you going to do with it once you are done?
Click to expand...
Thank you sir! It's a display model for whoever wants to buy it...I have no idea really. I knew this project would challenge me in ways I could not foresee but so far it's been coming along nicely and the swear words have been few and far between.
 
Wow, incredible build. In my younger days I worked on this class of ship, mainly on the countermeasures systems as a electronics mechanic. Never served in the Navy but worked hand in hand with them to maintain and overhaul equipment. Will enjoy watching your build.
 
Which of the 4 versions are you building - going to be a labor of love.
That "monster" might be something the Bath, Maine ma\maritime museum might want since most of that class destroyer are being built there: https://www.mainemaritimemuseum.org/
It's interesting to drive past the Bath Iron Works tough you really can't see a lot from the street, you are really close to their buildings, or from the US 1 Bridge but enough to make it interesting
 
Dave @W said:
Which of the 4 versions are you building - going to be a labor of love.
That "monster" might be something the Bath, Maine ma\maritime museum might want since most of that class destroyer are being built there: https://www.mainemaritimemuseum.org/
It's interesting to drive past the Bath Iron Works tough you really can't see a lot from the street, you are really close to their buildings, or from the US 1 Bridge but enough to make it interesting
Click to expand...
I originally started as a flight III but I'm going to call this one a flight IV, which will be my excuse if a hull tech notices a bulkhead or two might be off by a little bit.
 
Get one of those Saker hand held welding things and weld those panels together. Such a fantastic build. Good thing you don't have a 58 Lincoln in that garage. The ship would be out in the yard. Amazing research on that ship too. I would never have guessed that you could buy plans for anything so recent. Our builds are over a hundred years apart but we are both finding many of the same problems building them. Carry on.
 
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