I was wondering if anyone’s modelled a plastic PT model boat (say 1:48 scale), & what you did for weathering. I’ve noticed that a ‘rusty’ look gathers even on wooden boats in certain areas.
regards
Finescale, Here is a few pic’s of my recent build & weathering.
The crews were proud of their boats, and did’nt allow much to degrade them. Upkeep was accomplished with whatever they could scavenge. Check out/Google PT-boats and you’ll see what I’m saying. This is an early scheme.
doc
wow, a great job thanks. did you bother with a wash??
rob from downunder
FS, yes I applied an turpenoid/oil paint wash and then a pinwash to every little detail that I could find.
doc
You might get rust streaks below metal items but the vast majority of the boat was wood. You will get faded and streaky paint due to the sun and salt water the boats were in. You might want to consider how light looks difference in scale; one of the things a wash helps replicate is the shadows that look different due to objects’ smaller size.
I think that from the most part, PT crews kept their boats fairly clean and touched up whatever was going bad. I would go lightly on the weathering as Doc did. His looks superv.
Nice looking boat. What scale is it?
Thanks for the comments guys. She is the old “REVELL” kit from the “60’s” in 1/72nd scale, and she’s built straight out of the box.
doc
I’m getting ready to do the final painting on my 109 boat in 1/72. In most of the pictures I’ve seen there is almost no rust. That’s because unlike steel ships the crew could get to just about everywhere. Places where you might want to add some very light rust is around guard rails. But again just a hint. More corrosion can be done around the exhausts.
I’m planning on doing some pre shading under the torpedo tubes, in the cockpit areas, etc. where you would find shadows. Then I’m planning on doing some post shading to replicate the natural fading from the sun. My dilemma is how to account for the wear on the decks. If you look at photos of these boats the paint often is worn off in high traffic areas. For example from between both sides of the cockpit to the bit on the foredeck. I’m trying to decide if I want to use a wash, or if I want to put down a primer coat, top coat, and use a fiberglass eraser to remove some of the paint and then add a wash. The primers on these boats were described to me as “yellow” which makes me think it might have been some sort of chromate. I’m imagining that yellow being slightly visible from the wear. Again, I could achieve that with some wash too. Still practicing with that before I do the final paint job.
You said 1/48 scale? The only kit I’m familiar with in that scale is the Bluejacket model. It’s made from wood which provides some different opportunities for weathering. For example wear down the final paint and stain the wood. That would look very cool. I’ve been working on my Bluejacket kit since… well, let’s just say it’s been a long time. I’m hoping to finish that one up this winter. Here are some photos of it in progress…
In this picture you can see what I mean about the wear on the foredeck.
Here are some photos from the guys at Royal Model. These are photos of the Italeri 1/35 Elco. They did some very nice weathering effects on this boat.
And finally my 109 ready for the paint shop…
I hope that helps.
Good luck with your project.
Dave
David, your boat is looking superb. Did you spring for the White Ensign PE set?
doc
Thank you,
I did but I only used bits and pieces of it. I used parts to make a master for new torpedo tubes. The framework for the torpedo tube mountings which was filled in with styrene. The 37mm is from WEM. The aft 20mm is from John Haynes. That was a last minute addition. Then there’s a lot of scratch building in there as well.
I got side tracked building a couple of ships for the family but I hope to be able to get back to this in a week or two. I’m going to make a special mounting for it as well. As soon as I’m done I’ll post some photos.
Dave
Outstanding work weebles.
Hey David,
You are doing a fine job on your boat. I like your torpedo tubes.
Garth
Thanks Garth,
It’s long overdue for the paint shop but first things first.
Dave
Very nice job… no such thing as too many PT boats! 
Ditto! Here’s another one built by a Thai modeler named “Niphon” for me:
A dozen more pics available on this page:
http://www.falconbbs.com/model47b.htm
Have fun!
That is a very nice clean build. It looks extremely well made. You can be very proud of that model.
Dave
Here’s mine - Revell Germany’s issue of the kit as PT-117. I weathered it with a mixture of oil washes (dark oil paints, such as black and burnt umber, very heavily diluted with turpentine) and drybrushed acrylic paint. The former was used to highlight detail and represent shadow, the latter to represent faded paint + salt streaking on the hull.
You might notice that I forgot to rig the mast - this has since been done using “invisible thread”!
VERY NICE build sir!
But, she did not carry bow numbers …
Other than that? Just WOW!
Hey DOC — this is a little off base but , isn,t the other p.t. boat by REVELL the old higgins boat from years back . Based on the boxart ,they sure look different to me . tankerbuilder