Finally some progress! My son was assigned the "Visible Man" model as part of his Anatomy and Physiology class so I had a detour to get that done before I could work on the "fun" project!
First off: As was previously included in this thread by one contributor but seems to have disappeared with the migration of finescale to the new format, I've built a display stand by purchasing an appropirate length of Oak siding from Home Depot and some 1/8" brass rod. I placed the hull over the board in approximately the correct position and drilled through the hull and just into the board using my Dremel tool for the aft centerline hole. I then used my Dremel drill press attachment to drill a 1/8" hole at the required location. I then ran the 1/8" rod through the hole and into the board and checked alignment before repeating the procedure for the forward centerline hole. I then repeated the procedure for the port and starboard supports.
Once all the holes were drilled and the rods were in place, I supported the hull using legos in what I hope will be interpreted as a high speed turn to port. Once the Hull was in position I mixed A+B putty and put it around the brass rod and let it dry. After drying, I used a Dremel cutting wheel to trim the brass rod.
I finished the oak board in Mahogony stain/varnnsh available from Home Depot.
Here is a picture of the brass rod in the hull supported by A+B putty:
Here are pictures of the hull on the stand:
I also managed to complete one of the torpedo launchers - they are almost entirely rebuilt using the Lion Roar photo etch parts - 3 more to go!
I did a little painting on the forward interior hatch:
With the forward deck in place, it is going to be really hard to see even this high contrast detail - but I"m glad it will be there and I am confident that you'll be able to tell _something_ is down there as opposed to the generic black that I'm using elsewhere.
On last bit of progress.....one of the kits shortcomings is the shape of the rudders. There are 3 rudders on the PT, and the prototypes had a much more "rounded" appearance than the kit rudders. You can see the difference here with the kit part laid in the proper position on the 1/35 plans by Al Ross:
I'm pretty new at scratch building things - so I'll tell you my entire process including what didn't work out as well as I'd hoped.. The first thing I tried was making a photocopy of the kit part on the plans simlar to the image above and then trying to cut out a filler piece that matched the inside/outside edges of both the part and plans. That didn't work out so well, because it is almost impossible to get the shapes exactly right.
I then took the kit part and traced the outline on plastic sheet with a pencil and cut along that line trying to get a serviceable edge to join to the kit part. Other than making sure the sheet was big enough to shape to the correct profile, I didn't worry about the outer edge. I used Poly cement for the initial join, then beefed it up with gap filling CA glue. I then sanded the outer edge to the correct profile using a sanding stick after tracing the outer edge onto the part with a sharpie pen. Finally, I smoothed things up with some squadron white putty.
To make the part mold ready I added a metal tube extention to the rudder shaft and a toothpick with a notch in the end of it to the top of the rudder. You need to anticipate getting resin into the mold - therefore you need two holes - one to pour resin down and the other to let air out - with only one hole you will get big air bubbles when you try to replicate the part.
The mold is made using legos and clay. You make a 2-high lego box and layer the bottom half with modeling clay. You then embed the part in the clay and press "registration" holes in the clay with a pencil erasor. Mix and pour the rubber and you then have half of the mold. Remove the part and the clay, flip it over, and place it back in the lego box. Coat the rubber with release agent - making sure you have given the first batch enough time to completely harden, and then mix/pour the top half. Here is a picture of my part and the resulting mold:
I had some cleanup to do - but in general I am very happy with the result - here are the replicated parts with the original kit part in the middle!
And more importantly: Here is how the revised part looks vs. the plans!
I think they are going to look great - and will be very noticeable on the finished model!!
John