Erik Wauters' Modelpages

Revell 1/72 Torpedoboat PT-117


This is the old PT-109 kit with PT-117 decals, still a fun kit to build despite it's age.



Major assembly has been done here, parts are in grey primer ready for painting




After a long pause, I finally got back to this project, starting with preshading with black enamels (update 15 april '04)




I've continued painting the hull and deck in gray as per instructions, but it seems a bit dark for battleship grey,
but I will leave it as it is, can't find good colour references anyway, so I will see how it turns out.
The gray was lightened with white for postshading, maybe I will give it another coat with more white (update mai 14, '04)



I was not happy with the dark color so I gave it another coat with more white mixed in the gray, lost some of the preshading effect but I'm more happy with the result (update mai 15, '04)



I laid a coat of klir/future glosscoat and put the decals on as per instructions, but after finding a photo on the internet of PT-117 it seems to be completely wrong. NEVER trust the instructions ! Ok, it's too late now and for me this is a hobby so I will now focus on finishing it instead of making things worse. (update mai 20, '04)



Underside of hull still has to be painted in red oxide primer.

I've started masking the waterline with Tamiya masking tape.

At the bow masking gets difficult: you have to maintain a straight line on a rounded surface.

To do this you have to cut up the 10 mm masking tape in a small line of 2 of 3 mm because this is easier to bend, you cannot bend tape that is 10 mm thick. Next you mask of the upper side of the boat with more masking tape and some newspaper.





Painting done with Revell 37 (brick red), let dry for 15 minutes then remove masking tape carefully (update mai 23, '04)







Major painting done, next will be taking care of painting smaller parts and final finishing, so stay tuned ...



I made a new display stand from scrap wood and painted it black and gold, the stand from the kit has PT-109 inscription and can't be used for PT-117. Still have to put the decal on here. (update june 4, '04)





More details added and painted, I didn't have good colour references so I had to guess here and there. (update june 10, '04)





I added the flag and some wires and antenna made from stretched sprue, then I weathered the model lightly with a dark oil wash and then drybrushed with lightgrey to make the details come out followed by a flatcoat. Finally I painted the windows with tamiya smoke (gloss).





I'm very happy with this model because I combined pre- and postshading, oil washes and drybrushing and this makes the model come to life when used in a balanced way. (finished june 14, '04)





PS : On May 17th 2005 I got this very nice mail :


Erik:

I must say sir, your PT-117 is quite good for a model that was built straight from the box. You should be very proud of yourself.

Regards,

T. Garth Connelly
Author of PT BOATS IN ACTION

http://www.ptboatworld.com

What an honor to get such comment from an In Action author !







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