At the Annapolis reunion in 1997 Rich Roberts' (MM3 72-73) made the winning auction bid on an unassembled model of USS Gearing. It was the kind of model that requires great wood carving skills and much detail work and Rich took on the job. Just a year later, at the Savannah reunion, he presented the finished model to the USS Gearing Association for display at the reunions. But after five years of serious travel... to Albuquerque, DuBuque, Las Vegas, Cleveland and Norwich, USS Gearing had taken a beating from the shippers. Rich brought the model home for repairs and has provided these photos of the "shipyard availability." Below is the latest work-in-progress photo, taken in mid-January 2004: Below is an earlier progress report, an email with photos from Connecticut on July 8, 2003: "Tonight its the torpedo tubes and bullwork behind the bridge. Repairs will take just as long as building the model itself because I have to make a lot of fittings and stuff that fell out of the box, and I have already added a few xtras that were left out. Will be in touch ---Richie" |