Three years ago I built an Italeri Kit of P.T. 109 and fitted it with a 480 motor and ran it off a 7.4 Li Po.

I left the aft cabin detachable in order to change battery etc and the performance was very good with a speed of 8 knots on full power.

Though in general, the boat was more suited to calmer conditions, it look so realistic on the water.

Due to it being a plastic kit, I felt a bit guilty having built a model close to show standards without the time and effort of other model makers who had worked so hard with other materials to achieve the same outcome.

I would like to hear from other boat enthusiasts who had completed similar projects especially around power units and how they overcame difficulties in converting what is basically a static model into a working one.

Regards

Boaty 😊

I bought an italeri PT109 kit in 2011. it took 4 months to build as I had other projects on at the time.
I notices the high quality of the parts, especially the hull and the actual paint finish was very easy due to it being plastic and got the nearest colour match by using Humbrol spray acrylic of Grass Green with Regency Red acrylic for the waterline and below. Difficult decision was as to build as a triple screw to maintain scale or go for the single screw. I eventually went for the latter with just one rudder. Power was by a 480 brushed flight motor with a 30 amp esc which was a bit over the top as power was by a 2200mAh 2S Lipo but the esc was the only one they had in the shop. Getting the motor installed was very straight forward as it was done before the deck was fitted but I had to make the aft cabin detachable for access to taking the battery in and out and also lubricating the propshaft .The boat performed well at scale speed but got slightly out of shape when full power was applied, appearing more as a fast electric. Overall the boat was ideal for smaller ponds (providing it was not running flat out). The outcome was a well detailed model that appeared like the real thing on the water but I would not recommend sailing it in rough conditions..

Boaty😁