PT Gunboat PT-61 model construction

The Begining - a box (hull) of parts!

The photo below shows everything purchased from someone who bought in from someone... who bought it from the original buyer. The original buyer who paid $854.90 started the kit but all of the work had to be undone as it was either done incorrectly or of very poor quality. Even though it would have been better to start the kit from scratch I was able to recover most of the parts. Not a bad deal for $150.00.

The Construction Starts - Hull and Deck

One of the major problems with this kit was"quality." Many of the resin parts were of very poor quality, mis-matched mold seams, bubbles, warpage or distortion, chuncks missing, etc. Some of the parts were just plain wrong. Of all of the resin parts in the kit I was only able to use a few. The rest had to be made. The hardest parts to make were the upper part of the .50 MG tubs. The resin parts were too thick and did not have the rounded edge going around the rim. The cast metal prop struts were pretty bad as well. I made new ones out of copper and brass, turned on my lathe, and soldered.

The hull and deck were OK, but did require quite a bit of filling and sanding. There were no marks on the hull for the prop shafts and rudders so all of that had to be calculated, measured and marked. All were alligned with the shafts in place to allow free movement. (The shafts rotate on the outside of the hull as the stuffing boxes end where the shafts exit the hull.)

The next decision was where to make the cutot for access to the inside of the hull. I didn't want an ugly seam, so the main cutout follows around the inside of the structure. There is one cutout where the engine removal plate is located. There is a cutout near the transom for access to the rudder arms linkage. That removable plate's seams are quite disguised by the deck supports and a lip that is actually located on the deck. The only seam exposed is by the smoke generator and that is shor and narrow.

The following photos are ordered by date:

With the hull completed and all of the on deck parts added (except for the guns and structure) I made one additional item, a protector for the rudders, mufflers, and the (simulated) links for the exhaust deflectors. The mufflers themselves are pretty tough and have a good ankorage to the hull, but the linkage is on the fragile side. Thus I have added this removable Plexiglas cover held inplace by elastic cords/

Photo at the left was taken on May 1, 2016, at the regular meet of the Suncoast scale Model Boat Club. This was the third sailing of the boat.

The new "SO Type" radar mast (all scratch built) was added as well as additionial details, including the forward life raft loaded with canvas that would provide shade for the crew during the day. (PT boats mainly went on patrol at night.)

The boat is actually moving forward at a slow speed thanks to the Hobbywing ESC's.

May 29, 2016

Photo at the right shows the aft 40mm Bofors gun. This was completed and installed on November 10, 2016. A similar gun was added to the fore deck. Both guns were entirely scratch built. The tubing frames were made by soldering copper tubing. The barrels were turned wood (dowel). The guns recievers and other parts were made from styrene as were the seats, pedastals, and shield. The cranks were casted in resin. Note: The color is washed out due to the flash.

Let's move

March 5, 2017

Still not quite complete - the six dual 50 BMGs and more crew to be made and installed.

March 5, 2017 test run

OOPS! Thinking the model was done I uploaded it to the PT Boat Forum for comments. After a few responses I took another look at the original photos for the PT-59 & PT-60 (no closeup photo of the 61 boat are known to exist). I then proceeded to make corrections as follows:

Reduce the height of the six side mounted 50 caliber machine guns by .375 inch (7.5 inches real).

Add armor protection to the 50 caliber machine guns in the tubs..

Change the bridge armor from the PT059 style to the PT-60 style

Change the PT boat number "61" from white to black on the sides of the structure and add the number to the front of the structure.

Make new flags (ensign and jack) to conform with PT Boat regulation size of 2.7 feet by 4.5 feet.

Reduce the height of the rear 40mm Bofors gun base to be the same as the forward gun.

Move the radar set from the charthouse to the bridge behind the shield.

Repaint the crews's helmets gray insteat of O.D.

Not a change, but to be done: More "crew" members.

The model is essentially complete. All that remains is to add a few more crew members.
Information on the crew can be found under "The Crew's uniforms" tab.

As this point boat is essentially complete all subsequent photos will be under the "PT-61 Model Photos" tab on this web site.