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» Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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» Topic:
Attn. Modelers: Royal Models
http://www.ptboatforum.com/cgi-bin/MB2/netboardr.cgi?cid=101&fid=102&tid=1279
An Italian aftermarket manufacturer has released some interesting dockside items for the Italeri kit: http://www.royalmodel.com/
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/G%20R%20Powell/RoyalModels.jpg[/image]
G R Powell
Posted By: G R Powell | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 6:02am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered
Thanks for bringing that to our attention, they offer some awesome items. I love the dock system you can get for the PT Boats, plus the dock parts. It really makes me want to have an earlier boat built docked. Great stuff, thanks again.............
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 6:22am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am
My friend Jerry has been working with these guys at Royal for a long time. Here are some photos that they sent to him a while back. Royal sells diorama kits and this one is broken up into 9 different kits so you can pick out what you want and don't. Their big set is 68 Euros which includes photoetch and resin pieces. Jerry and I received ours about a month ago and the work is excellent.
Royal is distributed in the US by http://www.Squadron.com. However they don't list it yet. I'm not sure if they're going to carry it or not. If you're interested you might write them and ask. You can buy from Royal direct.
Also in Europe making parts for this boat is U-Models. They produce some upgrade and diorama parts for the boat. They are available only in Europe from a couple of companies but I found Blast Models to be very good.
Here is the complete set of photos that they sent us.
[IMAGE]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/David_Waples/11.jpg[/IMAGE]
[IMAGE]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/David_Waples/14.jpg[/IMAGE]
[IMAGE]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/David_Waples/34.jpg[/IMAGE]
[IMAGE]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/David_Waples/38.jpg[/IMAGE]
[IMAGE]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/David_Waples/4.jpg[/IMAGE]
[IMAGE]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/David_Waples/7.jpg[/IMAGE]
[IMAGE]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/David_Waples/CoverPT-boat.jpg[/IMAGE]
David Waples
Posted By: David Waples | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 6:56am
Total Posts: 1679 | Joined: Jan 2, 2007 - 9:55pm
David, what an awesome Diorama in 1/35 scale. It must be pretty large. Oh would I love to have that for the Exhibit. I am now thinking of purchasing the dock set up and several other items, although room is such a factor in my home. I have many models that take up large amounts of space. As it is I have artifacts all over the house. If I find a place to put the darn thing, I will have one done. For now, I just want to add some men to my already built Italeri Model.
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 9:32am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am
He does awesome work. The gentleman who did this specializes in armor dioramas. You can see that influence spilling into his work. We asked him if he would be interested in doing some additional items but he informed us that this was it and he's already moved past this. The diorama was done over a year ago and has been featured in some European modeling magazines.
Dave
David Waples
Posted By: David Waples | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 9:57am
Total Posts: 1679 | Joined: Jan 2, 2007 - 9:55pm
Hi David-
I'm still trying to scrape my bottom jaw off the rug! Excuse me!! Man that Royal Model stuff is really neat! Have you an address or a web site address you can share here??
Frank Ryczek, Jr.
Modeler/Friend RON-10 PT-169 " ZEBRA SNAFU "
HIGH TIDES ALWAYS!
YOUR FRIEND THROUGH SCALE SHIP MODELING AND PT BOAT HISTORY!
Posted By: FRANK | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 11:18am
Total Posts: 349 | Joined: Oct 7, 2007 - 2:09pm
Actually, GR Powel listed it at the begining of this thread.
http://www.royalmodel.com
You can buy directly from them.
Again you may want to check with the folks at Squadron to see if they will be carrying these items. Their web site is
http://www.squadron.com
Dave
David Waples
Posted By: David Waples | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 12:34pm
Total Posts: 1679 | Joined: Jan 2, 2007 - 9:55pm
I was wondering if any of you have purchased the Italeri Kit of Crew members for PT 596. It is readily available, but all seem to have on their life jackets. Is this a good purchase for the boat. Seems more crew members are coing out, with beter detail, but expensive as well. I would love to see a photo here of the crew members from Italeri completed.
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 1:41pm
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am
Frank A.-
I have seen the Italeri PT crew figures in my local hobby shop! They are quite expensive, but you have to remember, they have the corner on the market. I think there are a dozen figures for $40.00 including tax. For the money I decided against them. I would much rather go the extra yard and convert them myself. I bought a bag of 1/32 -1/35 scale figures in the dollar store for 50-60 in a bag for a buck. First thing I do is chop them all apart- at the neck, torso, knees, arms and so on. Using small lenghts of brass wire I then pick out from the pile of pieces the pose that I want to replicate. I use Squadron green putty and fill in all the seams, then coat the entire figure with a Future floor polish. Future is a very hard liquid plastic that covers the figure and strengthens it as well. I then prime the figure and paint with artist oils.
I have also seen other "white metal" figures as well lately in the Squadron catalogs. They look great put then again the price is way the heck up there like $25.00 for two figures?? Wayyyy out of my league!!
I'll keep knocking out my "custom" figures! For someone on a tight modeling budget, it's the only way to go!!
Frank Ryczek, Jr.
Modeler/Friend RON-10 PT-169 " ZEBRA SNAFU "
HIGH TIDES ALWAYS!
YOUR FRIEND THROUGH SCALE SHIP MODELING AND PT BOAT HISTORY!
Posted By: FRANK | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 5:17pm
Total Posts: 349 | Joined: Oct 7, 2007 - 2:09pm
Over that past several months I’ve become acquainted with Roberto Reale of Royal Model in Italy. I should tell you right from the start he’s an armor guy, but I don’t think we should hold that against him, because not only is he a superb modeler and diorama maker, but has focused his considerable talent into production of a number of new items for the 596 Boat. As Dave mentioned we really wanted him to consider building some other items like the SO Radar Antenna and Mast. Also wanted to see him make a crew like we see in many of the photos of Pacific Boats – a bunch of lean, wiry 19-20 year olds that look a bit underfed and don’t seem to have a complete uniform among them. These older types, fully dressed in dungarees, steel pots and life jackets might be alright for the Atlantic, but the guys in the Pacific according to pictures and accounts I’ve read didn’t always seem to conform to the regs and Uniform of the Day wasn’t necessarily what you might run across at a rear base somewhere. Although Roberto is a modeler at heart, he is still a businessman and by necessity in the current ecomomy has moved on to other projects. Dave and I each got one of the main 596 sets and the Elco 80’ and Harbor Accessories. Also couldn’t resist the sailor scrubbing the deck. We seemed to do a lot of that when I was in the Navy and I felt I could relate to that guy. Although there are a few similarities, Roberto has modeled bits and pieces that weren’t covered in either the Eduard or Lion Roar upgrades, and if you are fortunate enough to have all three sets to work from, the amount of detail you can add is seemingly endless.
Roberto has been wonderful to work with and as a modeling community I think we are lucky to have people like him giving us such high quality After Market kits. Didn’t get the dock kit with the first order but I think I may have to pick one up. With our combined order Royal picked up the freight costs and it arrived at the front door in about a week, beautifully packed and packaged. The one thing I will say is this has some of the smallest PE pieces that I personally have ever worked with, and extreme care must be exercised to avoid feeding the carpet monster. I did have a couple of jumpers that were even difficult to locate on my tile floor.
The Elco add-ons for Royal Models are beautifully made and come highly recommended at least by me.Jerry
Jerry Beasley
Posted By: Jerry Beasley | Posted on: Apr 5, 2009 - 8:13pm
Total Posts: 89 | Joined: Jan 9, 2008 - 4:27pm
Frank
You can obtain that kit of 10 Crewmembers made by Italeri right on EBAY for roughly $25.00 to $30.00. I would not pay $40.00. I would love to see how they look painted up. I am not sure if anyone on the message board has purchased them or not, but if anyone has, send us a shot of them painted.
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 3:36am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am
those figures and acessories from Royal, would look nice in a RON 29 Bastia diorama, or a RON 34 or 35 England diorama, but what really hit me is they would really, really look nice in a 1944-45(or with alot more work on the boat, earlier) RON 4 Melville diorama! Any ideas on this one?
Take care,
TED
Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 5:30am
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am
I would love to have a diorama made using the Italeri Boat. I think I would like to do the MTBSTC finger pier, but the dock being sold is much different than anything they had at Melville. It would be a great project, but the size is the key here. At the moment, I am having the Elco Crane beng built as a diorama, launching a PT BOAT into the basin. I really wanted to do this using the Italeri Boat, but heck my builder siad at that scle it would be massive and tough to move around. We opted for the 1/72 scale, which will still be nice. I think I might purchase a few of the PT Boat Crew they offer, and put them on my already built 596. If I had a permanant place for my Exhibit, I would probably do one in 1/35th.
I still would like to see a shot of the Italeri Crew that someone has completed. I wish they would have given the option to use life jackets or not.............
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 5:41am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am
Hey Frank A.-
Is there any snowball's chance in hell that the fella who is building the PT lift crane has the scale plans for making one of those contrapsions??
I can't wait to see the one that he's building finished!!
If those plans are available, how can we modelers get a set of them??
Thanks again Frank-
Frank Ryczek, Jr.
Modeler/Friend RON-10 PT-169 "ZEBRA SNAFU "
HIGH TIDES ALWAYS!
YOUR FRIEND THROUGH SCALE SHIP MODELING AND PT BOAT HISTORY!
Posted By: FRANK | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 8:47am
Total Posts: 349 | Joined: Oct 7, 2007 - 2:09pm
Frank;
If you want a finger pier like the ones at Melville, it would have to be made from scratch out of basswood or balsa planking and wood dowels. it should not be larger than 30" X 40" and at this size you could actually have two boats one on each side of the finger pier. maybe preparing to get underway for a training mission(this would work good for earlier or later than 1944), or that war bond tour to Chicago( this would be good if you just want later series boats).
Talk to you later,
TED
Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 10:15am
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am
Hey Ted-
At 30" X 40" in size, Ted, approx. what scale are we talking about here? I'm thinking 1/35th! Am I correct in that assumption??
A diorama of the Bayonne facility launching a boat from the cradle would be a knockout! But like ol' Frank A. says-"Where do you store something that huge. My present diorama has run the gammit, and right now it it stored in my garage on a custom rack system. it comes together like a huge zig-saw puzzle.
Thanks for sharing Ted!
Frank Ryczek, Jr.
Modeler/Friend RON-10 PT-169 " ZEBRA SNAFU "
HIGH TIDES ALWAYS!
YOUR FRIEND THROUGH SCALE SHIP MODELING AND PT BOAT HISTORY!
Posted By: FRANK | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 11:56am
Total Posts: 349 | Joined: Oct 7, 2007 - 2:09pm
You are correct I am talking about a 1/35th diorama. That isn't so big.
Take care,
TED
Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 12:37pm
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am
Frank
Tons of research went into getting the correct size of the Crane. My friend, Andy has lived in Bayonne, New Jersey all his life. He worked at the Elco site towards the end of the war and beyond. His home is up on a hill which over-looked the Elco Naval Division. As you know, I visited the site in 1998, and took many photos of Building 21 and the Crane. Problem was no design plans or blue-prints existed on the Crane itself, and Bergen Point Iron Works. who built the Crane was long out of business.
Andy, took many photo's of the Elco Crane for me, at it's present site, and was also there when it was being re-assiembled. He took many measurements for me, and talked with who he could that knew anything about the old Crane. Between Andy's measurements, and Stan's (the one building the Crane) measurements and research, we know the exact size of the Crane the way she sits. You would of course, have to scale those measurements down to the size you would want to built her. As we are doing a 1/72 scale Crane, the measurements are correct in scale to the Elco boat in her cradle.
When all is said and done, I can give you the exact size of the Crane. We do know that she was 60 Feet at her highest point, and that she was painted OD Green during the War. There is much more, but I would need time to type it all out. When we get a bit furthur into the build, I will post some shots here.
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 12:46pm
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am
Ahoy there Frank A.-
A million thanks comin' atcha, buddy! I'd love to see the model finished. My brain gears are spinning right now due to the fact that Ted said the over size would be 30 " x 40" total for the crane in 1/35th scale. That's doable for me and I can find room on a ceiling rigged shelf in my garage if I have to!
One question does come to my mind though!!! Were these cranes ever errected in the South Pacific?? Did any of these cranes see action? I know there were cranes on FEMU's and Mary Ann class salvage units in the South Pacific but what about these monsters? How about it, Frank?? What's your take on this????
Thanks for the help and advise, always!!!!
Frank Ryczek, Jr.
Modeler/Friend RON -10 PT-169 " ZEBRA SNAFU "
HIGH TIDES ALWAYS!
YOUR FRIEND THROUGH SCALE SHIP MODELING AND PT BOAT HISTORY!
Posted By: FRANK | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 4:33pm
Total Posts: 349 | Joined: Oct 7, 2007 - 2:09pm
Hi David, G.R.Powell and Jerry,
I saw those fantastic pictures of the 1/35 scale PT diorama posted on
message board. How can I contact Royal Model or the builder Roberto
Reale direct via email? I might able to give them some publicity through my book. I already tried www.royalmodel.com/ to no avail. Help!!!!!!
Victor
Victor K Chun
Posted By: victorkchun | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 8:53pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered
Frank
No this Crane was a one of a kind deal, made in New Jersey. It would not have been practical to have something this large built, as the boats were always on the move. Even Base 17, the largest PT BOAT BASE ever built would have had anything like this Crane.I have pictures of Elco using the Crane for their pleausre craft as well.. I have posted photos of the present Crane on he board here before..........
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 7, 2009 - 9:08pm
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am
Frank R.
When I said 30" x 40" I was talking about a Melville RON 4 diorama with two 1/35th scale boats.
Now if we are talking about Frank A.'s ELCO crane in 1/35th scale, The diorama base would have to be large enough to have the boat, water, a section of pier/bulkhead, the cranes pad/base etc. a 30"x40" diorama of this would look too junky and confused. A diorama of this would have to be no smaller than 3'x4' and even still I feel the crane would over power it.
Just off the top of my head, a 60' crane in 1/35th would have to be aleast 25"- 28" tall, and probably 10"-15" wide. and deep.
got to go for now.
later,
TED
Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Apr 8, 2009 - 5:14am
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am
Ted
You are pretty close. I think if memory serves me correctly, the highest point of the Crane at 1/35 scale would roughly be 33 to 35 inches in height and 20 x 15 for the Crane Base. Add the boat, concrete roadway, part of the pier and the basin, and you have a pretty large project. Not to mention the case you would need to build to protect it from dust, and you have a pretty awkward diorama.
I can just picture me lugging that around to an Exhibit. Impresive, yes, practical, not really. As I said in an earlier post, if I had a permanant home for the Exhibit, I would have Stan or Alex build it for me. It would no doubt be awesome..........
Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 8, 2009 - 6:22am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am
Victor,
Email me at jgbeas@comcast.net and I will send you Roberto's email address.
Jerry
Jerry Beasley
Posted By: Jerry Beasley | Posted on: Apr 14, 2009 - 7:49pm
Total Posts: 89 | Joined: Jan 9, 2008 - 4:27pm