Merit 1/48 Elco 80’ PT Boat Early Type Ended

Man, I hate trying to post multiple pictures on an iPad,

I'm unfolding the lawn chair. Where's the cooler?

Cool!

Can you effectively seal the enamels with Future, and then do turpenoid wash? I think I've done that before.

Before you glue the deck on, how do you propose to mount her?

OK, let's light this off.

Grab the lawn chairs and your favorite brew because here we go. Sub, just make sure you don't light anything off on your head please.

Bill, I have drilled holes through the hull at the keel and will be using nuts and bolts to secure her. The bolts are hidden with brass finials that I found. The nuts are secured with epoxy. But more on that later.

Here are the superstructures and the various frets as well as the PE fret.

Steve

First reposting installment.

More frets....I know boring.... Tomorrow I'll post some of the subsections getting built.

Steve

Let the building begin. After measuring three times and cussing twice, I drilled holes through the keel and then expoxied the nuts on the interior of the hull to hold the hull secure on it's base.

I found some lamp finials at a great local lamp repair shop that has been around longer than I have. I then drilled holes through the top of these to facilitate the bolts.

The base itself is a Michael's find. Stained with MinWax Gunstock and finished in Deft Satin  Lacquer. I then drilled holes through base.

When she is sitting on the pedestals the waterline is level so, I am happy.

Here are some pictures showing the setup.

Steve

P.S. Bill, does this answer your question on how I was going mount the boat?

I seem to remember reading that the interior of the gun tubs were painted white, but for the life of me, I cannot find where I saw it. Can anyone enlighten me as to a color?

Thanks,

Steve

Man that looks nice! And the same scale as my PCF boat. I might have to get one of these!

Stik,

Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback. I would highly recommend picking up one of these kits. I am loving this kit due to the detail, fit and the overall lack of flash. I also happen to love PT Boats in particular due to seeing PT 109 when it came out back in the day.

I also think that the 1/48 scale is a Goldielocks scale for this subject; not too big, not too small but just right. At least for my needs and room to display. I also have the later type kit which I think I'll build right after I finish her. Tim had Stan P build his later type and it is posted on the Merit site and it is beautifully built too.

Is your PCF the old Revell kit by the way? I recently found the 1/35 Tamiya PBR for a great price which needs to get queued and on that one I will pick up the Eduard PE set as well the Verlinden extra gear.

I wish someone would make the resin extra gear for this scale boat as they did for the 1/32 scale Italeri kit. I would SO add those.

Steve

Yuppers, my PCF is the old Monogram kit reboxed by Revell a few years back. I replaced or enhanced the kit weapons to doll it up a bit. I am a big fan of small boats and their exploits.

I agree 100% about 1/48 being the "Goldilocks" scale as you call it. I just wish that the model companies would see this in all genres and had done so about 30 year ago when I started building my stash ;)

Stik,

I would love to see some pictures of your PCF if you have any. What color did you paint her, Gray or Riverine Green? Also, what did you replace or enhance the weapons with, Model Master brass barrels or something else?

if you're thinking of picking one of these up, I'm not sure which I might recommend. I like the lines of the earlier boats because they remind me of the movies "They Were Expendable" and "PT 109". However, the later boats were loaded for bear and have the look of 'Don't Mess With Me'. Either kit is really nice which is one of the reasons why I bought both!

I only started back into modeling about five years ago so my stash, while impressive to me, pales in comparison to others.

Steve

Drilled the holes on the deck today. Again, I triple checked to make sure I only drilled the Early version holes and not the Later version. Also started construction of the gun tubs. Glue, sand, fill sand, you all know the routine. Although the nice part is that the sanding and filling was neither difficult nor extensive.

Steve

Bill,

In answer to your question in post 3 regarding sealing the enamels with Future and then doing terpenoids washes, I am not sure. The only way I have done washes in my limited reborn model career is acrylics over enamels (the Viking ship), enamels over acrylics after a gloss coat (U-Boat), and artist oils over acrylics (everything else). I have used Future in clear parts with the Sci Fi and Aircraft models I have built and love it. On the Viking ship, I probably put about 20+ washes on her to get the wood grain effect I wanted! which is also why I started experimenting with oils!

The reason I haven't used Future or a gloss/dull coat on the sailing ship models I have done so far is that I was worried about losing the grain of the wood. On the PT Boat, there is no grain so that is not an issue, although if I put a Future coat on I would rather do an artist oil weathering than something else. I guess I can experiment with some styrene sheet to see how any of these weathering techniques will work before I try it in the model. Who knows, maybe I'll find another awesome weathering techniques.

Steve

Another question for the group. I remember a thread that dealt with the mounting of model ships. I think it was for an American Cup racer but it could have been for something else such as 17th Century Dutch built ships, in particular, the Wasa and/or St. Louis. I remember this thread because with the design of the ship, the keel was lower in the stern than the bow, but the waterline and main deck were parallel. Therefore, the rear pedestal was supposed to be lower than the forward pedestal so that the waterline and deck were level.

I am trying to remember if it was the waterline or the deck that needed to be level for the correct mounting. Case in point, the PT Boat has a deck that is higher at the bow than the stern. Right now I have set up the mounting so that the waterline is level but not the deck. In my opinion, it looks correct and the current mounting gives the boat a sense of motion with the deck sweeping up vs. looking like the boat is taking a nose dive, or pearling as we say in the surfing world. Also, if I make the deck level, then the waterline is not.

Anyway, can someone or someones, please enlighten me?

Thanks,

Steve

Steve,

What you're looking for may be in this thread: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/53696.aspx?sort=ASC&pi240=3

Mike

P.S.: On page two of the above thread jtilley says the following:

"Looks mighty good from here.  A crucial element in designing a base for a ship model is to keep the waterline level.  It looks like you did.  I gather that, in order to add the support under the stern, you had to slide the forward support aft a bit.  To my eye it's almost - but not quite - too far aft.  If it were shoved any further aft the model would look like it was about to fall on its face.  But as it is, it looks like it's getting ready to launch itself forward.  Very nice."

I think this is the thread in question: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/p/162610/1774979.aspx#1774979 .

This thread also addresses the point: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/p/162779/1777385.aspx#1777385

Let me emphasize again that there's no "right" or "wrong" to this. But I think most people would agree that a ship model looks most natural if it's mounted so the waterline is horizontal (i.e., parallel to the baseboard).

If the PT boat were mounted with the deck horizontal, the conspicuous painted line at the waterline would make the model look like it was nosing into a wave.

Thank you Mike and John! That is exactly what I was looking for. It must have been the luck of the Irish that I got it "right".  As I posted earlier, I agree with John, if the deck was horizontal it would look like it was taking a nose dive.

Thank you again gentlemen,

Steve

docidle

Stik,

I would love to see some pictures of your PCF if you have any. What color did you paint her, Gray or Riverine Green? Also, what did you replace or enhance the weapons with, Model Master brass barrels or something else?

Steve

After what I could find online at the time, I ended up using Navy Helo Gray, 36081 as the base color. I replaced the kit .50s with some Verlinden ones. Then I dressed up the 81mm mortar a bit with some drilling and filing and such. The kit really can be done up in the pilot house and such to shine with more time and effort than I put into mine. 

Here is link to the thread on here with my finished build. Nothing too fancy.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/142594.aspx

docidle

Stik,

if you're thinking of picking one of these up, I'm not sure which I might recommend. I like the lines of the earlier boats because they remind me of the movies "They Were Expendable" and "PT 109". However, the later boats were loade for bear and have the look of 'Don't Mess With Me'. Either kit is really nice which is one of the reasons why I bought both!

Yes, I would love to see a kit of the PTs used in the Phillipines from the "They Were Expendable" period. But I do love the late war bristling with assorted weapons look as well. Like the ones that were at Surigao Strait. I will have to look at these Merit kits, as I did not even know about them until your thread here.

You got it right Steve.

Dr. Tilley is being gracious. I would say that to mount the boat in a nose down attitude would require some effort to establish the context, like a waterline model skating down a swell. Otherwise its, well, not done correctly as a display that's meant to show the lines.

Only the Lord knows what you would do with the figures on deck.

EDIT:Newton probably would have an opinion.

Stik,

Thanks for the link, your Swift boat looks very cool. I agree that the upgraded weapons really helped out.

John and Bill,

Thank you for your input. Once I get the sub assemblies done it will be time for painting. If I was going to have figures and mounted her with the deck level, the crew would probably all be bracing themselves kinda like Spalsh Mountain on the drop.

Steve

Here are some more sub assemblies. The 20mm gun is really nicely done in my opinion. Again, a bit of seam cleanup and started adding the PE.

Steve

https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrTcXpJzbVVXMAA2FEunIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTI0cDZiaDhkBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZANlYWU0NWQyYjUxNmE5YmMyMTAzZWMxNzAwZDZhYTI1ZgRncG9zAzEyNARpdANiaW5n?.origin=&back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dpeople%2Bon%2Broller%2Bcoasters%26fr%3Dyhs-mozilla-004%26fr2%3Dpiv-web%26hsimp%3Dyhs-004%26hspart%3Dmozilla%26nost%3D1%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D124&w=600&h=456&imgurl=img.humorsharing.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2F1202%2Fi_2907_people-roller-coaster-061.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffunny-pictures.picphotos.net%2F14-of-the-funniest-rollercoaster-photos-of-all-time%2F2&size=58.2KB&name=...+funny+compilation+of+%3Cb%3Epeople%3C%2Fb%3E+during+%3Cb%3Eroller%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Ecoaster%3C%2Fb%3E+ride.+The&p=people+on+roller+coasters&oid=eae45d2b516a9bc2103ec1700d6aa25f&fr2=piv-web&fr=yhs-mozilla-004&tt=...+funny+compilation+of+%3Cb%3Epeople%3C%2Fb%3E+during+%3Cb%3Eroller%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Ecoaster%3C%2Fb%3E+ride.+The&b=121&ni=21&no=124&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=12pkoicgj&sigb=14sbcbiro&sigi=12b9fjo15&sigt=12ku22o4g&sign=12ku22o4g&.crumb=8YQL6F0IhBb&fr=yhs-mozilla-004&fr2=piv-web&hsimp=yhs-004&hspart=mozilla

Exactly!

It is time for dry fitting sub assemblies onto the deck. The overall fit is really good. As I have said before, the only real issue I have found so far is where the forward machine gun tub fits into the chart house. I think I will have to add some styrene sheet in the gap to fix the issue, but I'll have a better idea once I have the deck secured to the hull and the chart house actually glued down.

The open boxes just forward of the 20mm gun are for it's ammunition. I modeled them open to show off the extra ammo. Also I finished glueing and sanding the torpedo tubes. They did not come out too bad.

The next sub assemblies I am going to tackle are the double M2 .50 cal machine guns. The parts are set up for having the guns level but I am going to try and model them so that they are pointing up at an angle. I personally like the look of them better that way.

Steve

Man that is some serious eye candy! At least for me ;)

Stik,

I agree with you. I am really digging this model. The detail is really nice, for example, if you look at the last photo, you can see the bolts along the outer trim on the deck.

The torpedo tubes are nicely detailed and as an added perk, there is the option to have any or all the tubes secured as in the photo, or, you can aim them outboard ready to fire. There are parts for each option and you can do any number of the tubes in the firing configuration.

Again, thanks for following along.

Steve

Yes you can Future over the enamels to do washes. I do it all the time by brushing the Future on in several light coats and no molded detail will be lost. After the washes dry then shoot some MM Flat Clear Lacquer. Shoot the lacquer in light coats and they will dry very fast without attacking the Future. Yes it can be done and it works.

I have a Merit late war Elco in my stash that I have been itching to build. I specially love the way the late war Elcos looked with all those deck weapons. The 40mm is a small kit in itself. These kits are simply gorgeous and bristling in sharp details. I'm hoping they come out with the Higgins 78 footer.

Great job on that Early boat and the mounting set up looks fantastic. I also have the very same Michaels pre fab base in the garage. I also have some wood and metal finials to use for the mounting base.

Thanks PJ, I'm glad you're following along. I remember talking about the Late version on Tim's thread earlier this year.  Thanks also for the Future tip. I'll try it with oils on a test piece to see how it works. I usually try to let the oils dry about 2 to 3 weeks before putting on a dull coat, longer than that if I am able. I do have a question on applying the Future though; why brushing it on instead of airbrushing it?

I chose the finials I am using so that they would hide the bolts due to the sharp keel. I'll get pictures posted when I mount the boat.

My plan at the moment is to paint the hull before mounting and then attach the deck. After I get all the subassemblies built and glued on then I am thinking of pre-shading before painting the top coats like I did on my U-Boat model. Otherwise, if the Future works, then I'll follow standard procedures and paint then weather with oils.

Thanks again for following along,

Steve

Here is the chart house with the forward gun tub with the gap I was talking about. Also the aft section showing the day cabin with gun tub.

Enjoy,

Steve