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
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
Steve
I brush the Future on because for some reason I cannot get a smooth glossy finish when sprayed. I have tried thinning it, different PSIs, different distances etc and nothing beats brushing it for a glass smooth finish. As a matter of fact, FSM had an article not too long ago on some Master Builders and one of them brushes on Future on his cars for a super high wet shine look.
I usually wait 2-3 days for the oil washes to dry out and then shoot the clear flat over. I have a ceiling fan that I turn on low/med speed and it does a great job in air circulation helping the oil wash dry out faster. My workbench from IKEA is actually an architect desk with two open storage shelves where I can store my model where it receives excellent air circulation.
I would do the same sequence in painting the hull first then securing to the finished base that can be covered and masked for further painting of the boat. Can’t wait to see the colors and weathering on.
I was just thinking of a great source of reference and that would be the movie PT109. It was shot in color and has tons of views and angle shots.
Please, … do not use that movie as a color guide and you should know, those boats in that movie were not 80-foot ELCO PTs, they were 85-foot Miami Shipbuilding ASRC rebuilt (by Miami Shipbuilding - at GREAT expense to Warner Bros) to look like 80-foot ELCO PT boats.
LOL thanks for the heads up. I haven’t seen that movie in years so I need to look at it again. I was wondering where they got so many PTs. If you have ever seen Empire of the Sun you would wonder where they got so many Mustangs that turned out to be large scale rc planes. I believe they only used only one real Mustang. Even the B-29 was rc.
Well I just saw a piece of the movie on You Tube and can’t tell the difference. Read an articles that says only two kind of people know it’s not a real PT, the Crash Boaters and the PT dudes. Thanks for the info!
PJ,
Thanks for the mini tutorial on Future and thanks for the heads up on the FSM article. I’ll go through my stack and see if I can find it. That is interesting that Future does not play well with airbrushes.
Tim had noted earlier in the “Color” thread recently that the movie PT109 was not a good reference and I have to agree with him. Although I still like that movie and it was my introduction to PT Boats when I was knee high to a periscope peak. It was very interesting and I know I learned a great deal. Check it out if you have not had a chance.
Steve
Steve
Some guys swear by air brushing Future and work fine for them. But for some reason I get better results hand brushing it. As a matter of coincidence, I just received my issue of FSM and there is an article about building a Spanish FA18 where the builder hand brushes Future on the model.
A movie company goes thru big expenses at producing a film such as what PT Consulting described in converting the crash boats yet mess up with a detail like the correct color specially being just 20 years after the fact . The film does have some nice scenery though.
Lots of interesting facts I did not know about the film and all the conditions set by Kennedy.
One error in the movie was that mission the 109 went on to rescue the Marines off the beach. That mission was not done with the 109. It was done with the 59, as a gunboat. Also, the 109 was not a complete wreck when JFK took command, and she had a whole crew at the time. So, was the movie as accurate as JFK wanted it as one of his “conditions”?
Steve - I had the same gap on my build. If you haven’t glued it down, I didn’t find it too hard to fill and “sand”
I filled the gap from inside with Mr Surfacer 500 and then again from the front (Reason being I can be thick and ugly on the inside and then use less on the exterior, so there’s less to remove). Once it’s dry, I wet a cotton swab with Mr Color thinner and rub the gap down.- the color thinner doesn’t affect the plastic at all but will essentially wipe the dried Mr Color thinner away. It’s a great technique in general for filling in small joints where you want to preserve detail.
Hi. Just wondering if there has been any hint as to whether any company will be doing PE add on sets for these PT models, as was done for the Italeri 1/35 kits?
Tracy,
Thanks for the information and the links. I checked out your log and it looks great so far. Have you gotten any farther along yet? Since my Mr Surfacer 500 has thickened up a bit too much, I purchased another bottle. I usually use 91% alcohol to even it out and take off the excess but I’ll give the thinner a try.
Jim,
I do not believe that any PE/AM company has produced any products for this scale like the 1/35 boat. I would love to get some if they come up, especially the add ons such as helmets, life jackets, etc. Tracy wrote about this on his log that is linked before your post.
Thanks again for all those following along. I just got back from a week in LA and will hopefully get some more work done after the boys start school Thursday.
Steve
