JohnWS

Hello everyone! Yes, it's another torpedo boat. This time, I'm attempting to scratch build a late model Elco 80' boat, circa 1945. There is a lot of reference materials for these boats in books & on the 'net, so this should be a fun & relatively easy build (famous last words ). Some of you may recall that the hulls for my previous two torpedo boat builds were carved from a cedar fence post. But this time, I going to take a shortcut and use the hull from a Revell PT 109 plastic kit. This is an old kit, that's been reviewed & built many, many times. I saw this kit at an antique market and I couldn't pass it up for the price. The quality of kit leaves a little to be desired, and the plastic parts are a little smaller than 1/72 scale. But, the kit should serve my needs. To begin this build, I made a stand from a 3/4"x4" piece of oak trim, using two finishing nails to attach the hull to the oak stand. [/url] Next, I drilled holes in the bottom of the plastic hull to match the location of the nails. Two pieces of plastic tubing were glued over the holes to strengthen the hull and to guide & support the nails. [/url] I found layout drawings for the Elco boat on the Internet, and printed them out in 1/72 scale, for reference. I used the drawings to identify what I will need to change on the 109 kit, to upgrade it to the 1945 model. The major changes involve modifying the kit deck to remove the Oerlikon gun mount at the stern and the support structures for the torpedo tubes. [/url] Removing those items will require major surgery. So instead, I decided to make a new deck and will build the superstructure & deck fittings from scratch. I made the new deck by gluing pieces of Evergreen plastic sheet together. I ended up laminating pieces of .040", .030", and .015" sheets (available at the local hobby store) to give enough thickness so I could contour the deck surface. The Revell deck was used to trace the shape on the plastic sheet, and the size was checked against the the plan drawings. It was a little bit of a battle to glue the new deck to the plastic hull, as the hull was twisted in the box. Luckily my new deck is strong enough so I could bend the hull to the proper shape when glueing it to the deck over the course of three days. After a quick start, the rest of this build will be slowed down over the next few weeks due to Christmas activities & while I wait for a few purchased items. Hopefully, I'll have some updates soon. Thanks for looking in. Cheers! John

Hi again. I going to call the boat portion of this build complete. I decided to take a short break from painting the crew, and clean my camera lens to test some backgrounds for the the 'Ready for inspection' forum photos. Here's a few test photos taken today. The crew is patiently waiting in the paint shop. Thanks for looking. John

A quiz for those of you who have been following this build. Can you tell what new additions I've made to the model's deck in the photo below? Here's a hint. Yep, new ropes! I mentioned in an earlier post that "I've ordered a little something to add more realism to the model. It's new for me, so I hope it works out." That 'something' is scale rigging rope. I was so impressed with Rob's (robgizlu) rope cheesing on his ML 196 Fairmile B build, I decided to look for a way I could make the ropes on this build look more realistic. I found a company called Syren Ship Model Company located in the US. Among other things, Syren makes ropes for rigging model sailing ships, in a number of scales. I ordered their 63mm dia. rope in tan colour. It turned out to be a great quality product that was very easy to work with. As you can see in the following photo, at 1/72 scale you can't see a lot of difference between my original 'solder' rope and the new product. But close up, the rigging rope looks amazing. I've got to thank Rob again for giving me the incentive to improve this build. Now, back to the crew. Thanks for looking. John

Kevin, your patience and perseverance has really paid off. She looks beautiful.

That's one helm of a bridge Kev. I agree, the grain at small scales can't be seen. Better to go over scale to see the grain. John

Getting closer to completion. Here's a couple of photos showing where the model sits today. There's still a few things I want to do to tidy her up, and then painting the crew members begins. Thanks for checking in. John

It's funny how to ol' brain works sometimes. Actually, it wasn't too bad. I've had problems with small decals curling or breaking up in the past, but this time the decal laid down nice & flat. It helps having a good printer to print the small size & detail, as well. My initial plan was to just add a few visible details to the plain deck to make it look a little more interesting, e.g. dead lights and reinforcement plates under the weapons. But, it grew from there.

Arjan, do you have any overhead photos of the channel boats with the wider locker than the housing? In the above photo, the housing is definitely narrower, or maybe even offset to port. The locker looks the same size as the later boats, based on the space between the locker & the vent. I'm continually surprised about how many different build configurations the Elco's had over the war years. Thanks, John Oops, my mistake. I see you've included an overhead photo at the start of your thread - https://i.imgur.com/jqbAU9l.jpg John

I've been slowly plodding away putting the finishing touches on the Elco model. There's not a lot to show for my efforts, touching up paint, fixing some fit-up issues, etc. However, here's one thing that might be of interest. As you may have read in my earlier post, I'm using the Atlantic Models 37mm Oldsmobile Cannon on the PT boat's bow. It's a nice kit, but the PE ammo didn't quite do it for me. The kit's PE ammo belt for cannon's auto loader has etched cartridges but no colour to differentiate the shell casings from the projectiles/bullets. Here's a photo showing the PE part & the ammunition in the actual auto loader. I tried painting the projectile tips, first with a Sharpie marker & then with a fine pointed paint brush, but the PE shapes were just too tiny to paint accurately. Finally, I thought I'd try to make a tiny decal for the projectiles. After some careful measuring, I drew the projectile shapes using Photoshop, & printed out duplicates of the drawing on clear waterslide decal paper. Much to my surprise, the resulting tiny decal easily slid over the PE surface & was positioned using a drop of decal bonding solution. Once dry, I painted the underside on the PE part with grey enamel & then coated the part overall with a clear dull coat to tone down the unpainted brass & to seal the decal. I'm happy with the result, & I think it looks much better. Mission accomplished. So, now it's back to finishing off the model. Thanks again for looking in. John

I have to agree Arjan. The photos & line drawings I have of the later boats show the housing & locker the same width. John

Well done Franco! Great job depicting Invincible's return. John

A good day today, I've learned something new. I've never heard of, or seen, that fog buoy before. Thanks Rob!

Now, that's a nice looking wheel. Kev, what did you use to make the funnel? John

I Googled Avocet out of interest. I was surprised she isn't painted green. Oh wait a minute, I'm the green one this time - green with envy. Thanks for your volunteer work Martian.

... and small scale builds don't help. She's looking very good Kev. John

One of my favourite destroyer designs. I'll be watching this one with interest. John

Hello again! A small update. Torpedo roll-off rack cables have been added using silver/grey thread. The deck is pretty well complete with the exception of the superstructures & weapons. The boat should be complete by my next update. After that, the focus will change towards the crew. Also, I've ordered a little something to add more realism to the model. It's new for me, so i hope it works out. Stay tuned! Thanks for looking. John

Looking better & better. John

That Jeep looks the part Arjan. Nice work on the wind deflector & horn, as well.

I second that! A very menacing looking sub. John

Very nice! That mains'l looks great. John

Those 'ropes' look great Rob. Very nice!

Just amazing! John

Wow, I'm in awe of your metallurgical skills Steve.

No offence taken Jeff. Thanks again for you're feedback. Now, 'Captain' Bandsaw is another story.