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Topic: PT BOAT WINDSHIELD |
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Frank J Andruss Sr
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Jun 8, 2010 - 10:42pm
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Here are a couple of close ups of the windshields. Notice the appearance of wavy Plexiglas. I would not be surprised if some of this was caused by a combination of heat, water, and those on the bridge leaning on the glass with elbows. This should give good detail for those modelers building them.
Frank
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Jeff D
Moderator
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Posted on: Jun 9, 2010 - 2:44am
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Thanks Frank, good shots of PT 154. They show the wear and tear Bridge mentioned and the light painted over.
The top image also shows something Bridge noticed and mentioned to me a few weeks back, the binnacle is offset to the port slightly. Dick's binnacle detail drawings give 1.625" although overall drawings like the deck arrangement show it centered.
Since it is redundant for the bridge I wonder if this compass is for use in the chart house when viewed through the hatch dead light? A chart house drawing for up to PT 367 show a 1" x 1.25" chart house hatch frame member running fore and aft goes through the center of the light that would block the view from inside with a centered binnacle. I tried to find any reference in the drawings that would differentiate the two binnacles such as "chart room binnacle" but couldn't find anything so this is just speculation. The binnacle detail drawing also shows the binnacle moved to the roof inside the chart room for PT 565-624 and 731-760 so the above makes sense to me.
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Drew Cook
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Jun 9, 2010 - 11:16am
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Here's a shot from Gene Kirkland's "PT King" website.
It illustrates the sagging/warping of the painted-over plexiglass windshields on the 80' Elcos in pretty much the same places every time. The famous (blurry and retouched) PT 109 "crew on the foredeck" photo shows something of a dip in 109's windshield's port side in the same place.
-- Drew
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Drew Cook
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Jun 9, 2010 - 2:15pm
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Thanks to Gene Kirkland for that photo of Les Gamble at the wheel of a mystery 80' Elco at Tulagi, and our webmaster Dick for posting it for us.
Gene has speculated that boat might possibly be PT 109 herself, due to the two nipple-like bumps on the charthouse with a wire protruding from each of them that can be seen -- maybe part of the experimental (and unsuccessful) PBY radar setup experiment the 109 briefly carried in her early, pre-JFK days.
Notice that the boat's charthouse binnacle has been removed also.
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David Waples
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Jun 12, 2010 - 8:54pm
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With respect to the nubs these do not appear on the 109 under JFK. But that doesn't mean it isn't the same boat. Great picture!
Dave
David Waples |
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Jeff D
Moderator
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Posted on: Jun 13, 2010 - 5:00am
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It appears it's a pre-PT 139 boat based on what looks like a brass grab rail stanchion.
I notice the front armor plate doesn't seem to have an arc cut out of the bottom for the chart house roof camber like the shots of the 107 on Gene's site show. Going by the drawing of the armor on Dick's DVD, I had trouble with fitting the armor until I saw the cutout (which the drawing doesn't show). You can see the cutout armor here: http://pt-king.gdinc.com/PTsquadronfive.html
It looks like one of my favorite sites just got better? I think Gene added some images.
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Drew Cook
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Jun 13, 2010 - 5:10pm
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Jeff,
I see what you mean about what appears to be a "cutout" at the lower edge of the windshield base above the charthouse overhead's camber in the 107 photos, but I'm not so sure it's not just illusory.
My two cents is the "cutout" is merely the straight edge of the base masked by the camber of the charthouse, making it look like the base has a cutout...?
Just a guess, but I think if those "nipples with wires" on the charthouse on that Les Gamble mystery boat were part of the 109's brief, primitive PBY radar experiment, they were either removed with the rest of the equipment (meaning the weird, fence-like antennas on the foredeck were still present when that photo was taken) or just left on briefly afterwards and removed later, as they were so small and unobtrusive.
All speculative, of course...
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Jeff D
Moderator
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Posted on: Jun 14, 2010 - 3:08am
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I dunno Drew, I've got to stick with a cutout at least on the early boats. A drawing note states that the armor rests on top of the chart house roof at the boat center line, and the early water tank access hatch edge binding strip is only 0.125" high so it shouldn't be the reason the armor looks cut out. A total guess would be that the windshield armor was shortened slightly to eliminate the work involved with a cutout...
Here's a closeup of one of Gene's images (hope you don't mind Gene):
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comcardiv1 |
New Member
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Posted on: Jun 14, 2010 - 8:23pm
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No sweat, guys--just glad to be of help.
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