I’m normally not an aircraft builder, but I do dabble now and then. At the moment, I’m working on JAG Models 700th scale USS William H. Standley CG-32. She was one of the ships I served on during my 14 years in the Navy.
You can’t imagine how surprised I was at finding a Ship Forum here amongst all these aircraft. This means I can post the Standley build here and do more than lurk around while I work on her. This will be my first build thread about anything since the LEM closed its doors last year. Don't know if there are any former LEMurs around, other than Mark, but if there are, maybe they'll drop in and say "Hi". They'll also recall how most of my builds started out with a bit of history on whatever I was working on, well, here we go again. I will admit, though, this one is a bit long since I've had this kit since last August.
And, here she is, in all her resin glory. Looking over this kit was like taking a walk down memory lane, especially after setting on the aft section of the superstructure.
The model is the USS Belknap and her class sisters in their later years and includes the modifications added after her mishap with the aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy in the Mediterranean in 1975. We were over there at the time, but not in the area where it happened.
If you're not familiar with the Belknap-Kennedy incident, please take the time to read the article below. As I said, we were in the Med with them at the time, just not close enough to be able to offer assistance.
http://pilotonline.com/news/military/lo ... b9c42.html
The following excerpt, covering my time aboard Standley is from the ship’s history found at: http://www.hullnumber.com/CG-32.
“Departing Charleston on 14 June 1974, William H. Standley reached Rota, Spain on the 27th and, during the early part of her tour, visited the French ports of St. Tropez and Theoule, where the ship joined in celebrations commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Allied landings during World War II. She then visited the Italian port of Civitavecchia. From July to September, William H. Standley spent many days at sea due to the Greco-Turkish crisis on the island of Cyprus. She underwent a brief tender overhaul at Augusta Bay, Sicily, and followed up the repairs with a full slate of underway activities.
Highlighting that period were two events: the tow of Vreeland (DE-1068) when that ship developed serious boiler trouble on 4 October; and the surveillance of Soviet warships in the eastern Mediterranean. During the latter, William H. Standley discovered a Soviet submarine and maintained sonar contact for over 49 hours, forcing the surfacing of a "Zulu"-class submarine.
For the remainder of the cruise, the guided missile frigate continued her schedule of at-sea periods interspersed with visits to Genoa and San Remo, Italy, and to Rota. Departing the last-named port on 24 November, she arrived back in Charleston on 9 December.
Following the ensuing Christmas leave period, the ship underwent repairs at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., and emerged from the yard late in February 1975. On 1 July 1975, William H. Standley was redesignated as a guided missile cruiser, CG-32. As the summer wore on, the ship operated out of Guantanamo Bay, Roosevelt Roads, and San Juan. She subsequently sailed for the Mediterranean on 2 October 1975, leaving Charleston in her wake on that day, bound, as before, for Rota.
Taking over from Luce (DLG-7), William H. Standley operated in the "middle sea" into the winter, spending Christmas (and New Year’s Eve) at Naples. The guided missile cruiser remained in the Mediterranean into the spring before turning over her duties to Harry E. Yarnell at Gibraltar on 25 April 1976 and heading for Charleston on that day.”
I re-enlisted in Gibraltar and, after returning to Charleston, eventually ended up on the USS Orion AS-18. That is a story in itself and will probably show up in the prequel to building the Orion, provided I decide to get the Fulton class tender kit.
Okay, they say the first cut is the deepest and I reckon it is. I’ve been debating with myself since August whether or not to build the Standley as is from the kit, her pre-decommissioning condition circa 1990s, or take her back to when I was aboard in the mid-70s.
Well, today, I looked at this part and decided to make…
The deep cut. Yep, I'm taking her back in time.
From here on out, it’s going to be all or nothing, the “Willie Hot Dog” is going to be built the way she was when I served on her. I hope y'all didn't mind the extra-long preamble to this build, but it's how I began them on the LEM and figured it won't hurt to do it here. My builds are done for me, they don't get put in shows or displayed anywhere other than on a shelf in my living room, if they’re lucky, but I do like to let people know why I build what I do and why it's important to me.
I believe the model will be a better reminder of her than this; her final image.
She was sunk as a target on 23 June 2005 in the Pacific around Hawaii somewhere. The Standley was my home for over two years and she was a good ship.
Well, the cutting is done and I’m happy with the results. The macks are just sitting there for now.
Since it was getting dark outside when I finally finished up on the superstructure, I put her away for the night. I do all my work in the living room on the keyboard of my laptop and when the light goes, I do too. I’ve got a magnifying lamp attached to a bit of a table next to the laptop, but it isn’t all that bright. I’ll get back to work on her later today.
Thanks for the opportunity to share what’s on my “bench”, even though it doesn’t have wings.
Rick
