Page 1 of 4

1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 12:48 am
by capt midnight
Many years back I had one of the old Lindbergh PT boat kits that I had converted to radio control, and had started thinking about doing another one. As I was looking for a kit I came across the Italeri boat model. It is about 2 inches shorter than the Lindbergh, but a lot more detailed. It is offered in early and late war versions. I decided on the later version and dropped the cash. I also ordered a brass running gear set from a vendor on ebay.

Here's the eye candy...

First, the unboxing.
20190617_100757.jpg
20190617_100852.jpg
20190809_185559.jpg
20190809_185628.jpg
The parts are packed really well. Included are clear parts, rigging and ropes, a photo etched fret, and metal barrels for the 40mm Bofors and the forward 20mm. The one piece hull is a big advantage for the r/c version. The deck is one piece and attaches with screws. You have to kind of flex the hull to attach the deck, but this does give the slight bowed curvature to the deck.

More to come!

Bill

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 7:30 pm
by c.rainford73
Looking forward to this one Bill. Big fan of the PT boats

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:18 pm
by capt midnight
Thanks, Carl. I've always been a fan of the mosquito boats too. The Elco's were always my personal favorite. The Higgins boats just didn't strike me as much as the 80 foot Elco's did.

Here's a few shots of the running gear being installed...

The motors and stuffing tubes from inside the hull. The stuffing tubes have bearings installed where the shafts enter, as well as the oiling tubes already installed.
20190809_190346.jpg
Here's the underside.
20190809_190408.jpg
And a different angle.
20190707_135839.jpg
The deck is temporarily installed to check the positions for the rest of the electronics.
20190809_190322.jpg
Just a quick note on the running gear kit. All the pieces are really well made and assembled. All the machined surfaces are smooth and the fit on everything was just fantastic. It did arrive missing the stuffing tubes and control arms for the rudders, but after a couple of quick emails, the seller had replacement parts on their to me.

I also ordered a flexible push rod and some connectors for the rubbers, so I had a bit of a wait for these. I started on the deck fixtures, doing these up as sub assemblies.

Here's a picture of some of these stacked up, just to get an idea of the overall look.
20190712_133342.jpg
I ordered a couple of the Mk XIV torpedoes just to give it a different look. I had came across a couple of pictures of boats with these torpedoes and liked the look. One of the picture captions said that the crew had done some swapping with a passing submarine for the torps.

Here's the interior layout I came up with.
20190712_214357.jpg
Bill

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:15 am
by c.rainford73
Wow Bill the hardware looks fantastic really well made and clean. I see you have made a great bit of progress already! That one piece hull really makes a great difference.

Should be a spectacular runner

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:12 am
by capt midnight
Yeah, the running gear was extremely well made. I really had no complaints with it, other than it would have been nice to have a two armed control arm to make it easier to hook up the three rudders and the push rod. The props are held on with small grub screws as well as the control arms and motor couplings. I still have to file a flat on the shafts to make a better grab spot for the screws. I'm using thread lock on all the screws to hopefully avoid losing something.

The one piece hull is definitely a plus when doing the r/c conversion. Makes it SO much easier. I've been working on it for several days now, but just getting around to posting some pictures. It's not really going as fast as it looks!

I have tried the hull and engines in the tub a couple of times while I was waiting for the rudders. It really moves some water! Looks like it'll move along pretty good ones it gets loose on some big water. Right now I'm doing some more painting on the deck fixtures, and getting ready to paint the hull. It looks like it's going to cool off a bit this coming week, so I should be able to get out to a local lake and give the hull some proper sea trials.

More updates on the way!

Bill

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:25 am
by capt midnight
I'm kind of compressing these post to get caught up to current.

Got the rudder parts in, as well as the flex push rods. Here's the interior with the rudders installed.
Rudders installed
Rudders installed
The flex push rods just did not work out, so I had to go with plan B. Here's what I came up with. Seems to work pretty smooth, and as a plus, I managed to get full throw on the servo with no binding.
Final steering set up
Final steering set up
Here's the full interior.
Final overall layout
Final overall layout
And a closeup of the motors and wiring.
Close up of motors
Close up of motors
And started some painting...
crew
crew
torps
torps
And this brings us up to date. Further post will be a bit farther apart. :D

Bill

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:38 am
by lmcq11
Excellent. There is also a lot of potential for a crew in action display.
Making the Bofors mount rotate, elevate and fire with flash and sound would be amazing. There is likely a way to mount a tank control board to operate the boat and the bofors.

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 9:20 pm
by Son of a gun-ner
This is really really cool :thumbup:

Love the work you've done so far Bill :clap:

I've always had a thing for torpedo boats, had a couple in 72nd scale as a lad.

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:40 pm
by capt midnight
The crew figures I have are manning the weapons, so they should liven up the boat a bit. I've got a 4 channel radio for it so I did think about some motion for the 40mm. I might still do it before I close up the hull, just not sure.

I managed to paint some of the smaller sub assemblies today, and here's the results.
20190809_194243.jpg
20190809_194309.jpg
20190809_194347.jpg
20190809_194409.jpg
Not sure why, but the thumbnails are upside down, but when you click on them and enlarge them, they are right side up. :crazy:

This evening I might get some of the figures mounted to the guns.

Bill

Re: 1/35 Italeri PT boat build

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2019 5:07 pm
by capt midnight
Been getting some of the painting done, slowly but surely. Here's some shots of the progress...

Here's the barre deck. This is the first time I've tried to replicate faded paint using two different colors. Didn't think it turned out too bad.
Overall deck painted
Overall deck painted
Close up of cabins.
Close up of cabins.
And some with most of the deck fixtures temporarily attached.
20190725_162507.jpg
20190725_162525.jpg
20190725_162532.jpg
More to come!

Bill