More Adventures, This Time From Library/Hobby Room.

Our only son, and boat loads of our cash, went to Clemson University. So this year in celebratory combination of his birthday and the anniversary of his graduation I decided to build him a model of the USS Clemson.

In reality of course this ship had no real connection to either the university or the town of Clemson SC. The only exception being that a local resident rescued the ship's bell before she went to the breakers after the Second World war. In reality she was named for a young Navy Ensign who was killed during the Mexican American War. But the coincidence of name is enough of an excuse for me to build, modify and detail out another model ship.

As she would have appeared coming out of the mothball fleet in 1939.

The ship actually had a varied and interesting career. Completed too late to see service in WW I she was sent into the reserve fleet and later was mothballed after less than a year of active duty.

With war looming in both Europe and Asia she was recalled from the mothball fleet, refitted and recommissioned as fast auxiliary seaplane tender AVD-4. In this capacity she supported air craft scouting operations on both sides of the Panama Canal, mostly to the South and working out of the Galapagos Islands.

Revel Models produced the original molds for this kit and it was marketed under the name of several ship's of both the Clemson and Wickes classes of destroyers.

Revel was not known for highly detailed ship models and this one is no exception. To make it a presentation piece was going to require more than just glue and paint.

After the battle of Midway the Japanese threat to the Canal was considered greatly reduced. The Clemson was then returned to her orinal hull number and designation as a destroyer. She was transferred to the Atlantic fleet and saw extensive convoy escort duty earning several battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation.

Examining the model and instructions it was clear that the first thing that would be required would be to replace all the railings with photo etched brass parts. A set in the appropriate 1/240 scale was found a Tom's Model Works and also included ship's ladders that we not provided in proper  numbers in the origional kit.

Forward deck railing.
Note the drilled out gun muzzle.

Early 1944 saw her again in the yards and again refitted and redesignated. This time as a fast auxillary troop transport APD-31, capable of carrying a third of battalion of Marines. Transfered to the Pacific she earned yet more battle stars in operations around Palau and the Philippines.

Other details were added after examination of photographs of the Clemson and other ships in her class.

Note the faring added to the forward funnel, service ladders on the funnels, the open deck hatch on the midships gun deck and the added life rafts amidships.

Boat cradles and inboard support posts were added to the lifeboat launching rails. Open weave fabric was used on all the life rafts to simulate the netting used.

All these additional parts and details were made from brass sheet, stock plastic and fabric. All the rigging was done with .015" dia. Wire. The display base made from pine board in my shop. The drydock timbers were also made from pine scrap pieces. The display case itself is made from .060" thick clear polycarbonate sheet and edged with 3/16" extruded plastic angle and small pieces of flat sheet reenforcing the corners. Small details are yet to be added such as flags and painted on rust streaks in the appropriate places. There will also need to be some paint touch up as is revealed to be needed in close up photographs. I am also considering adding a mirror to the back panel of the display case so that both the port and starboard sides can be examined.

As the war in the Pacific closed in on the Japanese home islands the Clemson once again back in the shipyard for yet another refit and redesignation that would see her returned to her origional duty as DD-186. The Navy was planning for the invasion of Japan and no doubt felt that more destroyers would be needed to protect the carrier taskforces and the the invasion force troop transports. The Atom Bomb ended the war before this last refit was completed.  She was soon decomissioned and stuck from the Navy registry of ships. Sold for scrap before the end of 1945, she no doubt found her way into the automobiles, refrigerators and razor blades of the postwar boom economy.

Some would say that that was an ignominious end for a noble ship. Others would argue that it was symbolic of what she, the crews who sailed in her and so many other ships were fighting for in the first place.

More Adventures From The Backyard Workshop

So who doesn't like swords?

The shorter of the two is double edged and made from 2" x 1/4" 4140 cold drawn carbon steel flat bar. the

The guard is made from a piece of 316L stainless steel 2" schedule 40 seamless pipe. This was cut in half longitudinally. There is a piece of 1/4" cold drawn carbon steel square bar welded into the bottom with 309 stainless filler wire.

This allowed the previously shaped and sharpened blade to be full penetration welded to the square bar using high strength E80S-B2 vanadium steel filler wire. Short intermittent sequence welds we're used and allowed to cool thoroughly before the next sequence was applied. This sequencing prevented the blade material from heating up to the point where the temper would have been lost.

The Handle is made of two pieces. The main portion is made from 1" cold drawn 12L14 carbon steel hexagonal bar. The pommel is 1-1/4" 420 stainless steel round bar. These two were welded with 309 stainless steel filler wire. This assembly was then carefully tacked and welded to the to the outer side of the pipe section in order to maintain axial alignment with the blade.

The balance point is about 1-1/4" from the base of the blade so it can wielded with either one or two hands.

The longer blade is single edged and again made from cold drawn 4140 cold drawn carbon steel. This time 1" x 3/8" flat bar was used. The guard is made from four separate pieces of 1018 cold drawn 1" x 1/4" flat bar. The edge joints were deeply v-grooved, corner and lap joints were full fillet welded. The blade was then full penetration welded to the guard with the same method as above. The handle is made from 13/16" 4140 cold drawn round bar and 1" 420 stainless steel round bar.

Still yet to be made are display boards for hanging them on the wall. These were made for display but the 4140 quenched and tempered takes a wicked sharp edge!

I Didn't Ask For Verification But...Voltaire Is Dead.

In my last post I discussed the, deserved I feel, demise of long time pundit Bernard Goldberg by his own hand, by employing a questionable character to operate his comment areas and allowing him to use the same Alinskyite tactics as the left. His favorite being labeling people as racist, giving them strikes and then banning them.

Today, as a new post was put up, there was a new addition to the comment area. Individuals now are required to " verify" their email address before being allowed to post. This is of course an open assault on both individual privacy and the important concept of anonymous political commentary, especially when dealing with those more concerned with the maintenance authority and influence than with either the truth or honest debate. It is a long standing concept, without which the American revolution could not have been undertaken, never mind succeed.

Voltaire said, "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend unto death your right to say it."

These concepts are already dead in much of Western Europe and are rapidly dieing in American discourse. If we allow this to continue the great American experiment will succumb to fascism. Not the phony fascism of leftist delusions and accusations against the President, but very real fascism. All the horrors envisioned by the leftists will come true. But it won't be Trump who creates them. It will be by the growing coalition of the establishment left and the globalist neocons.

They are already exposing themselves in many ways and not just in the corrupt banning of information sources they don't like. The recent statements of Bill Kristol are more than adaquate proof. That acorn didn't fall far from the tree. His father was an infamous Trotskyite and now that the left is openly endorsing Trotskyite "Democratic Socialism" he is simply returning to his family roots.

This isn't taking the first step on a slippery slope. That step was taken long ago. This is stepping to the edge of a cliff. This is the 21st century equivalent of book burning.   Sadly for us all this is not the first batch of fascist to burn books. That history shows that it doesn't end well is meaningless to them.  As German philosopher and poet  Heinrich Heine noted in 1820, "Where they burn books they will end burning human beings." What was a visionary warning in 1820 is still visionary today.

Bernie Goldberg Buys His Own Demise.

At one point in time, many years ago, I had a certain amount of respect for Bernie Goldberg and his exposes on media bias. He was one of them, he ought to know right?

He was of course ostracized by these very same media outlets and his primary public outlet became a weekly appearance on Bill O'Reilly's now defunked (for good reason) "No Spin Zone".

This has apparently left him with little exposure beyond social media platforms and his own web page.

Sadly, for whatever reason his has chosen to employ a nasty little fascist, who shall remain nameless for now, to monitor the comments on his site.

Maybe it's old age or maybe Bernie is in reality is just as nasty, bigoted and biased as the leftist media moguls who pushed him out. The actions of his resident attack dog and his denials if his corrupt Alinskyite tactics would seem to indicate that he is.

Poor Bernie has long since revealed himself as what is often referred to as a cuck or neverTrumper. He doesn't like the Democrats per se but he can't divorce himself from the insider game of establishment politics and punditry. He just can't bring himself to see that both political establishments lie with impunity and both are doing everything they can to destroy the United States as a soverign nation and drag us into some would be globalist coalition. To that end he was of course a Jeb Bush supporter.

Bush and the rest of the party establishment all failed miserably in the face of the Trump juggernaut and the pissed off American voters.

So now having lost the election Bernie and his attack dog have reduced themselves to using the EXACT SAME METHODS as the leftists in attacking anyone who would dare question there failed judgement. Lie about them, belittle and mock them. Call them racists, call them mentally unstable, whatever it takes to try and drive them off. Do anything and everything EXCEPT engage in honest debate. When that fails they of course resort to that oldest standby by of would be petty tyrants, they ban them from expressing their opinion on their outlets.

This is of course the same thing that was done to Bernie but that unfair treatment apparently has not provided any enlightenment.

Small wonder then that Bernie has not found a new perch on any TV outlet and his hiring of an individual of very limited education and intellect to run his web site.

Well Bernie your methods and hiring of a pernicious coward and ignoramus to run your operation will only accelerate your passing into oblivion on the internet. Censorship and 21st century book burning is a sure prescription for failure. Maybe you've earned it. If it also drags your little attack dog into that hole it's a good thing. Let me throw in the first shovel of dirt.