Building the U.S.S. Moale (DD-693) from the
Tom's Modelworks Sumner-class kit

By Martin J Quinn

The genesis of this project started as a conversation in my car on the way back from a model show in Long Island, New York in April, 2002.   I had mentioned to Jeff Herne that I wished there was a 1/350 scale model available of a Sumner-class destroyer.   I wanted to build one for a veteran in our local IPMS chapter, Bill Marshall, who served on the U.S.S. Moale (DD-693) during World War Two.   The only kit I knew of her was the Skywave 1/700 Allen M. Sumner, but I thought that kit was too small.   Jeff told me that he might be able to help me out, and that I should come over his house,

A few days later I took the journey to Jeff's house.  There Jeff had a resin hull for a Sumner DD, along with the open bridge, smoke stacks, 40mm gun boxes, various resin and white metal fittings and a plethora of Tom's Modelworks brass.  At one time, Tom's had produced a kit of the Sumner.   Jeff still had several hulls and various other pieces about.   About the only thing he didn't have was the dedicated photo etch fret for the kit - but he did have a partial set of instructions.

With these items in hand - plus some reference material Jeff gave me  -I got started.  Well, I tried to get started.  I'm a notoriously slow builder, and this project was no different.  I gathered as much reference material that I could get, including ordering two sets of plans from the Floating Drydock.   One set of plans was great...the other was unusable. 

The first thing I did - after washing all the parts in warm soapy water - was putty and sand the numerous pin holes in the hull.  I then added the  bilge keels.   At this point I was worried that I was in over my head...looking at the references and the partial instructions made me wonder if I was ever going to get this done.   So, to help me along, I bought a Blue Water Navy U.S.S. Gearing (DD-710) from Trident Hobbies.   I decided to build the two tin cans side by side, using the Gearing as a guide to build the Moale.   It was a good decision.

Once I got the Gearing, I decided to build her as a waterline model.   That allowed me to take the props and struts from the BWN kit and use them on the Moale, which was a full hull kit.   I also used the platforms on the Gearing as templates for the platforms I would need on the Moale:  One on each side of the bridge, two for the 40mm quad mounts, one for the pair of 20mm by the funnel, one for the pair of 20mm amidships and one for the searchlight. 

At this point, I had sprayed the 20B Deck Blue on the Moale and the Gearing.   Not liking how the over spray looked on the 5L light gray of the Moale, I ended up re-spraying the light gray, masking the hull and superstructure and repainting the deck (did I mention it takes me a long time to finish stuff?).

Along the way I ran into a couple of issues which ended up me putting this project aside.  First, I bought a base from Micro Mark that included an acrylic cover.   Then  I bought - after searching four hardware stores - finials to mount the ship on.   The next step was finding bolts that actually fit the lamp risers (this took me a couple of Saturdays).   Finally, with correct bolts in hand, I had to drill holes in the base, then drill holes for the top of the bolts to slip into the base....all the while reminded why I build most stuff waterline. 

The other hurdle was scaling down the plans.  Using some calculations, I had the plans scaled down at a local copy shop - only to find they were too big.   I finally brought the model into work one day and scanned sections of the plans down until the plans were the same size as the kit parts.  I then took those calculations back to the Sir Speedy to have the plans reduced.  Or course...the Sir Speedy was only open from 8 to 5 Monday to Friday, and was by my house.   During those hours, I was an hour away at work.   So, it took me awhile to actually get back to get the plans reduced.  Did I mention my builds go really slow?

Unhappy with the quality of the 5 inch, 40mm and 20mm guns I had, I decided to invest in upgrades from L'Arsenal.  All I can say is WOW!  The 5 inch twins are gorgeous, as are the 40mm quads and twins.  The 40mm quads are fourteen piece mini-models that look great.   The twin 40's are almost as complex.   The 20mm are nice, but turned out to be a bit of a challenge to assemble.

Finally with a set of plans, upgraded weaponry and a pair of finials to mount my creation on, I got back to work.   That was until I hit the dreaded slump in late 2002.  Frustrated with the pressures of my job and how it was affecting my life as well as my lack of progress on building anything, I took a couple month sabbatical from the hobby.   Jeff Herne finally dragged me - kicking and screaming - back to reality, and I was able to get back to work in early 2003. 

I decided at this point to try and finish the Gearing before the Moale, for a number of reasons.  First, the BWN Gearing kit was a better kit than the Tom's Sumner-class kit.  Second, it had a complete set of instructions and a complete set of parts.  Lastly, I was going to finish Gearing in Measure 22, which was much easier to paint than the complex dazzle scheme on the Moale.  I got the Gearing about 75-80% done, when I ran into some problems with the fit of some of the photo-etch parts and decided to go back to the Sumner kit. 

I attached the bridge, the platforms, the 40mm gun boxes and the smoke stacks, then masked and painted the Measure 32/9D camouflage on the ship.  Once again, I ran into a problem.  While washing the ship prior to construction, I didn't get all the resin mold release off.  This resulted in a lot of chipped and peeling paint on the superstructure, which resulted in a lot of touch up painting with the brush and a lot of wasted time.   I also had some difficulties initially with brush painting the Colorcoats, but seemed to have overcome that by the time I was finished with this build.

Once the base camouflage was on, I added shielding for the 20 and 40mm from evergreen strips.  Using the Floating Drydock plans, I added all the small boxes for ammo and 40mm barrels to the deck, to try and give it the busy look it had in the reference photos I had.   For the smaller and more complex shaped shields, I used small strips of left over brass from the Tom's sets and added these.  

At this point I added the railings and the rest of the photo-etch, which I had pre-painted light gray before adding.  This is where I discovered what cold can do to railings on a resin ship.   I work under a pair of halogen architect lights - so it gets warm in my hobby room.   Since it was warm, I opened up the window.   When I turned in for the night, I turned off the lights and never closed the window...during a winters night in New Jersey.   When I went into my chilly hobby room the next day, one piece of railing had popped off completely, and two other pieces had pronounced waves in them.  

After repairing the railings, I turned to the box of spares that Jeff had given me.  I added searchlights, torpedo directors, torpedo tubes and Mk 51 fire control directors.   I also added the Mk 37 fire control director and its radar and various bits of photo-etching.  I then scratch built a mast out of brass rod, adding as much detail as I could without driving myself crazy. 

I added the mast to the model and added some simple rigging.  After this, I began my last round of touch up painting, making sure that the camouflage carried up across any photo-etch railings I had added.  I glued the 40mm and 5 inch guns to the deck, and the pedestals of the 20mms (big mistake!).   I then folded the arms for the 20mm, added them and added the 20mm guns and shields later in steps.   I should have built the guns off the ship and glued them on when finished - it was a real challenge to get them together, and I wasn't able to put the shields on correctly.  Most of them look okay, but I know I can do better. 

Once the model was complete, I gave the model a wash, which consisted of Tamiya thinner with some India ink added.  The model was then given several coats of flat and some final dry brushing.  The completed and weathered model - show below - will be presented to my friend at our next local IPMS chapter meeting.  I hope he likes it, I know it meant a lot to me to be able to build it for him.

I presented Bill with the model on Friday, February 13, 2004.  He was very surprised, to say the least.  His reaction and appreciation made eighteen months of work very worthwhile.