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


JohnWS

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A tiny update - making Deck Cleats.

 

25609991338_853de99d4d_b.jpg

 

The model will have four cleats, 2 at the bow, & 2 amidships.  The actual cleats were 13 1/4" long, the same length as this model. I made them from pieces cut from plastic sheet.  The 13 1/4" length scales down to approx. .18" ... pretty small.

 

Here's a photo of one of completed cleats;

 

25609980608_155e85e347_b.jpg

 

I made 10 cleats, 6 turned out relatively good, & I'll be using the 4 best for the model.

 

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Now it's time to rest my old eyes, before attempting to make two additional deck mooring bitts.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

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5 hours ago, 06/24 said:

... I note that, while not cheap, there appears to be a whole bunch of PT boat parts on Shapeways, which might save some of the eye-strain?

 

https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/?tag=pt+boat

Unfortunately, I've had a couple of bad experiences with Shapeways, so they're not on my 'approved' vendor list right now. :(

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Making the little mooring deck pieces.

 

I'm going to repurpose the two Revell kit's molded fairleads.  Luckily, I was able to cut them off the kit's deck & will be able to use them on the stern of the new deck.

 

The Revell PT 109 kit includes three mooring bitts.  My model is of a later boat & requires five mooring bitts - one on the bow, two amidships & two at the stern. Using the kit parts as a guide, I've made the two additional bitts from plastic rod, cut strips, & punched discs.

 

Here's a photo showing the new parts;

 

38611381255_4bd74a31ca_b.jpg

 

Next up, it's the deck vents.

 

John

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Time again to try to decide on the colour scheme for this model.

 

I've been flip-flopping between the green Pacific camo & overall grey scheme (dark on horizontal surface & light on vertical).  I'm concerned the green camo scheme will be a wee bit much for a small model like this one and will hide (camouflage) a lot of the detail.  I like the grey scheme as it looks like it would provide a good contrasting background to show off the weapons & other equipment.

 

As mentioned in an earlier post, I want this model to show what these Elco boats looked like late in WWII, with maximum weaponry, as well as being as historically accurate as possible.  The majority of these later boats were sent to the Pacific theatre in the green camo scheme.  Most of the grey boats served in the Mediterranean & the English Channel.  The grey boats were mostly earlier Elco versions with less weaponry than those serving in the Pacific.  Also, earlier I found photos of the boats assigned to MTB training squadron PTRon 4 in what looked liked an overall monotone grey paint scheme but additional black & white photos I found show these boats in what I'm guessing to be an overall monotone dark green scheme:(.

 

After doing some more research, I think I found a good candidate for a late model boat, with maximum weaponry, and with the grey paint scheme.

 

First some history (with help from Navsource.org) to help the thought process (I think our arctic sub-zero temperatures are starting to affect my brain :hypnotised:) ...

 

- the last group of 22 Elco 80' PT boats were laid down & launched in 1945.

- the 1945 boats were assigned hull numbers 601 to 622.

- most of these boats were assigned to the Pacific fleet, painted in the green camo scheme & including a full complement of weaponry - four 21 inch torpedoes, a 37mm canon, a 20mm Oerlikon, a 40mm Bofors, four .50 cal machine guns, & two rocket launchers.

- none of these boats saw action as WWII hostilities had ended.

- four boats PT's 613, 616, 619 and 620 remained in service under the USN's Operational Development Force, and were the last WWII PT's in service in the US Navy.

- by the early 1950's, most of 22 boats had been either sold, designated as radio controlled target vessels, or transferred to the Republic of (south) Korea Navy or the Norwegian Navy.

- later photos of the PT's 616, 619 & 620, that were transferred to the ROK, show the boats painted in an overall grey paint scheme.  It appears some weapons had been removed or relocated as well.

 

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So after all this, I think I'm going to make my boat resemble PT 620 in an overall grey scheme, in it's original factory weapons configuration, and prior to it being transferred to Korea ... at least until I change my mind ... again. :laugh:

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

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1 hour ago, JohnWS said:

at least until I change my mind ... again. :laugh:

If you do change your mind then it is your choice and your model at the end of the day but I will still sick around for the ride  :yes:

 

beefy

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I got a surprise in the mail today.  Mainly because we don't normally get mail delivery on Sundays.

 

In November, I placed an order on Amazon for an inexpensive Tamiya dust cover/display case for the PT Boat model.  Apparently, this size case has been discontinued & unavailable in North America, and needed to be shipped from Japan.  I'm usually wary of ordering stuff directly from Asia, but the price made it worth the gamble.

 

I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived today, well within the promised delivery time.  The packaging was great and the case is in pristine condition - no chips or scratches.

 

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Now I can make as much of a mess as I want during the build & not worry about getting the model too dirty. :)

Edited by JohnWS
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Hi John,

 

If you might be open to another color scheme, I know of one you might like.  RON 29 was one of the U.S. Navy squadrons in the Mediterranean in the mid-war years as was mentioned earlier.  Those boats did not carry the rocket launchers nor the forward 30mm cannon, but they did carry torpedoes (with the rear ones moved further aft), the 40 mm Bofors, the two twin .50 cal machine guns in the turrets, and the forward 20mm Oerlikon cannon.  The thing is, these boast were painted in an overall Thayer Blue with Ocean Blue (dark blue) decks. Some of the upper flat areas such as the roof of the day cabin may also have been in the dark blue.  If you Google on U.S. Navy WWII Thayer Blue color chip, you should be able to see the color; it is a light grayish-blue color, and to my eyes it has a hint of RAF Azure Blue in it as well.  In addition, the first few feet of the deck at the bow was painted yellow and the last few feet of deck at the stern was painted red  as (I believe) air recognition signals.  These markings came to me from a book on Coastal Forces and there are a couple of PT boat models on the web that reflect what the scheme looks like when done.  Others here will likely have more specific information to hand; I am away from my information just now so I have dealt in generalities.  IIRC, Thayer Blue was a U.S. Navy color, but I suspect that the air recognition colors came from local Royal Navy stocks, so a dark-ish yellow (similar to RAF Trainer Yellow), and Red (RAF Dull Red for roundels) may well have been used.  Since I've taken so long to get onto my Merit PT boat kit, I'm happy to share the information!

 

HTH, Jim

Edited by Jim Kiker
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Work on the deck hardware & vents continues.  Three vents are located on the forward deck & one on the port side of the bridge.  These vents are similar to the British designed MTB's vents, but the air inlets are rectangular instead of round. An additional vent is located ahead of the starboard MG turret.  These deck vents were made from plastic sheet.  Four mushroom vents (two to be located amidships & two near the stern) were made from plastic tube & straight pins.

 

Here's a photo of the deck hardware & vents completed to date, ready for a coat of primer;

 

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And a photo a deck hardware & vents with primer applied;

 

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I'm using the exhaust mufflers from the Revell kit.  I thought this would be easy, but I ended up spending over two hours scraping, filing & sanding the exhaust parts to remove mold lines & flash. Once this was done, I drilled out the exhaust pipes for added detail.

 

Here's a photo of the muffler parts waiting to be primed;

 

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Next up, more work on the deck including adding bases for the gun mounts.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

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I decided to take a detour & focus on the muffler assemblies, rudders & propellers.

 

I came across a copy of Elco Parts Catalog & found detailed line drawings of the exhaust muffler assembly.  As a result, I was able to make a couple of simple details to the kit parts - attachment flanges & butterfly valve operating levers;

 

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The kit rudders required some reshaping the match the actual pt boat rudders;

 

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When cleaning up the three kit propellers, I found the centre hub on one of the propellers was molded incorrectly, resulting in the hole for the propeller shaft being off centre.  I re-shaped the hub with putty & then drilled the hole for the shaft in the correct location;

 

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Now, back to the deck ...

 

John

Edited by JohnWS
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi again!

 

My shipyard's productivity has slowed down over the past week as I've been fighting a good ol' Canadian winter head cold.  I knew my brain was starting to get foggy from the cold (more than normal) when I measured the same part four times & got four different results. :laugh: 

 

Well the fog is starting to lift, and I've been able to spend a little more time back at workbench.

 

I've started laying out the PT boat's deck, beginning at the bow.  I've added the reinforcement plates for the bow gun mounts & the bow mooring bitt, as well as adding a small deck hatch, jackstaff bracket & a hatch hold open device for the hatch by the 37mm Canon.

 

39149113445_2ece317f3c_b.jpg

 

Next up, making the four main deck & day cabin hatch covers;

 

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For something different, I made the 20mm deck gun.  You may recall I had ordered 3D printed guns for this build, but the vendor's packaging resulted in the guns being damaged during shipment.  However, I was able to salvage the tripod mount for the 20mm gun.  I cut the mount off the 3D printed gun & shortened it to suit.  I added a scratch built yoke from plastic sheet, & a detail using wine bottle foil.

 

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The 3D printed gun was beyond repair, so I used the Revell kit's 20mm Oerikon gun removing the gun sight and mount.  A plastic cradle, copper wire shoulder rest, and stretched sprue ammo magazine detail were added.

 

25175626667_e8fc9a4699_b.jpg

 

Here's a photo of the completed 20mm gun assembly;

 

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Now the fun part, test fitting all the bits & pieces assembled to date to the forward deck.  I used my scale paper superstructure for reference;

 

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Next up, building of either the rocket launchers or the torpedo racks.  Not sure which, just yet.

 

Here's a photo of my parts store (aka a cookie tin) with all the little parts completed to date.

 

39149164215_5ea636b96d_b.jpg

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

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