Calling all PT Boat (all types) fans!

[kurt]

Received my Italeri 109 the other day and just had a chance to look at it, NICE! I don't know why, but the box is much bigger that the previous kit. Like to see some reviews, now.

Kurt

[davidwaples]

Kurt, I sent a review into Tim. I think it may be coming up pretty soon.
Dave

[kurt]

Great review!!! Thanks for taking the time for this on our behalf and for guiding Italeri along the way. Thanks to Italeri for listening!!!!!! It's nice to hear that they are responsive to their customers wishes, and not just looking for a quick buck. Hope you hinted at some figures in tropical garb or lack there of. Now to figure which boat.... What did you think of the windscreen, kinda flimsy isn't it?

Kurt

[davidwaples]

Thanks Kurt. I agree with you about the crew. I would recommend that you go to Italeri's web site and send in your suggestion. Their marketing department makes the decision on what they will do and I'm sure they would appreciate your thoughts.
Dave

[Dan K]

I just wanted to compliment you on the review, David. It seems like you, and others, put a lot of work into the kit. Though it is unlikely that I will ever build it, I can appreciate the work to get it done right, and the willingness of Italeri to listen. A lot of enthusiasts are certain to be happy.

If only Fujimi were like that.....sigh.

Dan

[D Burger]

I agree with Dan...great review Dave..I'm with you, this is a spectacular kit....can't wait to get started...do you think WEM has enough PT green paint to go around?
Doug B

[davidwaples]

I agree with Dan...great review Dave..I'm with you, this is a spectacular kit....can't wait to get started...do you think WEM has enough PT green paint to go around?
Doug B

Hi Doug,
They probably do. John Snyder will hate me for this but I would not recommend using their Tropical Green. In reality the color is closer to 5NG. Here's a photo of a boat painted with the green color used on the 109.



This boat on the starboard side of PT-61 is PT-109. Same color green

[PTConsultingNHR]

David,

You know, I've been thinking about the depth charges on the 109's foredeck. There is a famous photo of her last crew gathered around the cockpit/charthouse structure with Kennedy off to the port side. It appears to have been taken on a sunny day.

There's an aspect of that photo that I never gave much thought to, or noticed until now, ... you don't see any depth charges on the foredeck, port or starboard, no racks, and no 'evidence' of them either.

So, your opinion that they must have been removed after the torpedo smashed the one through the deck might be correct.

And, here's something to ponder; it's my own theory and opinion, that photo was taken after the boat was repaired.

What say you?

[D Burger]

David..Thanks for the info and the pics...will be a big help...the links you gave in your review are super also...we will have fun with this one! Would a 77 ft Higgins boat just be the next real thing? Doug B

[davidwaples]

Hi Garth,
I agree that the crew photo you're referencing does not show the depth charges. I mentioned that in another post or email somewhere. Can't remember right now. I haven't seen any evidence about what happened with the depth charges after the torpedo accident. For now at least it's one of those unknowns and up to the modeler to interprit.

One thing we did learn recently was that the torpedo did not fire but did slide out of the tube and it's propellers were turning. Leonard Thom kept the torpedo from activating and eventually the torpedo found it's way into the water. This was also on the port side of the boat.

Dave

[davidwaples]

David..Thanks for the info and the pics...will be a big help...the links you gave in your review are super also...we will have fun with this one! Would a 77 ft Higgins boat just be the next real thing? Doug B

Hi Doug,
I'm glad this was helpful. As for the next project from Italeri, I'm not sure. I do know it's a decision of their marketing department what they do next. I've recommended both a 77' Elco and 78' Higgins boat. Some of the guys have sent them a ton of reference material for both boats. What I would suggest is to go to Italeri's web site and letting them know how much you like this line of kits and what you would like to see next.
Dave

[Guest]

Yes.

Wasn't it that he stuffed toilet paper into the propellers of the torpedo?

I think PTBI sells a biography of Thom ... Maybe something is in there about it? I'm just speculating ... but you guys should look into it. You think?

Garth

Hi Garth,
I agree that the crew photo you're referencing does not show the depth charges. I mentioned that in another post or email somewhere. Can't remember right now. I haven't seen any evidence about what happened with the depth charges after the torpedo accident. For now at least it's one of those unknowns and up to the modeler to interprit.

One thing we did learn recently was that the torpedo did not fire but did slide out of the tube and it's propellers were turning. Leonard Thom kept the torpedo from activating and eventually the torpedo found it's way into the water. This was also on the port side of the boat.

Dave

[davidwaples]

He didn't stuff toilet paper in the turning props, he did something to the torpedo to keep the warhead from arming. Think about it, by the time you could see turning props that fish is off the boat. As a modeler I'm not too concerned with how he did it, I'm more interested in how the event changed the boat. We do know that the 109 had depth charges on her deck and where they were located, but we dont' know if they were on after this incident. It's going to be up to the modeler to interpret if they want the depth charges on the boat at the time of the sinking. I think when I build this kit I will do it without the 37mm and with the depth charges on the deck.
Dave

[PTConsultingNHR]

Oh.

Gee, I'm sorry.

I was just recalling what I read in that man's post on the PTBI's board, which "quoted" a passage from a book by Richard Tragakis (and, yes, David - I realized I may have butchered his name and I apologize for that).

I was just trying to be "helpful".

Garth

[kurt]

Dave, I was thinking of doing the same. I might build the 37, on a small piece of decking as a separate vignette, that could sit along side the boat, maybe a torpedo also. Not on the same base, that would be too cluttered. As far as color, I think that's a matter of perception. Who knows how someone else sees something and under what conditions? Ever wonder how a completely color blind person sees something or the other way around. The problem that always drives me crazy if you try to be a true rivet counter, is the day you finish the model, somebody will find some unknown photo that will prove you totally wrong! In the end I guess it's what ever makes you happy, and F@*#em it they can't take a joke.

Kurt

[PTConsultingNHR]

Kurt,

Go with either Navy Green or Tropical Green, and you won't go wrong. But, I'd lean toward Navy Green.

[kurt]

When you read Carney's PT-157, he had former crew members go to Home Depot and pick through color samples and they came up with the color dill!!! as the closest match they could find. So I'll have to see what I come up with. My point is if you're in the approximate neighborhood, you can't be wrong. Ever look at the same car at different times of the day and under different circumstances how it can look completly different? It can almost look a totally different color, especially after a few drinks! No wonder I can't get the darn door to open!

[PTConsultingNHR]

I was once contacted by a modeler who built a model of a RON 29 boat for a man who was dying who served on one of those boats and he told me that he took the gentleman to a HOME DEPOT and the vet chose ROBIN EGG BLUE for the Thayer Blue. I've always found that interesting when all of the experts tell me to tell modelers to use the proper nomenclature for the paints used and vets choose house-paints.

[kurt]

Can't take anything too seriously. If you're contracted to someone else they're the boss. I'm not, so I control the sun and the stars.....and the colors. Maybe Metalflake Candy Apple Green, wonder what FS number.

[davidwaples]

Dave, I was thinking of doing the same. I might build the 37, on a small piece of decking as a separate vignette, that could sit along side the boat, maybe a torpedo also. Not on the same base, that would be too cluttered. As far as color, I think that's a matter of perception. Who knows how someone else sees something and under what conditions? Ever wonder how a completely color blind person sees something or the other way around. The problem that always drives me crazy if you try to be a true rivet counter, is the day you finish the model, somebody will find some unknown photo that will prove you totally wrong! In the end I guess it's what ever makes you happy, and F@*#em it they can't take a joke.

Kurt

Hi Kurt,
I had a similar thought about the 37mm and showing it as a separate display. I think that would look petty cool. You might even find a way to incorporate it into your case. For me the color photos I shared with you are the Holy Grail of color reference for the 109 and other boats that were there with her at that moment in time. I don't put complete stock into veterans memories of colors. For example I asked Mr. Keresey and Mr. Iles, both commands of PT-105 about the color of their boat and they both said the same thing... battleship gray. There's no such color of course but that points me to what is probably the right answer which is Measure 1, 5D which is what we know the boat was painted in. Now we lighten it up for scale effect, and weather it because of its exposure to the sun and what we have doesn't really match the paint chip sample anymore. What I like to do is take White Ensign Models correct color and adjust it for these factors. No doubt you could find other gray paints that will give you the same result. I'm probably classified as a rivet counter, but at the same time I'm not one to beat people over the head about the color they choose. I think it's up to the modeler to interpret the subject. It's like painting... make it your own.
Dave