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Merit 1:48 Early-Elco 80-foot PT Build


TGarthConnelly

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We've started on my Elco. The hull/deck are glued together, the charthouse and instrument panel are glued together, and the holes are drilled out in the deck. Did any of you do that on yours?


He's just going to work on it while I'm there with him, ... that's fine with me, the 191 in 1944/45 was not exactly a stock early Elco 80-footer, ... HA HA. But, I've got to tell ya, I'm impressed as Hell about this kit. When Stan glued the deck on - I heard it click into place, as well as the instrument panel into the charthouse piece. All of those things had nice tight fits!


I'm now thinking that I'll do an article on this project. But, I'm kind of confused over one thing from the instructions ... it says to cut-off/remove two sets of hinges for two hatches, one on the foredeck and the one on the aft-deck (near the 20mm - on the stock early Elco) ... but I have a photo of the 191, with the foredeck's hatch opened, and the hatch is opened as if the hinges were attached where Merit tells modelers to cut/remove them.


We'll be using the Mark XIIIs and their roll-off racks which Merit gave me. We'll use the 40mm that Merit gave me. We'll use the late-war engine-room hatch that Merit gave me. We'll use the rest/stop for the radar mast. I bought a 1:48 SO-Type radar from a vendor from Shapeways (3-D printing), but he didn't do the rest/stop for it. He has the Mark XIIIs and roll-off racks in 1:48 but for $76 and change - I AIN'T GONNA PAY THAT MUCH for those! We'll use two of the 20mm guns (on tripods) that Merit gave me. I've gotten the mufflers done in 3-D printing and some depth charges and a .30-cal on a tall tripod and I'm waiting on a 1:48 3-D printed 37mm M4 on a tripod.


A friend from Australia is creating a 48-star cloth flag and I've asked him about (if he would) creating a decal sheet for the PT-191. Her numbers (in 1944/45) were a green color with grey shading and she had a distinctive kill scoreboard ...


I'll keep you abreast on the build.


Tim

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Just got back from Stan's, ... photos to follow as soon as my brother puts the chip from the camera into my PC. It is coming along nicely. Got the cockpit/charthouse on and glued. I had him put the armored bulkhead in (I realize the 191 PROBABLY did not have hers in 1944/45, but I've always liked the look of the 80-footers with it - just looks incomplete without it) ... Stan forgot to put the clear plastic ports in the charthouse before he glued it onto the deck ... he had a heck of a hard time getting them in - but he did ... A couple of them are dirty with glue-spots but that's OK because those ports will get painted over.


The fit of the parts is really, really, really good and tight. The best I've ever seen in any kit ...that impressed me ... what blew me away today was that the throttle quadrant was/is a mini-kit in itself. The throttles are separate pieces which are inserted into holes in the quadrant! Another thing which blew me away was that the clear plastic ports have a "coating" over them which needs to be peeled off before they are inserted ......... I've never seen something like that before. He put the ports in the Day Cabin and glued it onto the deck ...


Finally, we glued the deck piece which goes over the engine-room.


I am really impressed with the Merit kit ...

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I do have to point one mistake in the instructions in Step 10. But, to preface it, Stan determined it would be safer to build and attach items like the cockpit/charthouse structure and the Day Cabin, rather than making the turrets and machine guns. He was fearful that those items might have been broken or have pieces go missing. Frankly, I agree/agreed with him. Besides, it seems to be more ‘logical’ to put the cockpit/charthouse and Day Cabin structures on to the deck/hull earlier in the building process. In Step 10, the page(s) with the instructions on how to build the cockpit/charthouse structure, one of the pieces to be glued on top of the instrument panel is labeled F-12, it should be labeled E-12.

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Today - Stan did work on the charthouse/cockpit - he installed the windshield and the hand rails and the two running lights and the compass which was located on the roof of the charthouse. The hand rails, lights and compass were all very small pieces. It became clear to me that one would need to take great care with these pieces due to their small size. If not - the carpet monster would be well fed! One thing that I noticed while watching Stan using the instructions relating to the cockpit/charthouse structure, ... they call for parts from different trees ... wouldn't it be easier, more logical and efficient to have all those pieces on one tree and not on different ones?


Here are the photos from today:


Pm9EBN2.jpg


0vkV1h0.jpg


xmFcGGx.jpg


10g29HC.jpg


Tim

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Thanks.

 

And, in regard to the parts on different trees issue, here's what Tony Chin of Merit told me in an email; " "The parts from different tree(s) are added on after we pointed out the mistakes we found from initial design.

That's why they are not all together."

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  • 2 weeks later...
Week four started with Stan making the two tubs for the two turrets. These pieces required just needed a minimum of filler in their seams, but I think that was Stan’s wanting the model to be perfect than there being an actual need for filler. That said, where the forward turret butts up against the charthouse/cockpit structure does need some filler because of gapping. The 191 had its life-ring, which Merit positions on the port-side bulkhead of the cockpit, on the back of the Day Room structure. Stan repositioned it on the model as well.

He also put on the step and its bracing, which went under the starboard side bulkhead of the charthouse, which is made out of Photo-Etched brass, which amazed me. Stan finished this week’s session by putting the horn, and its Photo-Etched brass holder, the handrails which are located on the roof of the Day Room as well as the handrail which is located on the port-side bulkhead of the cockpit and one of the spray-shields which are attached to the Day Room structure.


Here are four photos from today:


O9YeoZn.jpg


HzowGUY.jpg


HLxlgLh.jpg


mvXa1wm.jpg


Tim
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There is something which I would like to add here regarding the forward twin .50-caliber machine gun turret. In the couple of photos that I had seen of the 191, I noticed that the starboard forward turret did not have the depression-rails which one normally sees on that turret. I asked her former skipper about it. He told me, in a letter, that it was done to allow that gunner to be allowed to fire at targets on the boat’s port-side, directly over the heads over the guys’ heads in the cockpit. Mr. Clarke commented that he trusted the gunner and was never worried about being hit.

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Went over to Stan's. No pics though, the camera's batteries were/are dead ...

He put a vent on the day room roof, the cranks for the tubes (un-needed - but looks better with them, put on the boat hook, the two mooring cleats on the aft deck, the two ready-service lockers aft of the day room, the heater box (un-needed, but looks better with it) and put on the late-war engine-room hatch. Good headway. I'll be away from 6/28 to 7/8, so - nothing will be done until mid-July, ...

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Nice build so far!!

And looking over your should in some of the pics - you have quite the work area. I'm jealous! :smiley17:

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  • 3 weeks later...

We are in Week 5 of the build.

 

We (Stan) worked on the roll-off racks for the Mark XIII torpedoes. Merit sent me what I would need for them from their Late-war Elco kit.

 

I've got to say that, even though these racks are kits/mini-kits in themselves, from what I watched Stan do while making them, but it seemed that they were a little overly complicated (too many pieces)... I think the side "legs" of them could have been molded in one piece and not the multi-parts which Merit had/has.

 

Here are a copy of photos:

 

cPVoGMA.jpg

 

xjjAy31.jpg

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Got a lot done on it today, piddling little details stuff. Looking more and more like the 191 in the photo. The torpedo racks (from another kit) are on, the hatches are on, the cleats are on and the toe-rails, and the anchor is on ... Next week, we start adding the late-war additions to it as well as putting the base color on the hull of the camouflage scheme.


Here are two photos of the torpedoes being tested in the racks on the port side to verify the correct location of the racks and one of the racks on the starboard side, sans torpedoes.


O3D2eCm.jpg


VJCn5eE.jpg


Tim

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This week, Stan put on the depth charge racks and glued the depth charges together, but didn’t glue them on the racks, he’ll paint the hull first and then, put the depth charges, guns and torpedoes on. He put the SO-Radar mast on as well. The radar mast and the depth charges and their racks are from SHAPEWAYS. The green colored rings you see glued on the deck are from a REVELL 1:72 PT-109 kit, these are being used as the bases for the 37mm and one of the 20mm guns. The 191 did not have those two guns on the circular-shaped bases normally seen on PTs for some reason, in the photos being used as references show the guns mounted on the deck just on the tripod mounts.

 

TRsLRDv.jpg

 

O9FcxLQ.jpg

 

2nTM1cB.jpg

 

6sRGRLh.jpg

 

Tim

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No photos this week, but Stan installed the prop shafts, struts and rudders, masked the hull and put the first coat of Copperoyd bottom paint on. I like it.






If you use the AK paint set with a Merit PT kit, just a word of caution ... the bronze (for the propellers) paint will not adhere to the plastic. Stan feels that you might need to prime them first before using the bronze paint. He then used a bronze paint, normally used for model trains, on the props.

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This week was spent masking the bottom of the hull to cover the AK INTERACTIVE Copperoyd while Stan painted the topside with one of the Greens for the Measure 31/5P scheme.


To me, it appears that it'll take a couple of coats inasmuch it doesn't seem to cover that well. Here's something that I never knew; Stan told me me that you need to apply the lighter shade first and then, the darker one. He said that if you were to apply the darker shade first, it'd bleed through the lighter shade.


q1GeGVG.jpg


4deMttW.jpg


uIyL6ww.jpg


Tim

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yesterday, I went to Stan's. He marked out the camouflage scheme and painted some of it. He also started to build the 40mm, M3 Bofors (without the back railing as per my 'instructions' to him) ... I brought my camera with me, but for some reason, none of the photos came out that well.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Stan finished the 40mm today. Although, he needs to replace the PE gunsights for it which were lost and also not included.


He also hand-painted the scheme, just to get its "shapes" on the hull, he'll airbrush the second/last coat on later and feather the edges as well. I am thinking he'll need to lighten-up the lighter green. But, that's me. I COULD be wrong.


I really like the build.


3fGU3RZ.jpg


zdZf8y8.jpg


QfpzJVl.jpg


Tim

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  • 2 weeks later...

Stan finished the Bofors 40mm for my PT-191, he also sprayed Green 3 on to the hull today – and painted the 3-D printed .30-caliber “stinger” but that photo didn’t come out that clear. Stan also painted the warheads of the Mark XIII torpedoes. Here are some photos:

http://i.imgur.com/JIdus5H.jpg[/img]

http://i.imgur.com/tLhn9nv.jpg[/img]

http://i.imgur.com/gYTjA3i.jpg[/img]

Tim

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  • 2 weeks later...

A little update on my Merit 1:48 early-war Elco as PT-191: Stan made a little more progress on my 191. He glued the .30-cal "Stinger" on the deck. He glued it too forward though. I'll email him later and ask him to move it back and glue one leg of it to the torpedo rack ... he glued the 40mm on as well. He also glued the 3D printed mufflers on with the kit's dampener cables. They look good. Here's a photo of the .30-cal.

http://i.imgur.com/LG97GTs.jpg[/img]

Tim

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  • 1 month later...
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