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Topic: PT Modeling: Photo etch project update |
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TheBridge

TOP BOSS

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Posted on: Jul 13, 2014 - 10:41am
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Hi ALL,
Things are really coming along well with my photo etch project for the PT-157 model (1:32 scale). This is the second round of photo etch and the pieces are now extremely crisp & well defined...I am really excited about this. What you see you in this photo is one third of the parts from project. Due to the three base thicknesses of the brass plates used there are three sections of photo etch. Each plate also has parts that are 1/2 thickness per my CAD drawing.
Most exciting is that the parts were drawn to original dimensions, taken from the Dick Washichek blueprint collection, in my CAD system and then rescaled to match the PT-157 model.
The etch plates will provide the following:
• Frames for all of the oval windows, deck's dead lights and cross pieces (each cross piece is a separate piece and will be glued to the dead light frame)
* Bridge door window frame
* The bridge engine control panel (4 pieces in this item alone!)
* Combing brackets (around the engine hatch and turrets)
* Edging for the Day Cabin roof hatch
* 3 Hatch Covers and base plates
* Aft deck flag base
* 4- Engine hatch deck and 1- Day Cabin vent bases (I can't use these as I can't remove the ones I have from the model but I put them in the project anyway)
* 5- Vent collars for above
* Rear 20mm depression rail deck mount bases
* 3 - deck gas caps
* The various hatch handles and hinges for all outside hatches and Chart room door.
* Top layer of (deck) throttle housing (with its micro beading) plus the throttle housing joint plates (the joint plates include notches to match the top layer of the deck plate). These will really set off the details of this difficult element of the model.
Plus many items had hex bolts/hex heads. In the photo etch they are so small that even under a magnifying glass I can't tell if they are flat sided or not but they are there and add great detail to these nearly microscopic parts. What will be really unique is the deck light window frames will have slightly arched cross braces pieces, some of which you can see in this picture, to exactly match the look of the original resulting in dimensionally accurate deck lights.
P.S. The photo etched plate can sized to match any scale. The only consideration is the maximum thickness of brass plate as larger scales need larger thicknesses (to keep the scale of thickness) that the photo etch process can handle. Smaller scales and the brass etch plate may not be thin enough to duplicate the 'thickness' dimension. And some scales may be “between commercial brass plate thickness so it won't be exactly the right thickness...but really it would hardly be noticed and still bring incredible details.
P.S.S. My problem now is that my current job assignment is keeping me so busy (weekends too) that I don't know when I'll be able to start cutting the pieces apart and assemble them. I'll keep you advised on progress.
Bridge |
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Frank Andruss

TOP BOSS

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Posted on: Jul 14, 2014 - 1:36pm
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Looks great Bridge, and should be a real boost to PT-157 project..............
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Will Day

New Member
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Posted on: Jul 14, 2014 - 3:43pm
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Sweet!
Will |
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Jimmy

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Posted on: Jul 15, 2014 - 3:11am
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I have a question. There are some very small pieces in the top photo, just left of center and at the top of the bottom photo that appear to be handles (?). They are very much smaller than the sprue that holds them. How in the world do you cut them off, clean them up and generally work with something that small?
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TheBridge

TOP BOSS

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Posted on: Jul 15, 2014 - 8:02am
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Jimmy,
Good question! This is thin brass plate and will easily cut with a fresh X-Acto blade. The edge of the piece being cut loose is higher then the 'sprue' so I'll just followthe line of the piece several times until it cuts through.
I've worked with very small parts when fabricating some pieces of the PT-157 from styrene (see book "The PT-157: A Scale Model Builder's Notebook".
Bridge
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Drew Cook

TOP BOSS

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Posted on: Jul 25, 2014 - 6:45am
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Hey Bridge,
Since you did an incredible amount of beautifully detailed work on your scratch-built model of PT 157, as well as on your new brass photo-etch set, have you given any thought to doing any resin PT parts in either 1/35th or 1/72nd scale?
Your photo-etched parts got me to thinking about the White Ensign Models brass photo-etched parts for the Revell 1/72nd scale 80' Elco PT -- many of which are great for flat pieces, but aren't accurately representational of parts that were three-dimensional in reality (one instance being the bracing on the rears of the torpedo tube loading doors).
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TheBridge

TOP BOSS

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Posted on: Jul 25, 2014 - 8:13am
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Drew,
You're absolutely right on your points. I have been very surprised at the level of detail the photo etch pieces that are just not possible any other way. I also consider this in line with my 'scratch built' approach as most of these are details that flat styrene cannot accomplish regardless of ones personal skill level in cutting & gluing. (and I think you may have seen my somewhat maniacal striving for detail in the 'PT-157; A Scale Model Builder's Notebook'). Once assembled and put on a model, it will surprise many how some of the etch parts will appear very flat (or thin) although they are very, very close to the actual scale 'thin-ness'.
And obviously the resin approach would bring even more detail and save a lot of time. Especially one rounded parts! For the torpedo tube hatches, I made mine by hand and it took a bit more then a week (nearly full time) to figure out a process that would work and then get it right.
With photo etch and resin, the parts can be designed once and to absolute accuracy. The photo etch parts are length and width accurate but also 'thin-ness' accurate. Resin, constructed around the PT blueprints, will do the same in the bigger pieces. Maybe I'll get into that after the photo etch pieces are put on the 157 model.
Bridge |
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