Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes
Legendary member
This build is not particularly Flitetest related in any way, it was a side project I mentioned I was starting and some of the guys said I should do a build thread. Just in case anyone was wondering why I've started yet another shipbuilding thread without even trying to relate it to foam board RC airplanes in any way. Hooyah.
I'm kinda in the mood for a ship again and thought I should have another go. My incomplete USS Dallas hull got scrapped while I was leaving for basic so I'm starting over from scratch, which doesn't bother me too much because the submarine was getting a little ridiculous with all the fiberglass in tight spaces. Fortunately there's a much better variety of building techniques for surface ships and fiberglass is optional.
My grandfather served as a midshipman in the late '50s on board USS Alfred A. Cunningham, an Allen M. Sumner Class Destroyer. Being a smaller ship I can up the scale a bit and do all the fun little details and the hull is a simpler shape that'll be easier to mill.
USS Cunningham sometime in the late '40s or early '50s (note the mast, I'll talk about this later):
I'll be using the "bread and butter" method of hull construction using pine lumber. This is arguably the easiest method of constructing a hull, although it's not as common as it used to be. It tends to result in a heavier ship and therefore is not ideal for sailboats or racers, but for a big navy boat it'll be perfect. The lumber I have on hand is kinda whack but a few passes through my planer made some really nice pieces. I plan on building the superstructure out of balsa, lets just hope I have enough. I can use pine where necessary and dowels for the masts and stacks. 1:128 scale puts her at a solid 35 1/4" length overall.
https://www.building-model-boats.com/bread-and-butter-model-boat.html
https://www.building-model-boats.com/bread-and-butter-hull.html
Since I chose this ship for my family history it's only fitting that I build it as it was when my grandpa was on board in the late '50s. She underwent two refits around this time, the first in either 1956 when she was fitted with improved radars and a new mast. The second was a FRAM upgrade in 1961 when she was fitted with an almost entirely new superstructure with a hangar and helipad. Unfortunately he does not remember the exact dates he served- only that it was in the late '50s. However he does remember that at no point during his service did a helicopter land on the ship. It's a given that he served after the earlier refit, and the lack of a helipad on board tells me that his service was up before the 1961 FRAM upgrade. It is possible that he was on board during the 1956 refit, if so that would have been very early in his tour.
At the time my grandfather was on board she should have looked something like this:
The aft torpedo tubes had been removed late WWII to make room for two more 40mm anti-aircraft mounts. These would later be replaced with a helipad and hangar during the FRAM refit. Note the extended quarterdeck (the deck around the wheelhouse) and tripod mast with improved radar, as well as ECM antennas mounted to the exhaust stacks. While not visible on either of these photos there is only one single depth charge track at the stern.
Unfortunately this is proving to be a rather obscure configuration to get photos of, probably because she was only fitted this way for 5 years of her 27 year career.
I'm kinda in the mood for a ship again and thought I should have another go. My incomplete USS Dallas hull got scrapped while I was leaving for basic so I'm starting over from scratch, which doesn't bother me too much because the submarine was getting a little ridiculous with all the fiberglass in tight spaces. Fortunately there's a much better variety of building techniques for surface ships and fiberglass is optional.
My grandfather served as a midshipman in the late '50s on board USS Alfred A. Cunningham, an Allen M. Sumner Class Destroyer. Being a smaller ship I can up the scale a bit and do all the fun little details and the hull is a simpler shape that'll be easier to mill.
USS Cunningham sometime in the late '40s or early '50s (note the mast, I'll talk about this later):
I'll be using the "bread and butter" method of hull construction using pine lumber. This is arguably the easiest method of constructing a hull, although it's not as common as it used to be. It tends to result in a heavier ship and therefore is not ideal for sailboats or racers, but for a big navy boat it'll be perfect. The lumber I have on hand is kinda whack but a few passes through my planer made some really nice pieces. I plan on building the superstructure out of balsa, lets just hope I have enough. I can use pine where necessary and dowels for the masts and stacks. 1:128 scale puts her at a solid 35 1/4" length overall.
https://www.building-model-boats.com/bread-and-butter-model-boat.html
https://www.building-model-boats.com/bread-and-butter-hull.html
Since I chose this ship for my family history it's only fitting that I build it as it was when my grandpa was on board in the late '50s. She underwent two refits around this time, the first in either 1956 when she was fitted with improved radars and a new mast. The second was a FRAM upgrade in 1961 when she was fitted with an almost entirely new superstructure with a hangar and helipad. Unfortunately he does not remember the exact dates he served- only that it was in the late '50s. However he does remember that at no point during his service did a helicopter land on the ship. It's a given that he served after the earlier refit, and the lack of a helipad on board tells me that his service was up before the 1961 FRAM upgrade. It is possible that he was on board during the 1956 refit, if so that would have been very early in his tour.
At the time my grandfather was on board she should have looked something like this:
The aft torpedo tubes had been removed late WWII to make room for two more 40mm anti-aircraft mounts. These would later be replaced with a helipad and hangar during the FRAM refit. Note the extended quarterdeck (the deck around the wheelhouse) and tripod mast with improved radar, as well as ECM antennas mounted to the exhaust stacks. While not visible on either of these photos there is only one single depth charge track at the stern.
Unfortunately this is proving to be a rather obscure configuration to get photos of, probably because she was only fitted this way for 5 years of her 27 year career.
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