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


JohnWS

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Another quick update.

 

Painting the hull bottom & sides is complete.  I chose Tamiya Acrylic Flat Red for the bottom and Model Master Acrylic Dark Ghost Grey for the hull sides (& superstructure).  These colours are similar to PT 620's paint scheme following WWII.

 

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The exhaust mufflers & butterfly valve operating mechanisms are glued in place.  The exhaust butterfly valve operating mechanisms were made from stretched plastic sprue.  Painting the mufflers was a bit of a challenge.  I read somewhere that the mufflers should be painted before assembling to the hull.  I have to agree.  This meant a little extra work dry fitting the mufflers & laying out the demarcation line between the the grey & red colours.  This turned out to be a lot easier than trying to mask & paint the sides of the mufflers after they were glued in place.

 

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And one more teaser photo showing the deck structures dry fitted on the freshly painted hull.

 

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Now, it's back to scratch building some more details.

 

Thanks again for looking in.

 

John

 

 

Edited by JohnWS
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26 minutes ago, seadog said:

... Neat work. ...

Thanks!

 

I mentioned earlier that I like the grey colour over camo green since it will show off the smaller details.  I think the Dark Ghost Grey does just that.  Unfortunately it not only shows off the details, but it makes the mistakes show up, as well - excessive glue, overspray, rough masking edges, debris in the paint, etc, etc. The good news is that by taking care to remove the visible mistakes, the resulting paint job doesn't look too bad ... it just takes longer, and a lot of patience, to get there.  The air has been blue in the boatyard more than a few times.  :swear: lol

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33 minutes ago, Courageous said:

... How does one get a straight and level line for your hull red, particularly that bow curve? ...

I'm no expert.  I've seen modellers level the hull on a flat surface for reference, so that the tape/paint line is parallel to the flat surface.  Then they draw the tape/paint line with a pencil measuring the location of the line parallel to the flat surface. The masking tape is then applied along the pencil line.

 

My technique is a little less scientific & involves a lot more trial & error.

 

1st,  I picked out three location reference points for the line from a drawing.

 

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I cut a thin strip of masking tape a little longer than the hull & stuck one end at the stern reference point.  Holding the tape at the stern so it wouldn't move, I carefully stretched the tape towards the bow, attaching it to the point amidships & then to the bow, as close to a straight line as possible.  Then the fun began.  I stuck the tape along the line starting at the stern, eye-balling the line from the bow :drunk: to see how straight the tape was.  This meant pulling the tape away from the hull & re-sticking it a number or times to get it right.  When I got to the bow curve, it was a lot of trial & error again, eyeballing it from the bow, sticking tape, pulling the tape off, & re-attaching it.  Instead of the straight line i wanted, the tape always wanted to follow the curve of the hull when I stuck it down.

 

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Once I was happy with one side, I tried to duplicate it on the other.  This meant more trial & error, this time checking the straightness of the tape as well a comparing its location to the tape on the finished side.

 

Hope this helps.

 

John

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I've been focusing on detailing the PT boat's superstructure.

 

The Throttle Push Rod Deck Housing is finished.  I've never run across this item on past builds.  I'm guessing the push rods are operated by the throttles on the bridge & are mechanically connected the engine room telegraphs to signal engine speed/direction.  It's interesting that these rods are enclosed in a housing located on the open deck.

 

I made the Push Rod Deck Housing from plastic strip & scribed fin detail on the upper surface.  Additional detail was added using shapes made from plastic sheet & bar, and brackets were made from wine bottle foil.  Here's a photo of the completed assembly glued to the model's deck, starboard side;

 

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I'm currently detailing the Day Cabin, behind the bridge.  The detail parts completed to date - windows, a vent, a step, fire extinguishing system boxes, & a door - were made using plastic sheet, rod & stretched plastic sprue as needed.

 

Here's a few photos showing progress to date;

 

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There's a few additional details that need to be added to day cabin & then I'll be moving on to the bridge & chart house.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

 

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Thanks guys!  Your encouragement means a lot.

 

I'm planning to use clear plastic for the window panes.  I'll wait until after the day cabin receives its final coat of paint before glueing on the panes.

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Hi everyone!

 

I've completed the final details to the day cabin.  These include;

- Roof handrails made from .5mm dia. steel wire & wine bottle foil brackets.

- Aft turret handrails made from .6mm dia. silver solder & wine bottle foil brackets.

- Roof cable(s) made from copper wire & wine bottle foil brackets.

- Flag locker made from plastic sheet with a close weave cloth cover.

- Mast reinforcement plate & roof hatch hold open device made from plastic sheet.

 

I'll be adding the roof hatch & mast assembly once all the deck superstructure components are completed.

 

Here are photos of the day cabin as she sits today;

 

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Next up, I'll give the day cabin a coat of primer & start working on the bridge & chart house.

 

Thanks again for looking in.

 

John

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Thanks Rob & Kev!

 

I just put on a light primer coat.  I'm always amazed at what you see no matter how careful you are to prep for paint.  The white plastic hides a lot.

 

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Now for a little rework to remove the rough spots & excess glue. :blush: 

  

Edited by JohnWS
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello again!

 

I've been working away at the external detail for model's chart house. Here's where I am to date;

- Handrails made from .5mm dia. steel wire & .6mm dia. silver solder.

- A step, shuttered windows, & doors made using plastic sheet & stretched plastic sprue.

- Vents carved from laminated plastic sheet.

- An antenna housing made from plastic tubing & a key chain link (see below).

 

I'll be adding nav lights & a life raft to the chart house roof after it's painted.

 

Here are photos of the chart house as she sits today;

 

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I always like to use as many materials I can find around the house for my scratch build projects, e.g. wood thread spools for Fairmile D turrets, wood cotton swab sticks for masts, wood dowels for torpedoes, etc, etc.  This build is no different.  I needed to make a small sphere to fit to the top of the chart house antenna housing.  The sphere is very small, & hard to handle.  So, I went on a recon mission around the house to see what ready made part I could use.  My wife stood guard at her jewelry case :police:, so using small round jewelry beads was out of the question.  Finally, I found a couple of key chains with spherical links, that might work :thumbsup:.  Luckily, one of the chains was the perfect size that I needed.  A bonus is that the key chain links have holes pre-formed, so I could use them as is to fit the antenna.  Here's a photo showing the end result.

 

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Next up, I start working on the bridge detail.

 

Thanks again for looking in.

 

John

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