JohnWS Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 I’ve recently completed my 1/72 scale 80’ Elco PT boat, United States Navy hull number 620. A short history of PT 620: PT 620 was one of the last group of 22 Elco 80' PT boats to be laid down & launched in 1945. She had 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. She did not see action as WWII hostilities had ended. 620 was one of four boats that remained in service after WWII, under the USN's Operational Development Force, and were the last WWII PT's in service in the US Navy. She was transferred to South Korea in 1952 and re-named Jebi (PT 27). She was returned to USN in 1963 and was scrapped in 1964. The build was started in November, 2017 & completed in April, 2019. Using a hull from a Revell green plastic PT 109 kit #310, I scratch built the model from the deck up using plastic card, rod and stretched sprue, balsa wood & bits & pieces found around the house. I painted the model in the Elco grey paint scheme used after WWII and during 620's service with the South Korean Navy. Torpedo colours include a primer grey nose cone and transparent yellow over steel paint colour body to simulate the actual steel torpedo bodies rubbed down with 'Crotin Oil' as a corrosion inhibitor. The Work in Progress thread can be found here. The following purchased parts were added to the build; - Four Attack Squadron Mk XIII Torpedos - Four .50 caliber machine guns, one 37mm canon, and one 40mm Bofors gun from Atlantic Models. - Four Shapeways 3D printed torpedo roll off racks - One Eduard PE ammo belt set - Syren Ship Model Company 63mm dia. rope in tan colour. - Shapeways 3D printed -1/72 USN PT Crew Set 204 - Tamiya display case Here are a series of walk around photos showing the completed model. It was a fun build & I learned a lot about the Elco PT boats. Thanks to many of the Britmodeller members who stopped by the build thread & provided comments & advice to keep me focused on completing the build as accurately as possible, in 1/72 scale. Thanks for looking in. John 29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 That looks great John, thanks for sharing the journey with us, most enjoyable & I for one learnt a lot about modelling these things. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 An excellent build, excellent detail and a well presented RFI. Enjoy your break and hopefully we'll see you with another subject soon enough. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 A stunning transformation of this very mediocre kit. Top marks Kev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerndM Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Stunning build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Fantastic build and final presentation 👍🏻 Really learned a lot from the WIP and I will be revisiting this for reference quite a bit for future builds beefy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Very nice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peekay Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 Great looking model! The crew is so well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnWS Posted April 16, 2019 Author Share Posted April 16, 2019 One last shot in virtual water (with the crew this time ). John 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted April 16, 2019 Share Posted April 16, 2019 Awesome !! Kev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 A quick question if I may. Should she be flying some sorta flag, just asking. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnWS Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 49 minutes ago, Courageous said: ... Should she be flying some sorta flag ... Hi Stuart. A good observation & question. She served about the same length of time under the US & the South Korea flags. I even downloaded an ELCO pennant as a neutral replacement for the national flags. I still haven't decided which one should go on the boat. I put he US flag on the nameplate as a reference to where she was built. Any thoughts? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robgizlu Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Absolutely fabulous Blog (learnt so much ) and Fabulous end result. Exquisite detail and the crew really dynamise it ! As Kev said - Awesome (The Photoshop result is spectacular - How'd you do that!!) Looking forward to the next build Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnWS Posted April 18, 2019 Author Share Posted April 18, 2019 23 minutes ago, robgizlu said: ... (The Photoshop result is spectacular - How'd you do that!!) ... Hi Rob. Sorry, I'm afraid I don't have a short & simple answer. Basically, it's using the Photoshop Elements tools to cut out the boat image & pasting it onto a photo of the water. Then copying a number of images of the wake and then overlaying these copies in layers onto the boat/water image. Photoshop Elements tools can feather, reposition, reshape, & resize the various layered copies to give the desired effect. It's a little more complicated than I've described, but once you get a grasp of how to use the Photoshop tools & functions, it becomes relatively easy with practice. Here's a screenshot of Photoshop Elements showing the PT boat in virtual water. The tools are shown on the left. Altogether, there are 8 copied layers of the boat & wake pasted onto the background water photo. Also there are 10 cutouts (shapes) used to achieve the desired effect. The layers & shapes are shown on the right in a scrolled list. Hopefully I haven't confused you too much. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Beautiful work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devo Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Nice Boat! 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadog Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Excellent build! She looks the biz! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrzeM Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Great job! (both the model and the photoshop picture :-)) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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