Italeri PT-Boat Build Kicking Off

It will be an interesting build to follow, lots of screenies please I have this one in my stash (will get to build it someday surely?)

Cheers,

Julian

Good luck with the build. I did the Lindberg 1/32 scale PT-109 and used many resin parts from Scale Shipyard. Check them out. I also did mine fitted for radio control. She looks beautiful in the water. She cuts a very realistic wake. Perhaps you might consider r/c-ing your model. Either way, please bless us with pics as you go.

I'll post pictures - I haven't made a great deal of progress so far but I'll post what I have!

The RC aspect is definitely appealing, but I think with all the photo-etch, etc. that I'll be adding that things will be too delicate to run "for real".

 I'll try to take some pictures this evening!

 John

Hmm.. I thought I knew how to post pictures but apparently I don't.  I uploaded them to flickr and made sure they were public.  I've tried adding both the link and the html and neither seems to result in an image when I do the preview.....any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

John

Here is what started it all...notice the open hatch just aft of the forward gun emplacement.  It was evidently quite common for crews to leave this hatch open to provide cooling in the hot Pacific environment.  Of course, this hatch leads to the forward crew head, so they may have wanted "more air" for other reasons as well!  :-)

 

 There is enough room to see at least some of what is in this space, especially the ladder and bulkead hatches.

Here are some pictures of this area on the inside:

From Bill Maloney:

 From Al Ross:

Here is a picture (again from Al Ross) of the Crew's berth on the aft side of the bulkhead I'll be modeling:

Finally, here is an interior photo from Bill Maloney - note the hatch design...and actual PT crew member Jack Madden (Thanks Bill!).

 

As a side note I highly recommend www.williammaloney.com!  He has a "military museums" section that is really a great resource for modelers!

 

I've been scratch building the forward compartment area and will take some pictures and post them soon!

 

John

I've made a bit of progress!

 

Here is the forward section so far:

I used plastic card and strip and AB putty for the built up areas.  I used a contour guage to get the right shape for the bulkheads, transferred the shap to index cards, and basically fiddled with things until I had approximately the right shape to transfer to plastic. 

You can also see where I scribed some of the simulated wood panelling on the inside of the hull.

Here is a picture of my hatch and the beginnings of the toilet.....I can't believe I'm making a bathroom as part of my modeling effort!!!

One thing I need to figure out is exactly how I'm going to make the handles for the hatch - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Finally, here is a picture of the deck so far - showing the photoetch skylights.  Notice especially as previously noted that not all skylight holes are supposed to be fitted with photoetch parts!

 

That's all for now!

 

John

Hello -jlbishop. I don,t know about the U.S.N.  p.t. setup BUT I bought a coast guard air rescue boat at auction years ago to convert to what is commonly called a liveaboard ..The decklights (the ports on the deck) were flush with the decks surface , and made of some kind of heavy glass (bullet resistant??) that could not be opened .In two places ,storage lockers covered the port ,but, the lockers were on mounts that raised them up about 6 ' off the deck ,thereby still letting some light in . I DID NOT change anything topside so my neighbors in the marina always teased me about getting callouts if the coasties ran out of boats . The mount pedastels were still there so I built full size dummy guns and kept the exterior as she served . She was a luxury home for my wife and I and two dogs, threebirds and lots of tropical fish until the better half passed . The only original thing below decks that was original in the quarters area was the galley . All else was converted for easy living . My model work area was in the engine room .which by the way all three purred like kittens when I rebuilt them . The yard that built her  as fate would have it ,was 12 nautical miles away , and, still in business .Maintenance cost was no more than a large fiberglass houseboat .  tankerbuilder

I'm building this kit right now, and am 90% finished. I have left out the skylights to avoid tedious masking, and will install them last.

Do yourself a favor and throw out the kit cabin windows and use clear sheet styrene.

Every single existing styrene peg did not fit into its mating hole. Every hole had to be drilled more.

I would cut off the pegs for things like the on deck rocket lockers and torpedo launchers/holders.

There was also no need to make the torpedo fins P/E. its just adds a great deal of time to get them correct and they get painted anyway. They should have included styrene as well.

It is a great kit but as any kit is, its less than perfect. I would also hold off on the props until dead last as I have broken mine off twice now while doing some detail painting.

I intend to get the crew kit, but the price at $30 retail for 10 styrene figures is pretty nuts.

The camo scheme contrasts very sharply and needs to be weathered correctly to tone it down to reality. I'm trying to figure out how I will solve that problem now. I have a film camera so photos are infrequent.

 

Wilbur,

 I see your point about the skylights - I should have waited to put mine in I think.

 I saw a picture today of a boat where these were left unpainted....but I also have pictures where they seem to be painted. 

I'll definitely consider using clear plastic for the windows.....are you going to paint yours black?

I'm really interested in discussing ideas for painting but I'm not nearly at that stage yet.

I'm going to be doing a lot of photo-etch work as I have the Lion Roar set and want to take full advantage of it!

I've made some progress on my forward crew's head....I'll be posting some more pictures soon!

 John

tankerbuilder,

 That sounds like a really neat home!!! Go ahead and post some pictures if you can!!!

 John

It's nice that you got the extra Lionroar PE and the figures. I haven't got any, just the boat kit. Looking forward to seeing your finished one. For the mean time, I'm going to post a finished one, OOB. ;-)

 

I made some progress!

Here is a picture of the forward crew's head....

I am happy with the result even though this work won't stand up to intense scrutiny.....it will, after all, be 90% covered by the main deck and whatever is visible (mostly the companionway outside the head) will only be discernable through the forward main deck hatch. 

I really like the hull ribbing that I put in - that will definitely be visible!  The sinks are actually the nose portions from some surplus ordinance from the Academy 1/32 F-18 kit.

Here is a picture of the two hatches I made - the larger one will go on the aft bulkhead, the other to the forward anchor locker.  They both have a unique "black on white" paint job so will most likely be visible on the completed model. 

The ladder is also going to be very prominent - I'm going to have to see if I can get a really good natural wood finish on it - any tips on this would be greatly appreciated!!

 

 

I couldn't restrain myself and started using some of the photo-etch - this is a beautiful set from Lion Roar.  I really like the thickness of the parts - and it seems to me that it bends pretty easily as well relative to some other sets I've used - no tempering required so far!

Here is the helm...I added some extra details/bolt heads to the torpedo launching control (on the far starboard side of the panel.

I also have left off the engine instruments and compass details for now as i'm hoping to avoid a masking problem later.

 

One problem I've noticed is that the compass needs a shade more room under the bridge top shelf - fit will be a problem but i think I can get by with letting a small gap exist between the top and side bridge pieces and filling in the resulting seam. 

Enjoy!

John

What a cool model so far, really like the custom work, even if 90% of it will be covered. Great job on the control board as well, that's a nice looking PE kit.

jlbishop wrote:

I'm going to have to see if I can get a really good natural wood finish on it - any tips on this would be greatly appreciated!!

Here's a link to a tut by Huxy on just that. Fairly straight forward concept as well.

jlbishop --- I wish I could post some but i got here to TEXAS just after I sold her and the truck never made it to our new home. I do miss that boat and I understand she,s being used as a workboat as the guy I sold her to couldn,t find a marina to take liveaboards in san diego .He sold her to a firm I believe in ALASKA and only the man above knows what she,s being used for . Shoot she might be a tug now , or maybe a mailboat ?  Thanks for asking though .

That photoetch looks kickin . keep up the followup . The fact you had to do a toilet in scale means you have arrived , no 1/35 clogs though !! He,HE, that is a weird idea ain,t it .?  tankerbuilder

  HEY  jlbishop --- The easiest way to make correct hatch dogs is to try and remember the handles on some old refrigerators . .It,s kind of a shallow L shape laid on it,s side with the anchor or swivel point at one end of the L . The pictures show me that you should correct this .It,s your choice but you might have someone else mention it . Your framing and other detail look pretty well dead on ,considering the fact that you won,t be able to see a lot of it ,and thats a shame , but YOU know it,s there  tankerbuilder

I built this a little over a year ago, before there was a full compliment of figures available.  I also was not able to find that really nice PE stuff you have but had some PE.  I really enjoyed this build.  The one thing i did was to complete the decks as much as possible prior to attaching to the hull.   The way I have it displayed i needed to mount the hull to the display before attaching the deck.  Here is the link to the post i did then.

/forums/934448/ShowPost.aspx

man i find the small parts a challenge but you do them great

Paul,

 I really like your build -and the way you have the model displayed really conveys a sense of motion without (and this is key on a model this size) taking up a square yard of display real estate!

Would you mind sharing some details on how you constructed the base???? I think I'd like to try something similar!

Also - what figures did you use....??  This is going to be my first real effort at putting figures on a model so I can use all the help/advice I can get in that regard! 

John

Thanks, vector!

On the small parts/photoetch.  I would have to say that the key is really learning how to manage/work with CA glue.

The biggest thing I've learned that has taken my building to a whole new level is really very simple:  De-Bonder!

I put the parts on and then use de-bonder on a Q-Tip to clean up any undesired excess.  On metal parts you can be as agressive as you want, but I have noticed that it will temporarily soften plastic to the point where you can leave fingerprints if you aggressively apply it. 

On the other hand, the softening is only temporary and you can always clean things up with a light sanding afterwards if necessary!

John

Here's my latest progress report:

I did some work on the hull and ran into some problems that most people probably won't experience because they are no doubt much smarter than me!

First off:  The hull chine comes in 6 pieces (3 per side) and fits in a groove molded into the hull (see picture below).

The problem I discovered was that there is a definite orientation to these pieces despite the fact that the middle and aft pieces seem to fit ok in multiple positions.  Unfortunately I discovered this _after_ glueing the port aft and middle sections.  CA De-bonder to the rescue!

The correct way to do this is to fit the bow pieces first (as they have a very obvious "correct" orientation) and hold them in position with masking tape.  Then put the rest of the chine on again holding in place with masking tape and then glue in place with CA glue.  One other clue you'll have is that the injector pin holes on the middle and aft chine sections should be facing the bottom of the hull. 

If you look in the upper right hand side of the picture you'll see one of the bilge drains and a red dot.  The red dot is there because I managed to get some of the A+B putty I was using for the forward head on the outside of the hull and thought I would clean it off by sanding - which successfully removed the _very_ faint position marks molded into the hull.  I used my plans to reposition the bilge marks but if you build this kit let my mistake save you some work!

I added an electrical wire from the junction box to the torpedo controls:

To do it I used some small guage wire and drilled out the end of some small diameter plastic rod.  I attached the end of the wire to the rod with CA glue, let it dry then cut the rod to the appropriate length to simulate an electrical plug.  I then glued the plug to the junction box, let it dry, then routed the wire.  After cutting the wire to the appropriate length a drop of CA glue finished the job!

I also did some work on the main superstucture assemblies:

Here is the bow section - not much special here except I've been removing seems and I've opened up the two forward windows to allow for the LionRoar PhotoEtch replacements.

Here is the day room assembly:

Finally here is the aft engine cover.  Of particular note is the skylight on the cover.  The kit has modeled this feature as a raised "bulge" that is incorrect - the prototype is simply a skylight similar to the others on the vessel.  I reproduced this as best I could by cutting out the old light and making a new one out of plastic strip.  The technique I used was to glue strips wider than necessary at right angles to one side of what would become the skylight and then use the "chopper" to cut them to identical lengths before gluing the other side.  If you don't do this you are challenging yourself to measure each one of these pieces to very close tolerances - and I can tell you that it is almost impossible to get it right that way as that is what I tried to do first!  

I got the itch to do some more with photo-etch while all the previous work was drying - so I tried my hand at starting on one of the MK 50 Rocket Launchers.  Before I get started I'd like to share a few photographs with you I took last winter while on a business trip to Seoul Korea.  I had a half day on Saturday to use as I pleased and chose to visit the War Memorial Museum.  They had lots of armor from the Korean conflict - and I found THIS!!!!

As you can imagine I was ecstatic as I have _no_ idea where you'll find a real life example of one of these anywhere else!

Here are a few pictures of the LionRoar modified MK 50 mount next to the unmodified kit part.

The LR part is more accurate in several ways:  The support plates for the mount are more scale and the actual mounting post is too far towards the center of the plate on the kit part.  The LR additions fix both of these problems!

One thing I did notice though is that after you cut off the mounting tube it may be a bit short....I'll see how this plays out as I assemble the rest of the weapon!  I also plan on adding bolts/bolt heads to the supporting plate using plastic rod and my hex punch.

Well, that's all for now! 

Enjoy,

John

 

I was really plesed with how the mounting worked.  I used 1/8th inch steel rod.  I placed the hull directly on the wood base angled like i wanted and used an 1/8th inch bit to drill through the hull and into the wood about 1/4 inch.  I then took a section of rod and inserted through the hull and seated it in the wood base.  Now with the base fixed in one hole I did the second the same and put the rod in it as well.  Then... you guessed it, I did the third.  Now i had the three holes perfectly aligned.  It fit just snug enough to tweak it around and get the right position.  Marked and labeled each rod and then i was able to remove it all and proceed with finishing the hull and base.  I loved the results.

Coming along nicely there and it looks really good fitted to the base at the correct angle.

Julian

I know these questions seem silly - but I don't have a lot of experience with the "hardware" end of things....

 

What dimensions did you use for your base and where did you get the wood (and what kind of wood)?  What stain did you use?

Where did you buy the 1/8 rod - can you get it at Home Depot?

I really like your base and I think I'm definitely going to try something similar!

John

The base is Oak.  I bought it at Hom Depot.  It's 8" wide and I do not know how long.  I marked it where it looked good.   The steel rod you can get at HD but I got Mine at my LHS.  I ended up staining it dark walnut.  It may take some tweaking but I'm sure you will be pleased with the results.  Good Luck and have fun.

I would also like to say that your work so far has been great.  I had no good inside pics of this boat so i just closed it up.  The insides look just great so far. 

Thanks Paul!

 I'm going to try to recreate what you did - I really like the base and the Lion Roar comes with a really neat base plate that will look great as well!

 

John

I've made some progress!  I spent some time on the Mk 50 5" Rocket Launchers and here is the result:

A couple of comments on accuracy/construction:

1.  The Lion Roar Pedestals are more accurate than the kit version.  The support plates are too thick in the kit (no surprise there), but more importantly the support tube is incorrectly located too far towards the center of the plate in the kit version.

2.  The Lion Roar tubes are nice - but the design includes two very visible horizontal support plates that do not appear to be in the launcher documentation that I have.  On the other hand, these would be an absolute BEAR to put together without them, so I guess you pay your money and you take your chances!  I like the final result!

3.  I added bolt heads to the support pedestal and hex nuts to various locations on the launcher itself using a Historex Hex Punch and plastic sprue.

4.  I added an electrical junction box and fire control cabling to each launcher - now all I need to do is find a picture that shows how this cabling went into the deck!

I'm starting on the Bofors gun next!

P.S. I found a really nice build article by Marco Bosco at http://www.kitsreview.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=43

It's a great article but there is a catch - it's all in Italian!  I've been using some of the web freeware translating tools and I think I'll be able to muddle through!

That's all for now?

John

I love the look of those brass tubes, very nicely put together