1/35th Italeri MTB finished.

Bloody torpedoes. What machine do you use to warp the size of the torpedoes into that small?

Great boat. Hats off. 

A little Photoshop action:

It's a beautiful build you did Oldmodeler. The original paint scheme you chose had me slightly worried but the final result is fantastic. I have one of these sitting in my stash waiting for the Edward PE set to arrive from the UK. Would be pleased if my efforts turn out as well as yours.

cheers,

Julian

Thanks.

I assume you are referring to the green/brown pattern. i have color photos taken in mid-1944 that show at least one RON 33 boat in the green/brown scheme. I have had the photos reviewed by John Snyder at WEM and Al Ross has also looked at them. John told me he thinks that the colors in the photos are Brown #4 and either green #3 or Navy Green. He tried to manipulate the colors but the brown remained brown no matter what he did. From these and other photos, I think at least some of the the Ron 33 boats were green/Brown in New Guinea and at least some were made Green/Green just before of just after the voyage to Leyte.

I was told by the son of the skipper of the 493 that all boats were Green and Brown. He had discussed it with his father and his father actually chose colors for a model they built years ago. It was Green/Brown. The color photos i have are of the 493 boat. In these photos the boat numbers are Red with a Grey shadow. Other boats had the same style, i.e. the 490 for example. I also have a photo of the 495 boat from July '44 with the red numbers. Later photos of the 495 show it with white or grey numbers suggesting it may have been repainted at some point. A crewman of the 495 told me on the phone that the 495 was Green/Green during his service, early Oct'44 to late Nov'44, when he was wounded along with 16 of his shipmates and returned to the states.

There is no doubt in my mind that at least some Ron 33 boats were Green/Brown during part of their service life. Al and John, if i may speak for them, also feel the Green/Brown scheme is a valid one.

I used WEM Brown #4 and Green #3 in my earlier pattern. Weathering would have darkened it and it would have been a very close match to the 493 color photos.

If I was modeling the 493, I would have kept the Green/Brown paint. It was lost during the Battle of Surigao Strait.

Don't you love this hobby?

Some playing in "Paint".

Were all PT's in the Pacific camoflaged like the pictures above? What good would a green boat on blue water do when chasing down DD's in "The Slot"?

Appealing to my wilder side;

I was watching I think a salt water fishing show and there was a boat with a huge shark painted along the side. Could you imagine what some poor native would think if he saw that come skimming by? Like I said, my wild side says do it, but the other part of me says no, most people wouldn't understand.

There were several schemes used in the Pacific. At the outbreak of the war the boats were grey but soon painted green by their crews using locally procured paints. PT 109 was grey but painted green in the Solomons. Eventually all Pacific boats left the factory or depots in some shade or combination of greens or, in the case of at least Ron 33 boats, green and brown.

The boats operated mostly at at night and did most of their combat along coastlines where the greens help them blend in when observed from the ocean.

Here are a couple of new ones: