Shipcraft 8 - Fletcher Class Destroyers Paperback – March 19, 2015

I've been collecting volumes of the Shipcraft series for years. They have always been an excellent source of reference material not just for model builders, but for anyone with an interest in WWII era warships, and Volume 8 Fletcher Class Destroyers is a fine example. Packed with photographs, color diagrams, line drawings and narrative covering the ships' design history, service history and detailed descriptions of the different paint schemes and appearance, this is (in my opinion) a gold mine of information for anyone interested in the Fletcher Class. Being geared toward model builders, this book also contains kit and accessory reviews, along with stunning photos of a number of highly detailed models built by highly skilled builders. Definitely worth ordering a copy of!

I hoped book would have had more closeup detailed views of the rigging. The book does have a few images I had not seen before nor been able to find online. Knowing what I know now about the images I would pass on the book as for a guide to detailing a build of a destroyer model. It does suggest aftermarket parts but I scratch build and really needed just detail information and closeup images.

Please don't get me wrong, it's a great book for modelers, and I encourage modelers, specially those new to naval modeling to get a copy, if your intent is to build one of the available models, be it Tamiya's or Trumpeter.My criticism of the book is that it relied heavily on other modeler's work as reference. While great models were showcased I must say that in principle this is a flawed concept, as modelers -no matter how good they are, either don't get everything right, or their modeling style does not appeal to every modeler out there, or had access to accessories no longer in production. Nothing beats a period photograph as far as references go.A far better use of the pages devoted to models would have been to show photos like in the Raven book on the Fletcher class (Naval Institute Press) that show in crisp, ultra-detail the many configurations available. These are photos from the period, the real deal, not like in this book, showing the USS Kidd which differs significantly from its wartime configuration.To be fair to the book, the color analysis (measures and schemes) was far superior to anything I've seen in books this size or even bigger. well done in that regard, worth the asking price on this aspect alone. The author is obviously an expert in this area, both technically and historically, you will enjoy reading this book, specially the author's assessment of the available kits of this most important warship.

This book has some very good photographs and line drawings. It's a 2007 edition and it misses the 1:144 Revell model in its review of Fletcher models, as well as the Eduard and Nautilus photo etch detail kits for it. The drawings of camouflage measures are black and white with no indication of colors. There are color photos in the book so there is no logical reason for not showing camouflage colors. All in all, this is a decent book and worth the price, but it could be better.

I just received this book for Christmas (with the help of Amazon) and I would strongly recommend it. Despite its limited page count (64) it is the best reference I have seen to date, and well worth the wait for it to come "across the pond" (my seller was in Great Britain).One reason that I found it to be an excellent reference is that it has a logical discussion of the differences between individual Fletcher class destroyers during World War II. The other books that I have read on Fletcher class destroyers provide a "hodge-podge" of photos of different looking Fletchers with little explanation of the differences or the evolution of the class, other than mentioning the round bridges of early Fletcher class ships vs the `square bridge' on the later ships, and a limited discussion of changes in armament.Having said that, prior to reading this book, I still did not know that the reason for the change to the 'square bridge' was to optimize production combined with inspiration from the British Navy to have an "open bridge" forward of the pilothouse. When one of the other references discusses the refit that increased the number of 40MM guns, it is not addressing the emergency AA refit, as installed on the USS Kidd, but the increase of 40MM guns on the original Fletchers, which had 20MM guns in the forward gun tubs, where 40 MM guns were later installed. That same reference also captions a twin 40MM gun mount as a "quad 40MM mount."If a modeler is looking for a "how-to" on specific modeling techniques for superdetailing kits or scratchbuilding, he or she will be disappointed, but this book provides the availability of detail parts for upgrading kits or scratchbuilding, and -- most importantly -- provides the modeler the information required to determine that the particular vessel that he or she is modeling will be in the correct configuration and color. I have seen commercially produced and sold Fletcher class ship models in the wrong configuration and camouflage scheme, so this is a very important aspect of modeling.Further, although the book would appear to be directed at modelers, I feel it would be an excellent reference in any enthusiast's collection.Pete G.

I have several shipcraft books and this one is on par with the others. I use these books for info. to build models of the ships. They are a good reference for the details of the ships they cover.

Lots of history , was hoping for more build talk and guidance .

Was a gift. Did not look at it

ok

An excellent modeller's resource for builders of the Fletcher class

A good resource for modelers.

Für Modellbauer ein sehr informatives Buch, welches sich mit der Geschichteund den einzelnen Schiffen befasst.Nicht zu oberflächig, aber auch nicht zu kompliziert.Man sollte aber der Englischen Sprache mächtig sein.