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PT495, late '44


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Here is PT495. It was an 80' Elco MTB and it is configured as it looked during the Battle of Surigao Strait in Oct of 1944. It was part of MTB Squadron 33 (RON33). She was named "Gentleman Jim" after a crewman who was KIA in July of '44. Later, on the night of Nov 19/20 '44, while transport a group of Alamo Scouts to a landing behind Japanese lines, the 495 boat survived a near miss from a bomb dropped by a Japanese float plane. One crewman died and all the rest were wounded, including my friend. With the help of one of the Scouts, he survived and returned to the States for a lengthy recovery.The kit is the 1/35th Italeri PT596 that was backdated using information and photos provided, in part, by a crewman who was aboard that night that I got to know as a result of my research. This was built not long after the 596 kit was released so most backdating items were built from scratch or made from molds I made. The colors are WEM. Please excuse the odd backgrounds. All lettering and markings were painted using custom stencils. These photos were used to strip away the backgrounds while generating some posters I made for my crewman friend and his family. Comments welcome. DSCF0017_zpszbqq0fwd.jpg

DSCF0016edit1_zps74kknoug.jpgDSCF0015_zpsusdki7ac.jpgDSCF0011_zpsup7eotud.jpgDSCF0008_zpsueeuhijd.jpgDSCF0009_zps8ymlw0h9.jpgDSCF0005_zpsgakeqsdz.jpgDSCF0004_zpsyohsbrya.jpg

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Just noticed the gun mount forward of the stbd torpedo. That's unusual, 20mm flanked by two .50 cals

Kev

It was called an Acey-Deucy. They were locally fabricated in the field. Most of them used the same curved ammo boxes as the twin-50 turrets. Several Ron33 boats utilized them as well as a few boats served by the same Tender and support facilities. One drawback was the powerful rotation that resulted should one of the 50s jam or run out of ammo before the other. It was not uncommon to see a pipe or pole fixed vertically from the deck in a location to prevent the Acey-Duecy from sweeping across the fore deck.

Here is a photo of the Acey-Deucy on the 489 boat. It used rectangular ammo boxes.

489-2.jpg

Edited by Edward Casacia
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  • 5 months later...

Just now saw this kit and all I can say is Holy Schnikes!  So very impressed.   I was looking for inspiration for my Merit 1/48 PT build and think I found it.   Love the weathering at the waterline as well.   Not often you see the algae growth.  

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  • 1 month later...

Hello Edward,

Master modeler. Excellent model and some back ground information

Regards, Orion / The Netherlands.

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