by davidwaples » Mon Aug 22, 2022 1:16 pm
Revell Germany released their latest 1/72 Elco PT Boat kit. The boat depicted is pretty obscure. This model depicts Elco's test of their Thunderbolt gun system on PT-160 at their facility in Bayonne, New Jersey. If you're not familiar with the Thunderbolt gun system, it is a turret of sorts that supported four .20mm Oerlikon cannons, and on this test bed included an additional two .50 cal machine guns. The gunner managed to squeeze in between all of this weaponry to operate the guns. After tests were done with the prototype on PT-160, the Thunderbolt gun system was changed to only include the four .20mm Oerlikon cannons. The prototype 160 boat had the test Thunderbolt gun system removed after the test and before she was actually deployed to theatre. So with eyes wide open realize that this is a one off test bed subject and not something that was ever deployed. We did very politely reach out to Revell Germany after seeing their initial CAD drawings, but they did not respond to the information we provided. But if this one off test boat is something you've wanted to build, this is your kit.

Revell Germany released their latest 1/72 Elco PT Boat kit. The boat depicted is pretty obscure. This model depicts Elco's test of their Thunderbolt gun system on PT-160 at their facility in Bayonne, New Jersey. If you're not familiar with the Thunderbolt gun system, it is a turret of sorts that supported four .20mm Oerlikon cannons, and on this test bed included an additional two .50 cal machine guns. The gunner managed to squeeze in between all of this weaponry to operate the guns. After tests were done with the prototype on PT-160, the Thunderbolt gun system was changed to only include the four .20mm Oerlikon cannons. The prototype 160 boat had the test Thunderbolt gun system removed after the test and before she was actually deployed to theatre. So with eyes wide open realize that this is a one off test bed subject and not something that was ever deployed. We did very politely reach out to Revell Germany after seeing their initial CAD drawings, but they did not respond to the information we provided. But if this one off test boat is something you've wanted to build, this is your kit.
[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52304437375_26fd34f475_k.jpg[/img]