This is a model I started many years ago back in the 80’s when disco was dying and I was a young engineering student still in college. I hope to get this model painted after too many years of sitting idle while I ponder and make some progress on other model builds.

I thought a build journal is a good idea, while I am forced to wait 15 months (Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s pathetic healthcare system) for cataract surgery (unless I pay big bucks to have it done in a private clinic), since I cannot do fine scale work effectively. A good political dig always cheers me up.

This will be a tough reflection to write about something that was started in the 1980’s. I wish I had kept better build documentation back then, but as soon as I am able, this model after 40 years (can't believe I was that young when this build started) is finally going to be painted so I can reflect on this build and continue to progress on a few others models (Perkasa, Mr Darby, Egrete, Type XXIII U-Boat...) I have been working building since then.

Years ago I lived in Vancouver (God’s Country!) B.C. for about ten months when I was in college doing a co-op term. I bought a Dumas American Enterprise to keep me busy while I lived in western Canada. On completion of this model I wanted to do something completely different that was less of a kit and closer to a scratch-build. It should be noted that I have built numerous scale boat models over the years. I always use these other models to divert and refocus, whenever I had issues with the PT boat model or any other build project.

My American Enterprise build got me hooked on model boat magazines. The magazine of choice for me was that classic American publication, Scale Ship Modeler and Scale Model Warship. I still have a shelf with these magazines, long out of publication but they are still awesome to glance through and re-read. When I got the January 1982 issue of Scale Ship from my news stand, I found a written article with plans to build a Higgins PT boat as well as an advertising write-up in their “Crows Nest” section about the “Big New PT Boat hull by Dynamic Models”. The PT boat appealed to me but I was never a fan of the Higgins, and wanted to do something closer to an Elco. This ad and that article hooked me on trying a military model, not knowing that this would turn into a major long-term build.

I ordered the 38 1/2” hull, fittings set and a full size plan from Dynamic for what now seems like a minuscule $130.40 US. At that time I was an unemployed and my parents thought this was an outrageous amount of money. I fondly remember the Canada Customs guy at the London Airport when I picked it up questioning me like I was taking delivery on a load of illegal cannabis from the US.

The hull also came with a catalogue that included several build articles by Art Bauer, one of which was to create this model from their hull. It also has a nice write-up to build the E. Phylis II from their 48” tug hull. I reference this article for a tug I have been building from an Orion hull I started a few years prior to the Covid 19 lock downs.

Their drawing was a good starting reference, even though it depicted features of an 80’ Elco on a 1/2” = 1’ scaled hull of a 77’ boat.

My inspiration for a late war Elco came from a photo taken from the May,1982 issue of Scale Ship Modeler, of a 1/32 scale late war Elco built by Alan D. Knox.

His detail is impressive, and predates the kit version of the PT 596 that has been released in the past 20 years by Italeri as a 1/35 scale plastic kit. I wanted a model that would reflect this level of detail also.

The hull went into a state of rest for many years. In the meantime, the May 1986 issue of Scale Ship Modeler had an article by Al Ross, "The Last of the PT Boats", that include three pages of drawings including plan views, elevations, and most major part details of the late war Elco PT 596. I am sure these published drawings by Al Ross were the ones that Italeri probably used to generate their 1/35 scale kit. As a new engineering student I really liked the weapons and details on these drawings compared to the detail on the Dynamic drawings. That’s when my build research began.

At this time I was working for a company that used AutoCAD as their primary design tool, so I decided to draw the model I wanted to build using this software. After many hours (thousands probably…this drawing has become absolutely huge over the years. I drew the assembly and details drawings in 1/24 (1/2” = 1’) scale for an 80’ late ware Elco, PT boat model with all parts and assembly details (many separate drawing sheets) based on Al Ross’s published drawings.

The goal was to scratch-build almost everything on this model. Every part on this boat is a mini-model in itself. I acquired many research books including U.S Small Combatants by Norman Freidman, Allied Coastal Forces by John Lambert and Al Ross and America PT Boats in World War II by Victor Chun are among the resource library I have acquired to create accurate orthographic (multiview) AutoCAD drawings to build this model.

AutoCAD until recently was an effective tool for doing the fabrication details for my models. For the past 20 years I have been a tech design teacher at the high school level promoting AutoCAD as a design tools to all of my students, many of whom have pursued careers in Architecture and Engineering

After dealing with students during Covid-19 I decided to retire in 2021, losing my teacher's access to Autodesks software. The subscription fees Autodesk puts on their software is pretty ridiculous, especially for a retired educator ($710.00 CDN /year). Autodesk should cut a deal for "hobbyists" like myself that have been faithful to their product for so many years. My collection of model boat drawings done in Autocad are now just drawings files that I cannot access or edit.

When I started to build, in order to maintain 1/24 scale for an eighty foot hull, the 38 ½” hull was too short and needed to be just under 40” long. From the hull drawing which I created using AutoCAD, I drew patterns for the hull extension and the stern plate. I cut out the rear of the hull and added an extension using 3/16” thick ply that added 1- 7/8” to the fiberglass hull and increased the stern plate angle to corresponded to Al Ross’s drawings. Cutting this hull was a tough decision to make since I thought I was about to screw up the nice fiberglass hull created by Dynamic Models that I had purchased.

The modification turned out great and after inner reinforcement with plywood, wood strips, 2 oz glass cloth and West Systems epoxy it turned out to be incredibly strong. I don’t think Art Bauer would object to what I did to the Dynamic fiberglass hull.

Sometimes when you make a change you have to go with your instincts. I did a similar hull cut-up on a tugboat a couple of years ago made by Orion Mouldings that went great as well and is another work in progress.

This PT’s hull will not be an exact scale Elco 80 footer, because the Dynamic hull has a 1/4” shallower hull rise at the stern, and a draft that is about 1/4” greater compared to a true Elco hull at this scale. The shallower hull rise should give it a really nice look on the water if I watch it’s weight. The height and angle of the new stern plate on my hull extension will also affected the placement of the stern mufflers on the back of the hull which will sit lower on the water line.

The next thing I did was to use Art Bauer’s guide from the Dynamic catalogue to create the deck support frame . I wanted to make the model so that the deck was arced from side to side and also arced downward in the bow section just like the original Elco boats. At a scale of ½” = 1’the lack of deck curve would be noticeable. Before making the cross frames I ran ¼” square strips around the top of the inside edge of the hull to reinforce the fiberglass structure.

I cut arched wood templates at each cross location based on my hull drawing and clamped ¼” square strips across the top of each. I slit the bottom of each strip and soaked them in water and ammonia for a day before clamping them to the templates. The cut slits on the underside of each cross member were later filled with a mixture of epoxy resin and micro-balloons after the deck frame work was complete. The cross frames were reinforced with corner gussets along the hull edge.

The deck frame has two removable access sections that were made following Dynamic’s guidelines. One to completely remove the three cabin sections, a second above the rudder where the 40mm bofors cannon will be located.

After the deck frame was complete spray rails were added to the hull’s outside at the waterline as well as rub rails along the top edge of the deck.

Two 3/16” drivelines were ordered from Dumas in Tucson AZ, along with the brass prop struts that suit the 1 ½” props for the 33” PT 109 kit that Dumas sells. Dumas had an option in their driveline kit on this model for a plastic or brass strut depending on what you wanted to pay. I was fortunate to buy these struts before Dumas stopped making the brass ones for their 33” PT boat. I have a 1/32 scale Perkasa with a pair of brass prop struts I ordered from Mack Models, but I like the quality of the Dumas cast struts far better. I setup the boat’s driveline to run two 1½” (38mm) Dumas three bladed props controlled with three rudders. Dumas later released this strut in a cast aluminum version which I recently bought for the Sterling Chris Craft Corvette that I have recently (Nov 2023) started to restore.

The rudders were made of from 1/32” thick brass sheet based on the original Elco drawings, They were oversized by about 40% to increase the steering control area. Three rudder posts and a post support were made and located to align with the two stuffing boxes with a third rudder on the hull’s keel line.

The two outside rudder were installed perpendicular to the slope on the hull bottom as per Al Ross’s published drawings of the PT 596. I am not sure of the effects this rudder orientation will have on the model, but I will see when I get it in the water.

Unlike Art Bauer’s build guide which used 1/8” ply for everything the deck was covered with 1/16” thick ply in multiple sections. The original curved foredeck ahead of the cabin plate was made to be removable so that additional hardware for rotating guns could easily be added later. That never happened on the final build, and this deck was later glued and the screw holes filled.

The centre cabins deck is removable in one section for easy access to two Graupner Speed 600 BB SP motors, the battery compartment and the control features. The removable rear deck for the 40mm Bofors cannon gives good access to the rudder linkage assembly and steering servo.

The middle (day) cabin deck of the main removable deck opening has a 1/8 x 3/16” raised coaming to allow the cabin to be removed for quick motor inspection and maintenance checks. Photos above show the removable decks before the opening for centre day (middle) cabin was cut away for the cabin’s coaming strips.

I built the front (chart house) and middle (day cabin) cabins next, based on my CAD drawings which I used as cutting templates for all parts. I overlooked a major feature on the day (middle) cabin, I did not arc the roof as per the Elco drawings. I regret not doing this but I will justify this decision based on the fact that this PT will only be “semi scale” when it’s done due to the geometry of the Dynamic hull.

Over the years I am sure I have made every part on this model at least twice except for the cabins. My build standards I guess have changed since the day cabin parts were fabricated.

The nice thing about accurate drawings is that individual parts can be printed as templates to accurately cut out on plastic, balsa or plywood sheet. The turret openings were based on a 2” diameter PVC pipe to get the required forward lean on the 50 cal turrets. All cabins were made of 1/16” ply. The chart house was carefully planned so I would have no problems fabricating window frames and possibly the forward window louvers later. The helm components went through numerous builds and rebuilds to get the appropriate detail for the model. Instrumentation was built from styrene sheet, although I’ve always wanted to try photo etching this detail. I modified the steering wheel that came with the Dynamic fittings kit to match an Elco wheel.

When detailing the chart house, out of haste, I ended up not making the louvres on the forward chart house window so they would open.