Merit has released their 1/48 "early" PT boat kit and I have an advanced copy. So,
let's build this! Merit's kit isn't molded as any one specific PT boat, just with features of the early PT-103 class boats. It differs visually from the late PT release in having the torpedo launching tubes as opposed to the open roll-off racks and a heck of a lot less deck clutter. The later boats bristled with weapons, but the earlier boats were a cleaner, faster looking design.
PT-157 was launched at the end of 1942 and served throughout the rest of the war in the in the Pacific theater war. At the time I want to depict her,
Cdr. Robert Kelly of "They were Expendable" fame was in command of PT Boat Squadron 9 and used her as a flagship or sorts during a mission:
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File comment: Aces 'n' Eights June 1943
AcesNEights.jpg [ 87.9 KiB | Viewed 6312 times ]
PT-157 was later to rescue one Lieutenant JG John Kennedy, and obscure figure in American history who does not get enough mention. So it seemed like a good build to help bring some light to this forgotten naval officer.
PT-157 is fairly close to the kit in fit, but there are some notable changes that will make this enough to be unique:
* 20mm gun replacing the twin .50 cals in the forward tub
* removal of the aft cockpit bulkhead. Two photos of Kelley on 157 and
this one of him
on PT-159 in the same squadron are the reason for this.
Some other smaller details I'll cover as the build gets going.
First order of business: the deck. There are two things that make this take longer than one would initially expect and these are because Merit designed their deck to work on both the early and late war boats. So first is the matter of the 56 holes one has to drill for placement of the torpedo tubes, guns, and other gear. Additionally, the later boats had a doubler plank/plate of plywood around teh perimeter of the deck that was not present on the earlier boats. I decided this was worth removing as it was some simple work with a coarse grit sanding stick. I think this took me all of 10-15 minutes to do.
The day cabin and engine room covers were next. The later is a single piece whereas the day cabin has the aft gun tub as three separate pieces but is otherwise a single, slide molded piece. Fit on to the deck was near perfect:
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File comment: Deck with Day Cabin
AcesNEights01.jpg [ 58.48 KiB | Viewed 6312 times ]
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File comment: Focus on Day Cabin and Engine Room cover
AcesNEights02.jpg [ 66.24 KiB | Viewed 6312 times ]
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Tracy White -
Researcher@Large"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
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Barbara Tuchman
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and he was just starting to bring that out in me so I stopped going to the forum because that's not behavior I seek out. It is what it is, and I may go back to participate at some point. 
and 20mm ready service lockers (same deal but two out of four). PT-157 had a different arrangement than the kit-supplied cowl vents in that they were on top of perhaps foot-tall boxes as opposed to straight to the deck cover. I'll be miter sawing later.