alross2

Photoetched Jacob's ladders and life ring cages attached. Everything is touched up at the end.

Test fitting the photoetched railings to the hurricane deck. There are four pieces per side and they are designed to fit in specific locations. This will require some careful bending and fitting to get them right. The end stanchions are a bit longer than the rest, so locating holes have to be drilled in the deck. An inclined ladder fits in the opening.

6" gun barrels and all hatches glued in place. Stacks, pipes, and center boat skids are just sitting there for fit assessment. Getting there...

Center boat skids and shelter roof. There are 9 pieces to each one as the skids are built up with a web and two flanges. The boat crane goes through the hole.

Pilot house is now on, rails, telegraphs, and searchlights fitted. The two holes aft of the house are for cowl vents and an inclined ladder will go from the deck to the pilot house roof.

Pilot house steering station in place. The pilot house will have clear windows but you'll relly hsve to look closely if you want to see them.

Once the holes for the main deck stanchions are drilled, the holes in the side of the hull for the awning stanchions are drilled. The blue tape ensures that they are all at the same level below the deck. Their locations are marked on the template. Both types of stanchion have a mechanical stop on their bottoms to ensure they are at the same height.

Using the kit-supplied template to drill the main deck stanchion holes.

Test fitting the steam pipes and ladders to the stacks.

4 hours ago, lmagna said:

. He also wrote the Richard Bolitho and Adam Bolitho series under the name of Alexander Kent writing 68 novels!

Strangely, I absolutely loved his Richard Bolitho novels but couldn't even get through one of his MTB ones!  Since I focus on this type of vessel, you'd think it would be the opposite.  Maybe I should try to read one of the MTB novels again.

7 minutes ago, rudybob said:

Wonderful. Thank You. I've decided on PT 52 because it's my birth year

 

 

What would have been PT52 was also a 77' ELCO.  It was built for the RN as MTB310 and was lost at Tobruk in 1942.  The 80' ELCOs depicted by the kit ran from 103-196.

On 6/6/2022 at 9:56 PM, rudybob said:

 

I'm not interested in doing it as 109. I want to label it 34, 35, 36 or 37 which were if I recall accurately the PT's that got MacArthur out of the Philippines

 

 

 

The RON3 boat were 77' ELCOs; this is an 80' ELCO.  In the movie, they used two 80s and four Huckins boats, none of which looked like a 77'.  Here are two renderings of what they would have looked like.  The gray image is as they left the factory in Bayonne.  Once the war began, they removed the domed covers on the turrets and painted the boats green.  My Dad was the quartermaster on PT34 at the time.  She was lost on 9APR42 and he was captured a few days later, spending the rest of the war as a Japanese POW.  

Another "make sure it fits before you glue it down" check.  I do this several times a day when developing kits so I can make the necessary adjustment to the laser parts prior to finalizing.  There are at least 200 more parts to put on before she's done.

Anchors and chains going in.

Midships hammock structures are up and the folding gunners' platforms are in place.

First of the superstructure deck ladderways and railings installed.

.015" x .156" styrene edging has been applied to the hurricane deck and will be painted buff shortly. The hammock structures have been painted white and are drying at the moment.

OREGON this morning with pieces arranged but not glued down. Still lots more to go.

44 minutes ago, robdurant said:

Quite a shift from Wyoming, but equally fascinating. Thanks for sharing your development steps

 

And amazing to think that (if I'm right) Oregon was launched 10-20 years before Wyoming....

OREGON 1893, WYOMING 1909.

13" turret showing black limit stops. Two short cowl vents will go into the holes in the turret top.

OK, WYOMING is going to Nic for rigging, so I'm back full-time on OREGON. Today was mostly printing out plans and parts lists and getting my head back into OREGON. Painted up a bunch of castings and started applying the photo-etched 6" casemate doors. There are five doors on each casemate, which is curved, so it takes a while to get them lined up.

OK, I'm done building WYOMING. It's now over to Nic to rig her (I hate to rig!). Once he's finished, I'll do any necessary touch up and ensure the rigging plans and the model rigging match. After that, she'll be in production. That table, BTW, is 48" long.

Aligning the masts. It's a simple approach but works well. The forecastle mast was set at the correct angles first, then the rest of the masts were aligned with the distances between them at the boom jaw rests. The clamps keep everything aligned while a drop of glue sets the angles.

The spring stay bails require a little patience and care to build. They are laser-cut .020" laser board but are surprisingly strong and flexible. They are best built off the mast. Two eyes are glued together, a light coat of thin CA is applied to them, then they are bent over a dowl (front bail) and 1/4" square stick (aft bail). The mast is drilled with a .022" bit, the bail is slid down over the mast, and a pin goes through the holes. Once everything is aligned, CA is applied to the end of the pin and the end is snipped off.