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

[stevehnz]

I was on the run, aka getting my ear chewed, when I gave a like to your last post John, loving what you're doing, it just gets better & better.

Steve.

Edited May 12, 2018 by stevehnz

[beefy66]

great work John i can see all the details starting to make a big difference now

 

beefy

[JohnWS]

4 hours ago, beefy66 said:

great work John i can see all the details starting to make a big difference now

 

beefy

Thanks beefy.  I never realized how many little visual details there are on the Elco's until I started researching these boats in earnest.   

[JohnWS]

Hi everyone!

 

I just finished my first pass at adding detail to the PT boat's bridge.

 

Here's a couple of photos showing the progress to date;

 

 

 

The bridge aft bulkhead will be glued in place once the bridge receives it's final coat of paint.

 

Once to bridge is painted there's still work to be done before its complete.  This includes making the dashboard instrument & switch panels & the helmsman's simulated wood deck, plus adding the ship's wheel from the original Revell kit.

 

Here's a mock-up to show what the dashboard, ship's wheel, etc. should look like;

 

 

Next up, I need to give the bridge & chart house a thorough cleaning to remove any excessive glue & smooth out the rough surfaces before adding a coat of primer.

 

Thanks again for looking in. 

 

John

 

[Courageous]

Looking very nice. By the sounds of it, after the clean up, it'll be very close to painting.

 

Stuart

[JohnWS]

26 minutes ago, Courageous said:

... By the sounds of it, after the clean up, it'll be very close to painting.

 

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

 

That's the plan.  Once I've got the bridge primed, I hope to add finish paint colour to the chart house, bridge & day cabin, plus the main deck ... fingers crossed! 🤞

[Martian]

Top quality work!

 

Martian 👽

[seadog]

What Martian said! Lovely stuff.

 

[robgizlu]

Agree with all of the above John - enviable level of detail.

Just out of curiosity - is the wood deck panel "grating" part of the original kit?

Keep it all coming

Rob

[JohnWS]

4 hours ago, robgizlu said:

... is the wood deck panel "grating" part of the original kit? ...

Hi Rob,

 

No, the original Revell kit only has a raised panel molded onto the deck, with what looks like a rough anti-skid surface.   Also, it looks like the 1/35 Italeri PT 596 kit has the grating - http://www.ptboatworld.com/PT_Boat_Models/ItaleriElcoPT-596.html.

 

John

[robgizlu]

You made it?  If you did - care to share the secret ???

I'm envious 

 

Rob

[JohnWS]

5 hours ago, robgizlu said:

You made it?  If you did - care to share the secret ??? ...

Yes I made it, but not quite what most would consider scratch built.  The floor is printout of a Photoshop drawing.  I drew it at 300 dpi resolution to keep the detail at 1/72 scale.

 

Here's a screenshot;

 

 

I used the same method for both my Fairmile D & BPB torpedo boat models.

 

John

[robgizlu]

John - That really is ingenious - would never have thought of that (even less do it!!!)

Sometimes the simple..................

Nice one!!

rob

[Hewy]

It looks totally engrossing john, great job your doing

[JohnWS]

Hello again!

 

Well, I've reached a personal milestone on this build.  After 5 1/2 months of scratch building & four tries of priming, puttying, sanding & re-priming, the base superstructure is now finished and primed.

 

Here are the photos showing the results;

 

 

 

 

 

Now, it's time to add the finish paint colour to superstructure & the boat's deck, and then start building & adding the final details.  Still lots to do before completion, but she's looking more like a PT boat every day.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

John

 

 

[longshanks]

Looking very professional

 

Kev

[Courageous]

Lovely stuff.

 

Stuart

[JohnWS]

I've decided to make a small course change before applying final paint to the deck superstructure, and complete the turrets for .50 caliber machine guns.

 

 

There are a few parts that will need to be made.  I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of trial & error and test fitting of the upper turret parts to the bottom turret drums, & the chances of scratching the final paint will be pretty high.  So, I thought I'd better get this work done before final painting.

 

I'm using the Revell kit parts for the ring that mounts to the top of the turret drum.  These were modified to remove the (incorrect) molded gun limiting stop rail attachment points & filling the mold impressions.

 

 

Now the real work begins scratch building the gun mounts, ammunition belt guides, the guns (White Ensign .50 Cal. machine guns), and finally the gun travel limiting stop rails.

 

Well, it's back to the bench & hopefully more updates soon.

 

John

 

 

 

 

[JohnWS]

Hi, again!

 

Been motoring along building up the .50 cal. machine gun mounts.  I found some detailed information on the USN's Mark 17 machine gun mount used on early 80' Elco's.  I couldn't find any info showing the specific differences between the MG mounts on later versus earlier boats, so I decided to make the Mark 17 mounts for this build.

 

Here's a photo showing the progress to date;

 

 

The MG mounts primed;

 

 

And, test fit on the turret tubs/drums;

 

 

I still need to clean up the gun mounts to remove the rough edges & filling the visible voids before adding the machine guns.

 

Also, I've ordered an Eduard PE 1/72 .50 cal. ammunition belt set.  We'll see if these belts can be integrated into the MG mount build.

 

Being a perfectionist, I really hate looking at the close up photos of my builds.  I'm my worst critic when it comes to checking the build for issues (or should I say "opportunities for improvement").  Case-in-point, I noticed in the above test fit photo that a handrail support on the day cabin roof was out of position.

 

 

Next up in addition to fixing the handrail, I'll be finishing the MG mounts, test fitting the machine guns, and building the gun travel limiting stop rails that will be attached to the turret drums.

 

As always, thanks for looking in.

 

John

Edited May 28, 2018 by JohnWS

[longshanks]

Well shame on you  .......

 

That aside the MG mounts are shaping up nicely

 

Kev

[Courageous]

I don't think anybody would have noticed in a month of Sundays, and if that's your only transgression in your quality audit, then I'd better throw my stuff in the bin.

After you flagellate yourself, give yourself a nice pat on the back 'well done', those gun mounts look the business.

 

Stuart

[seadog]

They do indeed!

[dnl42]

This is epic, like all of your other builds. It is good to see what should be done to that kit!

[Dermo245]

Am rapidly running out of 'likes' for this build - awesome stuff. 👍

 

 

[Hewy]

Looking great