History:

The Electric boat company (or ELCO for short) was responsible for building the larger of the two common PT (Patrol Torpedo) boats built during WW11, Higgins being the other manufacturer. From the start the Elco design, originally a British Vosper designed hull measured 80 feet long, by just over 20 feet wide, weighing in at 51 tons, and capable of an impressive 41 knots. PT boats were powered by three Packard 1500 hp engines. Crew consisted of 2 officers and 9 enlisted men. By the end of WW11 a total of 326 boats had been built with the Elco hull and throughout the war these had been upgraded and modified due to combat experience.

Tasked at the beginning of the conflict as a torpedo boat, PT’s ended the war mostly as heavily armed gunboats, engaging troop carrying barges and other lighter enemy craft, although they retained their torpedoes until the end of hostilities. History has proven that they made a huge difference in the Pacific theatre, especially at those times when larger warships were not available in enough numbers.

The Kit:

In the past we have been fortunate enough to have two versions of the ELCO PT boat in display model form; Revell’s offering in 1/72nd scale, and Matchbox in the larger 1/32nd scale. Of the two, Revell’s was more accurate but the kit dates back to the 1960’s and suffers from all the molding process issues that we commonly see from that era, molded in details for the most part. That version is an earlier PT, commonly released as the famous PT 109, JFK’s boat which was destroyed during the war. Rumors abounded that Accurate Miniatures were going to produce a version in 1/48th, but we never did see it. For those interested in building a good size PT boat it was exciting news to hear that Italeri were going to produce a new tool boat in 1/35th scale.

This release is of the final production version of the ELCO design, and models PT 596. This is probably the only weak point in the kit historically, since PT boats had dozens of modifications and armament options, and it ties the modeler to one specific boat. That aside, the model would build up to correctly represent the most heavily armed version, including (for the first time), a 40mm Bofors cannon, something modelers have been asking for years.

As in most kits there are problem areas that need to be addressed and we see once again Italeri’s trademark push out pin marks and sink marks. I feel in this day and age, they could be avoided. For the most part though, build up is fairly simple and most of the work is devoted to careful cleanup of more than 300 parts.

Getting the model in the first place was somewhat of an adventure since the box is huge. Now I knew the dimensions before I actually got the kit, but it still did not prepare me for the first sight of the box. The kind friend who got this for me actually had to struggle with two of these monsters so this one’s for you bud.

All the parts are nicely laid out on 5 trees, with the hull being cast as one piece and separated in the box in its own space. Also included are a PE fret, a clear sheet for the windows and searchlight lens, all the cable and string you need, and the inclusion of turned metal gun barrels for the 37mm and the Bofors 40mm. The 37mm is of course the same version used by the Aircobra. It’s an impressive bunch of bits to look at.

I decided almost right away to build it although I had no idea of what I was getting myself into.

Assembly

Right from the start it was obvious that unlike most other builds this one would have to be painted separately in modules. This is not unlike most ship builds, but for the most part, I don’t build ships.

The hull being in one piece was easy to prepare since only the mold lines needed to be cleaned up. The sheer size of the hull presented a problem when painting and I decided to go with a rattle can base coat. This caused an unforeseen problem later, but more on that as we go on. The colors for the measure 32 scheme are well documented and so it was a surprise to find out that Italeri’s color call out for the main colors are wrong. Michael Benolkin’s build article on cybermodeller.com is a good reference for those wanting to stay fairly close to the original but it’s your model, paint it whatever color you see fit. For me I wanted to represent a brand new boat and was going for the ‘museum display’ kind of finish, so there’s no weathering on this baby. Aside from the main colors there is very little reference made to the colors of individual components (i.e. the 40mm Bofors). It seemed to me that most of what was bolted onto the deck would come from sublet manufacturers - Buick and Oldsmobile for some of the weaponry for example. Wartime color matches were approximate at best, so this would be the loophole through which I would dodge for the effect that I wanted.

So Tamiya’s rattle can in XF 65 was used for the base color on the lower hull and set aside. Next came the deck with holes needing to be drilled out for almost everything that would later mount to the deck. I say almost since the ammunition ready lockers came with no holes and there were at least two pre drilled holes that needed to be filled. At this stage you need to decide whether you want the rear post with the convoy light to be mounted since if you mount the 40mm with the barrel to the rear, it will interfere with its traverse.

PE deck screens are supplied for the windows to below. Some conversation has been made of the fact that the inside of the hull should be painted black from the start since you may be able to see into the empty spaces through those windows. I would argue that although I did paint mine, those windows are pretty small. The larger side windows would show more but even then I doubt whether you would see anything. The deck windows were filled with Mr. Surfacer 500 and sanded smooth. At this time I was also building the deck house and bridge, and putting together the large array of weaponry and equipment.

For the most part this kit is all about subassemblies and careful clean up. I found lots of additional room was needed to store the completed assemblies. Some additional work was needed to clean up joints on the sides of the bridge and careful consideration was needed when deciding whether to do the bridge instruments first or later, I decided later to avoid over spray etc. During the constant fitting, I found two holes just behind the left bridge wing that needed to be filled. Early on, it became apparent that the very basic structure would have to go on first, with everything else being added later. That sounds easy but with everything painted it becomes a challenge but that’s partially what the hobby is all about isn’t it?

Some custom paint mixes would end up staying around much longer than originally anticipated since touch ups were needed right up until the very end.

When mounting the deck buildings I needed longer clamps than usual to clear the deck. Even then I had to fill gaps with white glue and carefully touch up the paint. The deck constantly flexes, making keeping it harder to keep everything together.

As everything was gradually being added, the whole project started to take shape and take on its own personality. I hard masked the camouflage on the lower hull and much to my surprise and chagrin some of the base color peeled. Here I found the problem with the base color itself. I had intended to use Tamiya XF 65 as the base color for all, but found that the rattle can was different from the jar. When viewed together you can really see the difference. But since the deck separates the two, it’s not as noticeable. When it came to repairing the areas that peeled it was apparent that this would not work, and so some of the paint was de-canned, mixed with Testors’ thinner and airbrushed.

The hull was Futured where needed by brush and the decals added. Here I was worried that Italeri’s decals would silver, but they worked out fine. Decals were sealed with Future.

Because of the windows, I had sealed most subassemblies with Testors’ dull coat before adding them to the deck, but some still needed to be sealed. I also had to be careful with the touch ups. Rather than use the supplied glass for the small deck windows, I filled them with Krystal Klear.

There are deck fittings and mounting plates that hide the screws but care should be taken to avoid adding the torpedo racks too early since they will cover the screw holes before you’ve screwed the parts together. I ended up flowing Tamiya thin cement into the joint between the hull and deck just to make sure it bonded.

With the boat basically complete, I had to take great care moving it around, especially since my room is small enough that I can’t easily move around IT. At this point much of the smaller stuff was added, such as the exhausts which couldn’t be added because of decals on the rear of the hull. The lower hull color was sprayed on the exhausts first and the upper colors brushed on as necessary. Here some fit problems were uncounted with the exhaust silencer actuators which didn’t fit very well. Patience and some time and they were okay though.

With everything on the hull complete the last parts were added on the deck. Detailing the 50 cal gun turrets and various antennas was done last.

At this point I stood back and within the confines of my model room, I thought “holy smokes, this thing is big.” It easily dominates all around it. And with the various shades of greens and it’s very prominent torpedoes (all that brass) it looks every bit the part of an ELCO 80 ft PT boat.

Cybermodeller.com’s Michael Benolkin called this kit of the year. If that’s based on sheer size and appeal then perhaps. If that’s meant to be about the quality of the kit then sorry but I don’t agree. There are some problem areas that would be difficult to fix, lots of unexpected cleanup, push out pin marks in areas that could have been avoided, and sink marks that add to the build time. That aside those who like me just love the look of a PT boat will go through whatever it takes to get this done.

Italeri should be commended for taking on a project of this size. There’s also news that a German S boat is on the horizon. I can’t wait. It’ll be a full 8 inches longer than my PT, and loaded with lots of details, it’ll be an entirely different of boat indeed.