Revell Guided Missile Destroyer Rommel 1/700 Scale

D187 Rommel was a guided missile destroyer of the Bundesmarine (West German Navy) and later the Deutsche Marine (Navy of reunited Germany). It was the third and last ship of the Lütjens class, a modification of the Charles F. Adams class.

Rommel was laid down August 22, 1967 by Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine with the hull number DDG-30. On February 1, 1969 she was launched and baptised Rommel by Lucie Maria Rommel, widow of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel. May 2, 1970 she was commissioned into the 1. Zerstörergeschwader (first destroyer squadron), based in Kiel.

September 30, 1998 she had to be decommissioned, because the operating licence for the boilers expired. She was then towed to Wilhelmshaven and cannibalised for spare parts for her two sisters, Lütjens and Mölders, which continued to serve for five more years. In 2004 she was finally scrapped in Turkey.

Model Review:

This kit is a 1/700 scale Revell-Germany release of the Rommel Destroyer, which as is a reboxing of the Dragon USS Charles F. Adams Class Guided Missile Destroyer, with the additional funnel and mast parts for the German version!

However the Revell model represents the FGS Rommel of the late 1980's. I decided to build the 1990's version. There are only a few modifications needed to build a 1990's version. The most visible is the bigger deck structure forward, needed to allow the mounting of the RAM Launcher. The RAM Launcher came from Italeri Tarawa and it cost half the price of the Dragon Tarawa! Chaff launchers should also be added. I took 2 x SRBOC 6 barreled Mk 36 from Revell. The launchers are located amidships on the deck with the ASROC Launcher, next to the aft superstructure and below the aft funnel. Two MK20 20mm Rheinmetall guns should also be fitted. I didn't mount the guns, because it was necessary to scratch build them and I was no able to do it.

The 20mm guns are located on platforms amidships on the deck with the ASROC launcher, next to the forward superstructure and below the forward funnel. It looks like an extension of the platform for the Life Raft canisters. The model is of a good quality and you are not required to invest much additional work to get a very good-looking model.