1/72 USN 80' Elco PT Boat with some mods

[robgizlu]

Some super detailing and scratching going on here - enviable

 

Rob

[lars_opland]

On 12/23/2017 at 3:01 AM, longshanks said:

 

Can some one tell me what the fuss is about ....

 

A guy driving a boat capable of doing 40 knots is run down by a destroyer because he's stopped

Looses several of his crew and is made out to be some sort of hero.

 

Confused

 

Kev

Well, he HAD to be a hero...because he was running for President, of course. ...& of course, anything can happen in night ops, & getting all the survivors out of the predicament they found themselves in involved a bit of resourcefulness & daring-do...

[JohnWS]

Where does the time go?  I've been spending my modelling time over the past two weeks making two small rocket launchers for the PT boat.  I was amazed at how much visible detail there is in these tiny assemblies, at 1/72 scale.

 

Here's a photo of the completed scratch built rocket launcher assemblies;

 

 

The launchers consist of three main parts/assemblies - a base, a manual operating mechanism with hand crank, and the rocket launch tubes.

 

 

I made the various parts from plastic sheet, plastic tube & rod, stretched sprue, straight pins for the pivot points, & copper wire for the hand cranks.

 

This is a Mark 50 8-tube launcher designed to fire 5" spin-stabilized rockets, & that was specifically designed for PT boats.  Two launchers were mounted on each boat; swung inboard for loading and outboard for firing.  Elevation was adjustable using the hand crank.  The rockets were trained by turning the boat.  The firing button was located on the bridge.  Each time the firing button was depressed, one rocket was fired from each launcher.

 

I haven't decided in what position I'll display the launchers, so I've used the straight pins to allow the launchers to freely rotate and elevate.

 

I've temporarily attached the launchers to the deck, using white tac, to show the locations and the firing positions.

 

 

 

 

Next up, 4 torpedo roll off racks.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2018 by JohnWS

[06/24]

Words fail me. Exquisite doesn't even come close

[Courageous]

What Jon says .

Fantastic work, mental but fantastic. I can now fully appreciate why these builds take so long.

 

Stuart

[JohnWS]

5 hours ago, Courageous said:

What Jon says .

Fantastic work, mental but fantastic. I can now fully appreciate why these builds take so long.

 

Stuart

Welcome to my world.  I won't say how many times I've remade some of those parts to get them just right. 

 

John

Edited February 18, 2018 by JohnWS

[robgizlu]

Delightful work

 

Hugely impressive detail - keep it coming

 

Rob

[longshanks]

Your usual high standard being maintained

 

Kev

[seadog]

What Kev said! Really coming on.

[JohnWS]

Hello again!

 

After completing the rocket launchers, I attempted to make the torpedo roll off racks.  This work included printing out images of the rack parts on heavy weight paper, and then cutting out the shapes.  I coated the cut outs with CA glue for added strength and let them dry.

 

 

The parts turned out pretty good, but then I had a senior moment.  I realized that to complete the racks, I would need to make very many tiny parts ... times 4!  Too many tiny parts for my old eyes & fingers.  So I implemented Plan 'B', & reluctantly ordered a set of 3D printed parts from Shapeways.  You may remember that earlier in this thread I had a bad experience with 3D parts being damaged in shipment, due to very poor packaging.  Well, I'm happy to report that I've received the 3D printed torpedo racks packaged properly & undamaged.  The parts have terrific detail & are a nice addition to this build.

 

 

Since I now had some free time, I was able to start building the PT boat's superstructure, incorporating the 50 cal. machine gun turrets made earlier.  I used various thicknesses of Evergreen plastic sheet.  The structures were challenging as they include some complex shapes and angles.

 

Here's a couple of photos showing what I've been able to finish to date;

 

 

 

The roofs of both the chart house & day cabin are curved.  To accomplish this, I used pieces of balsa wood sanded to match the roof curvatures.  I covered the shaped balsa wood with .015" thick plastic sheet, & glued them in place.

 

 

And, finally the parts were placed on the deck to verify the correct fit.

 

 

Next up, I'm going to focus on completing the large engine room vents & detailing the superstructures.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

[GMK]

That looks absolutely amazing! Fantastic work. 

[beefy66]

Great job on the cabin and wheel house your details in 72nd look better than some of the 35th details on my old build  

 

beefy 

[JohnWS]

A short update today.  I've slowed this build down (more than usual ) while I'm in recovery mode from cataract surgery.  The operation went very well & now I can see all my modelling mistakes much clearer. 

 

I decided to revisit the mufflers on the PT boat.  You might remember the kit mufflers were molded in two groups of three.

 

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I cut the mufflers apart, filled in the void on their backside, & added copper wire mounting/locating pins.  I drilled mounting holes for both the mufflers & the exhaust butterfly valve operating mechanisms in the boat's transom.

 

 

Next, I've glued pieces of plastic strip to the deck to locate the superstructures, and sprayed on a coat of primer.

 

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Once the deck was primed, it looked clean.  Too clean!  It's my understanding that these later boats had smooth plywood decks.  In addition to the vents, & other deck hardware, the actual boats had a number of glass dead lights.  The actual size of these windows is approx. 9" X 6".  I concluded that I should add these to my boat, as they would add some detail to the deck, & would be a good test for my repaired eyesight.  I started with .01" X .080" plastic strip cut to length to simulate the dead light frame.  Then, I cut pieces of thin blue wine bottle foil to simulate the lights' glass.  The actual glass is green, but these parts are so small the blue colour is hard to distinguish, other that providing a contrast to the frame. Finally, I glued the foil to the frame pieces, & then glued pieces of plastic sprue to the foil to simulate the cross members that protect the dead light glass.

 

Here's the result;

 

 

The scratch built dead lights will sit higher on the deck surface than the real ones, but I feel they'll add some much needed detail to the deck (modeller's license).

 

Well, that's it for now.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2018 by JohnWS

[Courageous]

Glad to see you back in action after your surgery and getting stuck in. Nice to see some paint on the girl and those 'tincy wincy' dead lights look cool.

 

Stuart

[JohnWS]

Here's a shot showing 5 of the dead lights placed on the foredeck along with a few other items, to give you a sense of scale.  They're painted the dark grey deck colour, so they should blend in nicely when the deck receives its final paint.

 

Edited March 20, 2018 by JohnWS

[Courageous]

2 hours ago, JohnWS said:

dead lights

Seeings these, I think my current ASR launch has these?

 

Stuart

[JohnWS]

1 hour ago, Courageous said:

Seeings these, I think my current ASR launch has these?

 

Stuart

Yes, it looks like they're molded onto the deck. The British Power Boat MTB's have them as well.

[robgizlu]

1 hour ago, JohnWS said:

Yes, it looks like they're molded onto the deck. The British Power Boat MTB's have them as well.

Nice work John.  I always assumed that these were vents.....

 

Rob

[JohnWS]

Hi again!

 

For a change of pace, I've started to add some colour to the boat.  The bottom of the hull & exhaust mufflers have been painted red.

 

 

Next I focused on the main engine room hatch located between the day cabin & the aft Bofors gun.

 

 

The main hatch was removable on the actual Elco boats to allow engine removal & replacement.  Attached to the upper surface of the main hatch are a depression rail for the Bofors gun, an ammunition ready rack for the Bofors, engine room vents, a crew hatch to enter the engine room, and a storage locker.

 

Scratch building included;

 

The Bofors Gun Depression Rail - scratch built using coated copper wire bent into shape & assembled with CA glue.

 

 

The Bofors Ammunition Ready Rack. - I wrapped a balsa wood core with pieces of plastic sheet, and used fine woven cloth to simulate a canvas cover.

 

 

Engine Room Vents made using vent bells from the original Revell kit and pieces of plastic bar & rod.

 

 

Engine Room Vent & Crew Hatch made from pieces cut from plastic sheet, with a vent screen made using metal screen material cut from a spare coffeemaker filter.

 

 

A Storage Locker made using a balsa wood core wrapped with pieces cut from various thicknesses of plastic sheet.

 

 

And finally, a couple of photos showing the parts temporarily placed on the main engine room hatch.

 

 

Next up, I'll get out the primer paint for the above assemblies, then add a finish grey paint coat to the hull sides and then start detailing the deck day cabin.

 

Thanks again for looking in.

 

Cheers,

 

John 

 

 

 

 

[longshanks]

Nice job !

 

Kev

[seadog]

Wot 'e said! Excellent, in fact.

[Courageous]

What they said. Nice work on the sub assemblies and good to see a little colour on her.

[GMK]

Beautiful work! Very clean, very precise. 

[robgizlu]

Agree with all of the above!  Great tip about the coated wire!

Rob

[JohnWS]

28 minutes ago, robgizlu said:

... Great tip about the coated wire!

Rob

The insulation coating on the wire results in a nice smooth look.  However, CA glue doesn't adhere very well when applied directly to the coating.  After a little experimentation, I found the best way to stick two pieces of the coated wire together is to cut a small divot into the coating at the point where the pieces are glued together exposing the wire, and then apply the CA glue.  The resulting joint seems to be strong.