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


JohnWS

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Must be a thing with ship modelling people are just too critical of there own work I would never have noticed that hand rail 🔍

 

keep looking and it keeps getting better 👍🏻

 

beefy 

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7 hours ago, beefy66 said:

Must be a thing with ship modelling people are just too critical of there own work I would never have noticed that hand rail 🔍 ...

What, me too critical?   Yep, I think it's some kind of disease. :rofl:

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On 5/29/2018 at 1:32 AM, longshanks said:

Well shame on you  ....... :fight:

 

That aside the MG mounts are shaping up nicely

 

Kev

The best modelers are their own harshest critic. I am loving every bit of this build

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G'day!

 

An update on  building the Machine Gun Turret Travel Limiting Stop Rails.

 

I've made the Stop Rails using .6 mm dia. silver solder wire.  I like using the solder as it's extremely easy to cut & form.  Care has to taken when handling & gluing bits & pieces of the wire together since it bends so easily.  I tried using copper & brass wire & solder, but I can't seem to get good looking solder joints at this small scale.

 

I started forming the main rings for the rails using a socket (from a socket wrench set) wrapped in masking tape to get the correct diameter.  I decided to solder the wire ends together for added strength.  I don't know how many of you have tried to solder solder, but it's not for the faint-of-heart.  After many, many tries, I finally was able to get a good solder joint.  For some reason the solder wire wants to melt when you heat it ... go figure! :drunk:  I found the trick is to melt a little solder on the soldering iron, let it cool to just before it solidifies, & then touch the melted solder to the solder wire letting the melted solder weep into the joint.

 

Here's a photo showing one of the completed soldered rings. 

 

27725748467_c9fcf42fc9_b.jpg

 

Using photos, the rail details were formed and glued to the rings.  I found that roughing up the wire surface with fine sand paper before applying the CA glue seems to work the best.

 

27725767987_63d89a2195_b.jpg

 

Once the rings were completed, legs were formed & glued in place.  The legs will need to be trimmed before attaching to the turret drums.

 

42593919271_39f87bec50_b.jpg

 

Finally, The MG mounts were placed into the stop rail assemblies to ensure proper fit.

 

27725813777_3e3348bc7e_b.jpg

 

Next up, I'll trim the rail legs to size & glue the rail assemblies to the turrets, before applying coat of primer.

 

Oh & by the way, Iife is good as I fixed the hand rail on the day cabin. :thumbsup:

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

John

Edited by JohnWS
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Really nice! I've done rails etc. with soldered copper wire. Hadn't thought of silver solder wire. Good one!

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  • 2 weeks later...

G'day everyone!

 

Another short update.

 

I've added a 'canvas' spray shield to the aft MG turret stop rail using a piece of close weave material, and primed & painted both Mark 17 MG mounts & the stop rails.

 

42888035131_5960685380_b.jpg

 

Also, I received the Eduard PE ammo belt set, ordered a couple of weeks ago (great customer service from Eduard).  In addition, I've been doing research on the .50 Cal. machine guns & their assembly in the Mark 17 mounts, to determine what detail would be visible in 1/72 scale.

 

As a result, I was able to scratch build the following parts for the MG assembly;

- added detail to the White Ensign machine guns (including relocating the molded bolt handles on two of the guns to the opposite side).

- two cradles, one for each pair of guns.

- four ammo belt feed guides (using wine bottle foil🍷).

- a couple of small parts that will attach the cradles to the gun mounts.

 

42839775802_4bc3a95649_b.jpg

 

Next up, gluing all these little parts together & adding the guns to the gun mounts.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

 

 

 

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I thought I'd share a couple of photos of the assembled machine guns, before they're sent off to the paint shop.

 

42020066745_b9826e7501_b.jpg

 

The Eduard PE ammo belts fit & will be a nice addition to the guns.

 

42202512194_863345e3cc_b.jpg

 

Next up, painting the MG's & assembling them in the gun mounts.

 

John

Edited by JohnWS
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Hello again.

 

Guess what?  The 50 cal. machine guns are FINISHED ... finally! :yahoo:

 

The MG's take prominent spots on the 80' Elco's, & I wanted to make them as detailed as possible on this model.

 

Here's a photo of the completed MG mounts with the guns & the PE ammo belts.  Building the guns & mounts seems to have taken forever, but I'm really happy with the way they turned out.  The PE ammo belts make the gun assemblies pop.

 

42938764042_fc716460a8_b.jpg

 

The following photo includes a few additional photos of the completed guns.  A comparison of the model guns compared to the actual ones is shown in the upper right corner.

 

29116105088_c2b7ac6198_b.jpg

 

Now it's time to get back to painting the deck & superstructure & start adding the little details.

 

Thanks again for looking in.

 

John

 

 

 

 

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Thanks Kev!  At some point I want to compare an out-of-the-box Elco build to this scratch build project.

 

Working with the 1/72 PE makes me appreciate the PE work some are doing at much smaller scales.

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I know very little about your subject but have an observation. Is the 'stop rail' on the forward turret pointing the right way as it looks as though you could inadvertently shoot at the aft turret...just asking?

 

Stuart 

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32 minutes ago, Courageous said:

... Is the 'stop rail' on the forward turret pointing the right way as it looks as though you could inadvertently shoot at the aft turret...just asking?

 

Stuart 

Hi Stuart.

 

Yes, the stop rail is okay.  There's a small 'bump' at the rear of the stop rail that's supposed to limit the depression of the forward guns so they don't shoot anything on the back of the boat. 

 

42163617255_cbdfda35eb_b.jpg

 

Thanks for asking.

 

John

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not a lot of work done recently on the Elco, as it's just too hot & humid here.   We have air conditioning, but I'm concerned I'm still going to run into masking & paint problems due to the humidity.

 

So, while the boat sits on the shelf until the weather cools down, I decided to look at making the boat's hull number decals.  I used Photoshop to design a few different sizes and printed them on Testor's white waterslide decal paper.  The only issue I ran into was getting the correct background colour to hide the white paper colour in-between & around the numbers, & that matches the dark ghost grey I'm using for the hull & superstructure.  After some trial & error, I ended up with a pretty good match.

 

42402286475_6d96fc7f5a_b.jpg

 

Testor's recommends using a gloss clear coat to set the decal colour.  However, I use flat (dull) clear coat for my decals instead.  The flat clear coat works well & (I think) makes the decals blend better with the painted surface they're applied to.  I've also found the gloss clear coat makes the decals look darker when under a bright light (e.g. a camera flash), while the flat clear coat looks pretty consistent under a variety of lighting conditions.

 

42402296125_d3930a35e2_b.jpg

 

That's it for now.  Time to get a cool one & chill.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

John

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