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


JohnWS

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Adding the deck detail is progressing.  At last count, 33 tiny details have been added, including the dead lights, vents, mooring bits, fairleads, hatch covers, & deck cleats, with more to go. Whew!

 

Here's a few photos showing progress, so far.

 

46390957904_391d0efbf7_b.jpg

 

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Next up, adding the deck lifeline stanchions, the life lines and detailing the torpedo/roll-off rack assemblies.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

John

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Thanks everyone!

 

6 hours ago, longshanks said:

I'm sensing the final furlong . . .

There's still a couple small fit issues that require rework, but the end is in sight.

3 hours ago, Courageous said:

... How did you make the 'flakey' ropes? ...

I used a similar technique used by robgizlu on his MGB40 build.

 

46278519382_c6fc821f5f_b.jpg

 

John

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Detailing the deck continues.

 

I've been focusing on the stern flag staff & life line stanchions.

 

The flag staff turned into a mini scratch building project.  The actual flag staff is made in two sections.   I'm assuming the top section was removed when the Bofors gun was in use, to clear the gun barrel.  My Bofors will be facing aft, so only the lower section of the flag staff will be mounted on the deck.

 

The flag staff was made using stretched plastic sprue, parts cut from plastic sheet, and the coupling between the upper & lower staff sections was made using wine bottle foil 🍾.

 

Here's a photo of the completed flag staff before paint.

 

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Next, the life line stanchions.  The Revell kit includes four stanchions.  Earlier Elcos had a life line mounted on the forward deck, while the later boats had the life line  mounted aft.

 

40215964103_64542df0ac_b.jpg

 

I originally made the stanchions from stretched plastic sprue, but found they bent too easily to support the line.  So I used the Revell kit parts, modified to replicate the stanchions for the later Elco boats.

 

Here's a photo of the completed stanchions & flag staff painted & mounted on the model's deck.

 

40215967403_2580a31627_b.jpg

 

Work on the deck continues ...

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

 

 

 

Edited by JohnWS
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I thought my wheelhouse were small a fiddly but that stern staff/ light assy is a work of art, superb. Also of note is your presentation of your build, love the picture-in-picture.

Do you prime your parts when you've completed the, it's just that the staff is white plastic in one pic and looks grey in another?

 

Stuart

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5 hours ago, Courageous said:

Do you prime your parts when you've completed the, it's just that the staff is white plastic in one pic and looks grey in another?

Yes, most of the time.  Usually if I've used PE, wine bottle foil, or plastic with a smooth surface.  I'm using acrylic paint & I find it sticks better to the primer.

 

The parts shown in the last pic have been primed & have a coat of the finish acrylic paint colour.

 

John

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John,

 

Are you aware of the Higgins Industries collection at the Louisiana Digital Library? I'm still searching for authoritative info on my LCM3 build, and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans suggested I look there. While I haven't yet found any LCM3 data, there are quite of lot of Higgins PT drawings. This is mostly for online viewing; while the online drawings have excellent resolution, you can apparently only download approx 600x500 JPEG images.

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Gidday John, I have to agree with others in that small additions such as cleats, stanchions etc add much to a model's appearance, and this boat is coming along very nicely. May I respectfully point out what I believe is an error in terminology? Your coils of rope on the decks have been referred to as "flaked ropes". I believe the correct term to be "faked ropes", although neither is applicable here. Faking a rope (or line, hawser etc) is laying it out on deck in long straight runs in preparation to be run out, say onto the jetty for berthing lines, to another vessel for towing hawsers etc. A correctly faked rope (or flaked if you like) can be run out from either end, or from both. That is the point of it.

     Your circular coil of rope on the deck is how the surplus end of a rope (already being used, such as a berthing line to the jetty) is stowed in a neat and decorative manner, usually when in harbour. I believe it is called Cheesing. There are a number of ways to do it. Circular as you have done for short lengths, and a figure-of-eight layout for longer lengths of surplus rope.

     I hope this helps, and I hope I haven't offended anyone. It is a beautiful model that you are doing.

 

Respectfully yours, Jeff.

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Thanks for your feedback Jeff.

 

There are lots terms used for coils of ropes - Flemish flake, flake, fake, fake for coiling to the right, flake coiled to the left, cheesing, etc., etc..  Some even argue there are no ropes on naval vessels, only lines & hawsers, though the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship does include chapters on 'ropes'.

 

My rule of thumb - the correct term for anything on a ship is what the ship's captain wants it to be. :winkgrin:

 

John

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Interesting.  Never heard of the right vs. left distinction before.  For what it's worth, here in the US we always "flake" our fire hoses outside for easy deployment before entering the fire building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Gidday John, The bit about no ropes, but lines hawsers etc I've heard of also. And the correct term is what the Captain wants it to be, well I have to concede a Captain's authority is absolute. A prime example of this is Captain Bandsaw's use of the terms 'flimingale', 'dinglehoppers' and 'left and right transparencies'. (In his RMS Carpathia thread) 😁

     I hope I didn't offend you earlier, it wasn't my intention. Regards, Jeff.

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2 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

I hope I didn't offend you earlier, it wasn't my intention. Regards, Jeff.

No offence taken Jeff.  Thanks again for you're feedback.

 

Now, 'Captain'  Bandsaw is another story.  :laugh:

 

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9 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Your coils of rope on the decks have been referred to as "flaked ropes". I believe the correct term to be "faked ropes",

 

Must be a Northern/Southern hemisphere thing, ropes were flaked when I was at sea 😉

 

Kev

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The thing I remember about my mooring lines on the old Ile de Serk, at the stern, was that if the weather was rough, someone always managed to barf on them....joy. My nice, neat coils....

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