Progress Build of Italeri's 1/35 PT-109

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers,

I recently purchased Italeri’s brand new 1/35 scale PT-109 and quickly moved it to the top of the “must build” list. What follows is my progress build of this excellent model. My build will be very close to “straight from the box” and will depict PT-109 at the time of her sinking (i.e. overall green scheme with a 37mm anti-tank gun lashed to the deck). My knowledge of PT boats is not very strong so I will probably not be able to answer many technical questions, but hopefully this information will be helpful to anyone else who builds this kit. I have been working on this for a couple of months so I have a lot to show.

1st Image: The kit box top art-excellent!

2nd Image: After the little nicks and imperfections hull on the hull were sanded away, a black marker colored the interior. This was done so nothing would be able to be seen through the many “deadlight” openings on the deck.

3rd Image: The lower sides of the deadlight openings were painted with the exterior color called out in the instructions (Model Master Flat Medium Green FS 34102). I was not happy with this color and used something else discussed alter.

4th Image: The bow chines (i.e. bumper guards) are shown after being added to the hull. Some filler superglue and careful sanding were required to make the connection seamless.

5th Image: After the screw hole covers were added to the deck, superglue was applied around the edges and the seams sanded way.

6th Image: The bow screw cover had a sink mark in it. My solution was to cover the area with a .015” piece of styrene. It was sized to fit against the kit’s photo-etch bow guard (Part PH1). I was careful to not sand away any of the kit’s deck lines, as they look real good.

7th Image: A small styrene strip was added to deck Part 33C to make it fit better to the main deck.

8th Image: The kit provides clear window parts to put under the photo-etched deadlight frames, but I opted not to use them. Instead, the deadlight frames were glued in place with plans to add Krystal Kleer with a toothpick into the openings after the exterior is painted.

9th Image: This photo shows one of the kit’s support stands. It required a lot of cleanup to remove the injection pin and sink marks. It was painted Model Master Gun Metal and dry brushed with Model Master Dark Ghost Gray.

10th Image: This photo shows the finished base. The kit’s two stands were attached to a wooden base with screws. Two matching holes were drilled in the hull to match the small nails in the V-section of the stands.

11th Image: The hull is shown being test fitted to the finished base.

Until next time…

Phillip1

[checkmateking02]

Nice work!

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers,

Here are some more progress photos.

1st Image: Although the kit is really impressive in its details and engineering, the low point (for me) has to be the offset mold line down the middle of many of its parts. This is caused by the two factory patterns halves not matching up perfectly when the melted plastic is injected. The result is shown in the photo. The muffler on the left has not been cleaned up and has an ugly mold line that has to be cut/sanded away. The muffler on the right had been cleaned up and is ready for painting. Unfortunately, many parts suffer from this problem. It causes some tedious headaches, but nothing too major.

2nd Image: The raised structure that goes on the engine hatch is shown assembled and ready for painting.

3rd Image: The basic chart room assembly is shown. The connection point between the top and side parts has been filled with superglue and sanded/polished to look like a single piece.

4th Image: I noticed the chart room sides bowed in when they were glued in place. To correct this, a 1/4” X 1/4” styrene piece was added to “push” the sides back out. This was required to make the fit between the chart room assembly and main deck was as good as possible.

5th Image: One of the few modifications I did make to the kit was cutting a rectangle piece of .015” styrene to represent the steel cover plate on the left, inner cockpit wall. The kit provides a small photo etch part for this, but it is way too small. A second, small styrene piece was added to the left wall to cover an injection pin mark. The still present injection pin mark at the bottom of the wall will be covered by another kit part, added later.

6th Image: The basic day cabin assembly is shown.

7th Image: Another modification was adding the “missing” styrene rain lip above the day cabin rear window.

8th Image: Sanding out the seam lines of the four torpedo tubes was exhausting and time consuming. However, the parts did mate up very well. I used superglue on the inside and Tenax-7R glue on the outside.

9th Image: The four torpedo tubes sanded/polished to perfection (as close as I can get anyway). Man, I was really happy when these were finished. Whew!

10th Image: The kit gives you parts that represent torpedo tube warhead covers, and parts representing the actual warheads with storage straps (shown on the left). I wanted to use the warhead option, but without the straps. The part on the left is the “before” appearance, and the part on the right is the “after” appearance. I still have to locate holes at the front, center of each part and add stubs to represent the warhead contacts.

11th and 12th Image: These images show one of the torpedo tubes being test fitted to its mounts. The torpedo warhead has also been temporarily put in place. The kit’s torpedo tube detail is impressive.

13th Image: Two of the .50 caliber machine guns are shown here, before and after being cleaned up. Once again the mold line is very noticeable. What I want to point out is that after the mold line is removed and the cooling sleeve holes are deepened, the part looks really good (in my opinion). I do not know if I will add scratch built flash suppressors to the ends of the barrels, but I have to say I am happy with the way they look right now.

Until Next Time…

Phillip1

[tankerbuilder]

Hi !

What are you trying to do , Break my heart ? That is some darned good work , by the way . I have wondered about that kit because of the scale and cost . I guess I’ll have to have one now and it’s all your fault ! He. He. He. You have done very good work .Thank You for sharing ! Tanker-builder

[tankerbuilder]

P.S. I repeated my comment about your work on purpose . You have made me want her ! Yah ! I gotta increase my model budget ! He . He . Tanker-builder

[Phillip1]

checkmateking02 and tankbuilder-Thanks for the compliments and support.

Below are more progress photos…

1st Image: The guidance railing for the forward machine gun turret is shown. The kit’s two parts were carefully glued together, then the seam line was removed to make it look like a single piece. Needless to say this assembly is extremely fragile!

2nd Image: The guidance railing for the forward machine gun turret is shown being test fitted in place.

3rd through 6th Image: Using the kit locating holes caused the rear turret guidance railing assembly to lean forward too much (in my opinion). My solution was to drill one new mounting hole about 3/32” lower than the original. It might not be correct to do this, but when I test mounted the day cabin assembly to the hull, the turret guidance railing looked straight (normal) when viewed from the side and rear. Note that small strips of .015” styrene were used to cover the inside “canvas” seam lines.

7th Image: This photo shows the “A” frame mast being test fitted to the day cabin. There is strong photographic evidence that this mast was removed from PT-109 even before John Kennedy assumed command in April 1943. However, I feel the mast is such an integral part of the “look” of the 103 class PT boat (103 through 117) that I will probably include it. After all, I am the person who is going to be looking at the finished model in the glass display case for the next twenty plus years.

8th and 9th Image: Small styrene pieces were rolled and located in the open “holes” at the bases of the forward and rear turrets. These were added since the open holes were very noticeable, even after all the machine gun parts were added.

10th and 11th Image: One of the torpedo tubes is shown after adding the kit’s photo etch parts.

12th Image: More photo etch parts in place.

13th Image: Two of the torpedo warheads are shown after the center holes have been drilled, and a small amount of 5-Minute epoxy has been added-leaving a small, smooth “bump”.

Until next time…

Phillip1

[checkmateking02]

That is very nice work, Phillip. It is looking really good. Look forward to seeing more.

[surfsup]

She is looking really nice indeed…Cheers mark

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers,

Every part of my model has been cleaned up, test fitted and all of the basic sub-assemblies are complete. Total time on the project at this point is about 120 hours. It is a lot of time but this kit has a large number of pieces (approximately 415 plastic, 70 photo-etched and 7 metal screws), and this includes finishing the display base.

It is time to start painting. When PT-109 shipped from the factory it was painted an overall gray scheme. Sometime after it was put into front line service, everything above the waterline was re-painted green. This was done so the boat would blend better against the South Pacific island jungles where it commonly operated. Not all PT boats in this theater were painted this color, but PT-109 was.

Reading comments from many knowledgeable people who post on the ptboatforum.com website lead me to believe the actual shade of green used on PT-109’s exterior is unknown. Although referred to as “Tropical Green”, it was a field mix color-not per any previous standard and probably only used on PT boats. However, there are two well-known color photos that exist believing show part of PT-109 after the green paint was applied. Based on these photos I decided to use Model Master Euro Dark Green-1764 (FS34092), since I felt it was a fairly close match. Note: ptboatforum.com is a great site to visit if you want to learn about any kind of PT boat.

Below are the latest progress photos.

1st Image: A standard painting practice I use is to apply the exterior color in multiple, thin coats. After each coat has dried, a very soft cloth (or wide, flat sable brush) is used to gently buff the paint. Doing this takes more time but eliminates any grainy paint buildup in the corners, and prevents dust from getting trapped in the paint. This photo was taken while the second coat was being applied. I believe a total of four coats were added.

2nd through 5th Image: After the base color was applied Model Master Dark Ghost Gray-1741 was dry brushed over the entire deck to highlight the raised details and create a washed out look. This same effect will not be added to the deck structures (i.e. day cabin/chart room/engine hatch). Lastly, dark gray pastel dust was brushed over the recesses and corners to create greater shadow and contrast.

(Private Group Photo & Video Sharing)]

Until next time…

Phillip1

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers,

The latest painting and assembly work is shown below:

1st and 2nd Image: Work moves to painting the area below the waterline. I used painter’s tape instead of regular masking tape to reduce the chance of pulling up the green paint.

3rd Image: For the lower hull color I used a 50/50 mix of Model Master Insignia Red-1705 (FS31136) and Model Master Rust-1785. The photo shows the hull after painting and removing the tape. Dark gray pastel dust has been applied to the drive shaft openings, drive shaft supports and rudder areas.

4th Image: Dark gray pastel powder was carefully applied with a small brush along the hull, right below the waterline to represent discoloration.

5th Image: Close up of the bow showing the sharp demarcation of the waterline. This photo gives a good representation of the green and red colors used.

6th Image: The chart room is shown after paint, pastel dust and light dry brushing have been applied.

7th Image: This image shows the chart room after adding the decals and windows. The decals are from an AeroMaster 1/48 Numbers and Letters Sheet (No.48-050B). The backside of the windows were painted flat black before being installed.

Until next time…

Phillip1

[checkmateking02]

Again, outstanding results, Phillip. Excellent paintwork.

[f8sader]

Really nice work…most excellent!

[Phillip1]

f8sader/checkmateking02, Thanks for the compliments,

The latest progress photos are shown.

1st through 4th Image (taken outside-late afternoon): The main assembly is shown after the day cabin, engine hatch and all the cockpit walls have been added. These main pieces do not want to mate to the hull very well. I used small pieces Evergreen styrene to fill any noticeable gaps. The hull has been permanently attached to the base, which greatly reduces the possibility of damaging the hull’s paint finish through handling. The propellers were painted brass, then the color was weathered/toned down with dark gray pastel powder.

5th through 11th Image: Many more deck details have been added. The cockpit is finished. I debated about what color to paint the life rings, and I am glad I went with light gray. It adds a nice contrast against the green. I also added dark gray pastel powder to the outside of all of the windows. I think it looks better and more realistic than having very shiny black openings.

Until next time…

Phillip1

[subfixer]

Wow! [Y][Y]

[checkmateking02]

It’s a work of art! Congratulations! An outstanding piece of work!

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers,

1st through 9th Image: These are probably the last construction photos before the model is finished. Note the base ring for the rear turret had to be modified so it would fit inside the canvas spray shield.

Until next time…

Phillip1

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers,

My PT-109 is finished! The last items added were photo-etch .50 caliber ammo belts and Krystal Kleer for the deadlight deck openings. The last modification made was using very thin styrene in place of the kit supplied photo-etch/clear cockpit windows. In the latest issue of Fine Scale Modeler magazine, this kit was built and reviewed. The reviewer stated that PT-109’s windscreen was replaced by armor plating before Kennedy assumed command. If this is true, then the modification I made may be accurate. It took me 263 hours to build over 3-1/2 months. Although I did make some modifications, I kept them to a minimum and tried to stay close to an “out of the box build”. In my opinion this kit builds into a great looking model straight out of the box. This project took a lot longer than expected, but I believe the large number of parts, and the required clean up really added to the hours. Although not on the same level of a Hasegawa, Tamiya or Wingnut Wings, Italeri has made a very good great kit. I hope enjoy the photos and thanks for the support.

Until next time…

Phillip1