Destroyer Escort USS Dealey DE-1006

[Navy51]

I have always liked the Destroyer Escorts of the Dealey class.
My build is from a resin kit by Commanders Series Models Inc., (now Iron Shipwright).
Purchased and started in 2002 but only finished recently.
Scale is 1/350
I like putting my ships in water, in acrylic gel that is, on a hardwood base.

 

[Tincan Sailor]

Very Nice Build Good Job

 

[Graham]

Great job.

 

[Donnie]

I love the water - not sure how you did that - I wish I could learn. Very nice indeed.

 

[Navy51]

Very Nice Build Good Job

Thank you

 

[Navy51]

I love the water - not sure how you did that - I wish I could learn. Very nice indeed.

Well, I use acrylic gel, sold in artist supply shops. I place the ship on the baseboard and model the sea and the waves around it, and then let it dry for a couple of days.
When it is dry then I paint it with acrylic paints. And when the paint is dry I cover the sea with a gloss coat of varnish to give it a wet look.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

My Dad served aboard one of these ships, the USS "Eisner" in the North Atlantic, winter of 1944. I'm not sure if she was of the same class. She was named for a Marine killed at Guadalcanal and completed in a matter of months. ( I looked her up at the Naval Academy)Dad said she was exactly one and one half wave lengths long. So when she was sitting on top of one wave crest, the next would come crashing down on the bow. He also said he was seasick the whole cruise. They were testing a sonic detonating device for depth charges that my dad, a physicist, helped design. It proved very effective and they mortally damaged a U-Boat that was forced to surface and was abandoned. The Eisner crew fished most of the U-Boat's surviving crew out of the drink. My Dad said they were mostly kids, some no more than fifteen years of age. At this time in the war most of the experienced U-Boat crews were all dead. He also said that her skipper's hair turned gray overnight.
Being the only one aboard who could speak German (something I never heard him do, nor would he purchase a German or a Ford automobile, as a non observant but unapologetic Jew), he was tasked with interrogating the German U-Boat crew.
I especially like the diorama presentation. Very well executed and dramatic!

 

[Peter Gutterman]

My Dad was fresh out of yale in 1941,with a degree in physics working for the Naval Ordinance Lab in Washington D.C. when he got this award. Shortly thereafter came Pearl Harbor, and he was promptly inducted into the Navy as RoberT P. Gutterman, Ensign J.G. why he was awarded a civilian award in1945 I have no clue.

 

[Navy51]

My Dad served aboard one of these ships, the USS "Eisner" in the North Atlantic, winter of 1944. I'm not sure if she was of the same class. She was named for a Marine killed at Guadalcanal and completed in a matter of months. ( I looked her up at the Naval Academy)Dad said she was exactly one and one half wave lengths long. So when she was sitting on top of one wave crest, the next would come crashing down on the bow. He also said he was seasick the whole cruise. They were testing a sonic detonating device for depth charges that my dad, a physicist, helped design. It proved very effective and they mortally damaged a U-Boat that was forced to surface and was abandoned. The Eisner crew fished most of the U-Boat's surviving crew out of the drink. My Dad said they were mostly kids, some no more than fifteen years of age. At this time in the war most of the experienced U-Boat crews were all dead. He also said that her skipper's hair turned gray overnight.
Being the only one aboard who could speak German (something I never heard him do, nor would he purchase a German or a Ford automobile, as a non observant but unapologetic Jew), he was tasked with interrogating the German U-Boat crew.
I especially like the diorama presentation. Very well executed and dramatic!


View attachment 382915

Thank you Peter for sharing this with us ! You must be very proud of your dad ! Do you happen to know which ASW weapon he was working on ?
See : http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WAMUS_ASW.php
My father spent the war as a POW in the infamous Changi prison in Singapore but refrained from telling us about his gruesome experiences.
The USS Eisner was a Cannon class DE.

 

[Navy51]

Great job.

Thank you !

 

[Peter Gutterman]

Thanks! And I am very proud of his many achievements, which include an Academy award in1959 for best scientific achievement for the design of an ultrasonic motion picture film cleaner, which could process a three reel feature film in 15 minutes and be operated by a sixth grader, without ever actually touching the emulsion on the film or leaving a scratch. A process which heretofore took hours by hand in a carbon tetrachloride bath and was carcinogenic at best, and at its worst caused liver failure. He accomplished more in his 68 years than I could ever have hoped to achieve even now that I've out lived him by nearly ten. There's a partial list of his many patents on line. All I know about the depth charge detonator is what is cited in the award. Oh yeah, and he was a really great dad!
Thank God that your dad survived that dreadful experience. I am not surprised that he did not speak of it. This was not uncommon with veterans ,who have been loathe to relive the horrors of war, or care to burden their children with such graphic descriptions of the depths of depravity to which we humans can sink in the name of patriotism, God, country and greed, since, I suppose, time immemorial. Thanks, also for identifying the class of the Eisner. Your work and obvious interest in history is evidence, once again, that model builders are artist- story tellers, of which your wonderful little model is highly exemplary and inspiring. It certainly stirred my own memories of my father's war experience. Evidence of your diorama's effectiveness as a wonderfully evocative work of art!

Pete

 

[Navy51]

Hi Pete, wish I could tell stories like you do.
And I wish I could build models like you and most of the model builders here do.
I consider myself an average builder.
I admire the works shown here by so many people.
Yet I like my models the way they come out with all the mistakes.
High resolution photos reveal so many imperfections one doesn't see with the naked eye.
And then I think I should make a model twice in order to make them better as you learn from mistakes.

Pete Canter ( aka Navy51 )

 

[Peter Gutterman]

Hey, Peter, Surprise, Surprise. Your description of how you feel about your work pretty much describes my own feelings (and I suspect, those of many of the others here on SOS). Just re read the comments on your model and the last two sentences of my last comment and be encouraged! As far as flaws. I'm constantly picking apart my own work, and frustrated with the flaws I cringe over, that nobody else seems to see or care about. The mom of a friend I grew up with, originally from Kentucky, had a saying she used to
chide us with when we got too full of ourselves: "When you think you're green, you're growin'. When you think you're ripe, you're rotten..."
Keep up the good work! I'll follow along with interest. I think you are very talented and creative. I look forward to seeing what you do next!

Pete

 

[Navy51]

I appreciate your comments Pete.
And thank you for your compliments !
I will be posting next week some pics of a liner I built some time ago.
My eyesight is deteriorating but I have taken the challenge to build the 1/600 scale United States. So that's my next project.
In the meantime I also want to study models by other builders on this site.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

Studying models built by other builders on this sight is a humbling experience!
I am sorry about your eyesight. I, too have a whole inventory of things going south. Time and tide.
I'm ,as they say, pulling up a chair. Can't wait to see the liner, and ultimately your United States. Will you do a build log?
I would like to see your process, especially the water.
I went to the USNA museum workshop today. Took lots of pictures. I'll curate and post.

Pete

 

[Navy51]

Studying models built by other builders on this sight is a humbling experience!
I am sorry about your eyesight. I, too have a whole inventory of things going south. Time and tide.
I'm ,as they say, pulling up a chair. Can't wait to see the liner, and ultimately your United States. Will you do a build log?
I would like to see your process, especially the water.
I went to the USNA museum workshop today. Took lots of pictures. I'll curate and post.

Pete

I will not do a build log. The build may take forever ! First thing I want to do is remove all the molded railings and replace them with photo etched railings most likely from Gold Medal Models or Atlantic models.
Did you have special permission to get access to the US Naval Acadamy workshop or perhaps you know people there. Love to see your photos !

 

[Peter Gutterman]

I've worked there as a volunteer model shipwright working on museum restorations for the last14-15 years. I've been wanting to post a little virtual tour for awhile, but I haven't been able to go for a couple of months with my coronary arteries in the shop. Took a couple of tries, but a pair of really good mechanics finally got the right one unclogged. Carburetor functions much better with two.
I posted a thread of "Scenes from a restoration" It's on here somewhere, I think under build logs.
The Curator of Models gave me the. He said: "You can take as many pictures as you like, except the ones on the wall". Visitors can visit the shop when visiting the museum. One of the long standing model shipwrights of some 20 years or more (a USNA grad'63; Marine Artillery; forward spotter in Viet Nam) Just LOVES to button hole visitors who wander in and give them the extended tour in granular detail.
The Museum's worth the trip for marine model lovers. Someone recently posted a virtual tour on the SOS forum. And the model shop is fun to see, accessible from the lower street level entrance. If you go in the front doors you'll miss it. Saturdays are best.
It will take awhile to curate and organize the photos. Maybe next week.

Pete

 

[Navy51]

I've worked there as a volunteer model shipwright working on museum restorations for the last14-15 years. I've been wanting to post a little virtual tour for awhile, but I haven't been able to go for a couple of months with my coronary arteries in the shop. Took a couple of tries, but a pair of really good mechanics finally got the right one unclogged. Carburetor functions much better with two.
I posted a thread of "Scenes from a restoration" It's on here somewhere, I think under build logs.
The Curator of Models gave me the. He said: "You can take as many pictures as you like, except the ones on the wall". Visitors can visit the shop when visiting the museum. One of the long standing model shipwrights of some 20 years or more (a USNA grad'63; Marine Artillery; forward spotter in Viet Nam) Just LOVES to button hole visitors who wander in and give them the extended tour in granular detail.
The Museum's worth the trip for marine model lovers. Someone recently posted a virtual tour on the SOS forum. And the model shop is fun to see, accessible from the lower street level entrance. If you go in the front doors you'll miss it. Saturdays are best.
It will take awhile to curate and organize the photos. Maybe next week.

Pete

I knew I was dealing with a professional, a modelbuilder with great experience !
Thank you Pete for the time you take to reply on my postings.
I will look for the previous posts on USNA subject.
I have visited the Naval Aviation museum in Pensacola two times, the Smithsonian in Washington and the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
So much more to see in the U.S. !
Take care my friend, stay healthy ( carburator, arteries ), Good humor !

Navy 51

 

[tigerdvr]

Very nice. I like your seascape. It's so easy (and fun) to get carried away making waves. I think yours is right on.
A crew might set off the whole project. I finally put a crew on my 1/350 USS Kidd and it really added to the overall picture.
Enjoy

 

[Navy51]

Very nice. I like your seascape. It's so easy (and fun) to get carried away making waves. I think yours is right on.
A crew might set off the whole project. I finally put a crew on my 1/350 USS Kidd and it really added to the overall picture.
Enjoy

Thank you for the compliment !
I do calm seas, don't want to get seasick
Seriously, I have another DE under construction and I want her displayed in really rough seas. And you are right, adding crewmembers completes a project. But it is my eyes that keep me from adding those little (painted) creatures in a correct way.
Navy51
Photo : two DE's under construction.