john53 Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 I am doing this one as JFK's boat the night it was rammed by the IJN Amagiri, my other ship build. I plan on using the cannon from the Hasegawa 1/72 Jeep and cannon kit, removing the wheels and lashing it to the fore deck. I am also going to attempt to scratch build depth charges. So far the deck and hull are assembled and painted.---John OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by jvandeu53, on Flickr OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by jvandeu53, on Flickr OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by jvandeu53, on Flickr Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john53 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 The red on the hull is Tamiya dull red TS-33. I'm not sure what green I am using for the deck and assemblies above the water line yet. Here's the stand. I detail painted it.---John PT109 6 by jvandeu53, on Flickr PT109 7 by jvandeu53, on Flickr Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john53 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 (edited) Here's the same kit I built about 5 years ago. I was never happy with the outcome. It didn't look right, no depth charges, the whip antenna was to thick, the balsa float should have been on the day room roof and all kind of quirky problems. I now have the time and resources to do it right.---John PT109 7 by jvandeu53, on Flickr Edited January 3, 2017 by john53 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hajo L. Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Revell announced a PT-109 in 1/72 using a new tool... They propably waited until you start your build to get a new model on the market. ;) HAJO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john53 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 Yup, ain't that always the way it goes! How "new and improved" is this 2017 1/72 PT-109? Hopefully they'll do the balsa float to look like a balsa float and NOT a yellow rubber raft, and throw in some depth charges for good measure!---John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hajo L. Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 I have no idea what kind of improvement the new kit will have. So far I only had the word about the new mold. HAJO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Silenoz Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 looks good, but I think you should a a M3-gun on the front of the deck: In the case of PT-109 before Lt(jg) John Kennedy took command, there was an accidental launch of the foreword starboard torpedo tube while in the stowed position and the departing torpedo took out the starboard depth charge rack and a section of the foot railing on its way overboard. The missing rack wasn't replaced by the time Kennedy came aboard. Like the other skippers in the field, Kennedy's crew'requisitioned' whatever heavy armament they could find and in Kennedy's case, an Army 37mm anti-tank gun. The crew lashed the gun to the foredeck atop some wood planking to reinforce the deck. This modification took place the day before PT-109 was rammed by the IJN Destroyer Amagiri. The rest, as they say, is history. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drew Cook Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 The statements "...the departing torpedo took out the starboard depth charge rack and a section of the foot railing..." and "The missing rack wasn't replaced by the time Kennedy came aboard" are quite incorrect ("before...Kennedy came aboard") , as well as speculative ("...took out the...depth charge rack and a section of the foot railing...") with no basis in fact. The inadvertently launched torpedo, and it was the port -- not starboard -- forward torpedo, was jolted out of its tube in heavy seas in the Russell Islands when Lt. Al Cluster, JFK's squadron commander, was at the wheel of JFK's PT 109 as they maneuvered to obtain a pump from a destroyer to help bail water from Cluster's damaged PT. Cluster had asked JFK for a turn at the wheel, as he had only experience with the earlier 77' Elco PTs and wanted to try his hand at the helm of the newer, PT 103-class 80' Elcos like the 109. The 109 hit a large wave which jolted the port forward torpedo out of its tube, striking the (unarmed) port depth charge, knocking it through the foredeck where it fell into a bunk in the forward crew's quarters. The torpedo started on a "hot run" sticking out of its tube, its propellers spinning, until JFK's executive officer, Ensign Lenny Thom, disabled and de-activated the torpedo. There is no mention of the depth charge's rack, or any portion of the deck's foot rail being damaged or missing, in any account of the incident at the time or later, and the 109 returned to Tulagi to have the damage to the foredeck repaired, at which time any (unmentioned) damage to the depth charge's rack or deck foot railing, as well as the replacement of the port depth charge itself, certainly would have been done. The ''missing" or "unrepaired" depth charge/rack/foot railing is pure speculation. PT 109 would most certainly have had her port forward depth charge, its rack, and her foredeck foot railing intact and present when she set out on her last patrol from Rendova on August 1, 1943. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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