USS Clemson

Original post: Feb. 19, 2019

This is my 3D printed 1/450 scale USS Clemson Destroyer model.

Since I was a kid, I’ve liked the old US 4 stacker DDs. When I was around 8, I actually traded a working toy submarine I’d received for Christmas (just add baking soda!) for a built Revell Campbelltown (actually a Wicks class). My mom thought I’d got a raw deal so we had to swap back… but yep, me and the Clemsons go way back….

A friend who’s dad served on the Compton, has been telling me of his exploits on the Clemson in World Of Warships for well over a year. Even though he’s earned the right to move on to bigger and better ships he keeps playing the Clemson – just for the fun of it. While I tend to avoid destroyers in that game I started the American Destroyer line and quickly worked up to the Clemson. It is a fun ship. Not because it is so powerful – it’s almost just the opposite. Being a low tier ship in the game you tend to fight other low tier ships so weakness is relative. The ships you fight tend to be older (like the Clemson) and don’t have radar so your smoke screens still actually work. Long story short I see the attraction, it’s a challenge with the awful torps and weak guns but in the hands of a skilled captain the old girl is still deadly. Of course not so much when I’m playing it… but I still see the attraction!

So once I had access to the excellently modeled World Of Warships Clemson, It was inevitable that my model would be heavily influenced by it. The single biggest difference being the deck guns. The WOW Clemson has dual mounts but I couldn’t find a single photo or reference to a Clemson with dual mounted 4 inchers.

If you’ve read any of my other DaVinci printed model pages you may have picked up on a change with Clemson… The added Photo-etch and rigging. I just had to for Clemson. I felt the rigging to be one of the coolest features on the WOW model and I found plenty of photos on line to back it up. Plus the small size of the ship meant that the extra hassle would be negligible whether it enhanced or detracted. I added the photo etch before any painting and don’t have any before pics for comparison – but I do like the end result.

Over-all this project went fast and smoothly, a few choices I made, such as using the printed masts and line spacers, I regret – so at some point I may try building her again – but probably not until I get my dream 3D printer…

Update: June 17. 2024

This was one of my favorite early projects and once I’d learned a bit of Blender. I played at updating the original XYZ design. The result was eventually a total redo with the intent of recreating Clemson in a larger scale using my new printers. Below is the new, near finished, Blender version.

A few proportions still need correcting for her larger scale and she needs to be cut up into printable sections. Hopefully I’ll get to actually printing and building her sooner than later.

So many projects, so little time!