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» Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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» Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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» Topic: looking for 80' Elco Interior info
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Can anyone direct me to any sources (photographic preferably) (internet, or printed) of what would/might be visible through 80' Elco open bow hatches, cockpit door, deck house roof hatch & rear hatch(engine room)?
I'm building Italeri's 1:35 Elco 80' in a dockside diorama with some of the hatches & doorways open. I'm also lighting the boat, but don't want to furnish the entire inside of the boat. I only want to model what would be visible in the immediate areas around the openings. I've looked through my copy of At Close Quarters & watched They were expendable backward & forward, but there's just not enough there.
I'm also debating on whether or not to model the inside of the Deck House? (the long roof between the cockpit & engine room vent), or frost the windows.
Knowing the layout of what was in that room would help me make that decision.
I've got a bunch of my Uncle's picture's of the Ron 33 boats he was on & around, but none show any interior detail.
I'm building the boat a s a Ron 33 boat(which boat, I haven't decided yet) & am going to incorporate a lot of his personal effects & photos into the diorama. This forum has been a lot of enjoyment & I'm always amazed at the knowledge here, so thought I'd through the question out.
I've hoped for the last 6 months to get all his pictures up here for viewing, but restoring the pictures has taken a back seat to life & I still haven't gotten it done.
Thanks to all in advance.
I almost forgot: do any of the PT veterans here remember if the 6 engine gauges in the cockpit above the ship's wheel were backlit (like modern car instruments), or were they top lit by an outside source?
Thanks
Blake

B-

Posted By: Blake | Posted on: Jan 16, 2009 - 2:59pm
Total Posts: 61 | Joined: Apr 18, 2008 - 2:44pm



Blake

i think the guy that's the webmaster here created a cutaway poster that the PT Boats organization sells here on their website check the link below : http://www.ptboats.org/08-0-05store-02-VIDEOS.html maybe that will help



Posted By: Hadly | Posted on: Jan 16, 2009 - 6:18pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered



Which boats were your uncle on? My Dad was on the 495. There's another member here (Ed Cascia) who modeled that boat too. He has a lot of pictures on here he took while he building it. Look for the 495 posts.

Ray


Posted By: Ray Wilbur | Posted on: Jan 17, 2009 - 9:12am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered



Hi there.

You should try and get one of Richard's 2008 calendars which featured many detailed drawings of the interior of the PT-103 Class of 80' Elco boats. They are utterly fantastic!

Cheers from Peter

"Give me a faster PT boat for I'd like to get out of harm's way!"

Posted By: PeterTareBuilder | Posted on: Jan 17, 2009 - 10:19pm
Total Posts: 494 | Joined: Jun 24, 2008 - 5:59pm



Blake

I sent you several photos of the inside of an 80 foot Elco. I don't know if you got them or not becaue you never responded to me.



Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Jan 18, 2009 - 5:23am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am



I spent many hours staring at those meters but am not sure of the answer. They were the radient green as though they were lighted with top mounted ultraviolet light. However , any such light must have been within each case. I doubt that they were backlighted since each needle was free-floating and there was no apparent light except for the needle itself.



Posted By: BobPic | Posted on: Jan 18, 2009 - 8:30am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered



Hi Blake,
Bill Maloney has a website where he went inside the PT617 they have in Fall River and posted lots of interior and exterior photos of tis Elco 80 foot PT Boat. You can go here [url]http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/PTBoat/index.htm[/url]
and then choose where you want to see photos of. Bills Dad was on a DE and his freind, Milt was a PT Boater. He has lots of really good pictures on there.

As far as the engine gages go, the one we have on the PT658 are not backlit, there is a small 24 vdc "black light/UV light" that shines on the phosphorescent dials and illuminates them at night. The gages are 3 for Manfold Pressure and 3 tachometers for engine RPM. I am pretty sure these gageboards were the same on Elco as the Higgins, they look pretty much the same since boat boats used the same engines and the gages kind of go with the engine setup.

Here is a picture that Charlie Jones posted to the Thread named "Elco Bridge" of one of the Elco boats used for training at Melville. It has some extra equipment added,m such as the Pelorus and the Flux Gate Master Indicator which is normally in the chart room. You can see that UV Light on an adjustable stand on the to the right of the Fluxgate compass indicator. It has the 24vdc power cord going to the light fixture and the colored lens. I hope these details help. Jerry

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/CharlieJones/ELCOBridge.jpg[/image]


Jerry Gilmartin

Posted By: Jerry Gilmartin | Posted on: Jan 18, 2009 - 10:53am
Total Posts: 1469 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 11:16pm