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» Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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» Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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» Topic: A modelers blog with an Italeri build
http://www.ptboatforum.com/cgi-bin/MB2/netboardr.cgi?cid=101&fid=102&tid=1305




Thought I would pass o this very nice blog/Photo/Modeling page featuring the Elco 80 PT596 from Italeri. The owner built the kit and took so great close up shots at 1600 x 1200 pixels. The first link is the basic build and the second link is the finished painting and weathering completion - very nice job, great photos . . . The blog photos are clickable to view the super sized 1600 x 1200 pixels.

Please take a look.
Dick . . ..

[url]http://philmodel.blogspot.com/2009/02/elco-80-pt596-from-italeri.html[/url]

[url]http://philmodel.blogspot.com/2009/04/elco-80-pt-boat-completed.html[/url]





Posted By: Dick | Posted on: Apr 25, 2009 - 10:50pm
Total Posts: 1417 | Joined: Aug 27, 2006 - 6:36pm



Nice build.

Was a little put off by the orange life rings and white torpedo warheads, though...



Posted By: Drew Cook | Posted on: Apr 26, 2009 - 6:03pm
Total Posts: 1306 | Joined: Oct 19, 2006 - 10:44am



I AGREE, IT'S A NICE BUILD, BUT MY PET PEEVE IS THE TORPEDO POSITIONS IN THE RACKS. CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG. I THOUGHT THAT THE RUDDERS WERE MOUNTED VERTICALLY AND THE ELEVATORS , HORIZONTALLY SO THAT THE GYROSCOPES WOULD HAVE SOME SORT OF BASE ALIGNMENT BEFORE STARTING. ALSO, THE MK. 8 EXPLODER WAS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE WARHEAD.
MAYBE I'M GETTING GROUCHY IN MY OLDER YEARS?



Steve Tuhy

Posted By: Steve Tuhy | Posted on: Apr 27, 2009 - 9:43am
Total Posts: 114 | Joined: Oct 17, 2006 - 5:41am



Drew,

I agree with you 110% ......


Nice build.

Was a little put off by the orange life rings and white torpedo warheads, though...






Posted By: TGConnelly | Posted on: Apr 27, 2009 - 1:30pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered



Hi Steve and Garth,
Yes I agree with you both. The Mark 4 Contact Exploder (By the way Steve its a Mark 4 and not a Mark 8 I have photos showing the mark) IS Indeed mounted on the bottom of the Warhead. And painting the warhead white? WTF? Definitely not orange "Bulls Eye" color for the Life Rings either. One mitigating circumstance, is that the Italeri kit sort of molded the torpedo bodies wrong. They made it so the exploder mechanism is not on the centerline of the bottom but off to the left side. So if you want to be completely accurate you should orient the exploder mechanism straight down when building the kit, but if you do, then the fins will be slanted. So you have to choose between two evils. The fins should be vertical as the torpedo sits in the rack. The torpedo sort of just slides sideways off the rack and does not roll very much. (With the help of greased skids)
This vertical orientation is needed for two reasons, first the torpedo starting lever must be located on the top surface of the torpedo just forward of the top vertical rudder. It must be this way to be accessable for the crewman to start the torpedo engine before launch. Second: the torpedo has a 12 pound lead weight internal to the warhead on the bottom of the torpedo just aft of the exploder mechanism. This helps to keep it right side up so all of the control surfaces work properly. Also the gyro and depth control mechanisms are mounted on the bottom and their weight contributes to keeping the bottom side down. The depth control mechanism will be unable to control depth if the control surfaces are slanted sideways. Same for the rudders. They must be verical or the gyro wont have any control over the direction the torpedo runs. OK so there you go. Jerry

Here is a photo of the Mark 4 exploder, you can read the name "Exploder" then under that word it says "Mk 4-1".
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/ExploderMk4.jpg[/image]

Jerry Gilmartin

Posted By: Jerry Gilmartin | Posted on: Apr 30, 2009 - 9:00pm
Total Posts: 1469 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 11:16pm



Thanks Jerry

I have never paid attention to the fins and exploder orientation before.
About how to correct the exploder position in the torpedo's kit another way is to fill with puty and rescribe a new one in the correct position (exploder straight down and fins vertically)



Posted By: Gustavo Martinez | Posted on: May 1, 2009 - 4:59am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered



Hello again Steveand Gustavo,
I did some further research in the Mark 13 Torpedo Tech manual and found the Mark 4-1 Exploder mechanism works together with two other parts, the threaded "Detonator Assembly" and the Copper Enclosed Booster Mechanism. The "Detonator Assembly" comes in two Marks: Mark 7 and Mark 8 They differ by how fast they arm the torpedo by different thread pitches on the detonator holder. The Detonator contains Guncotton and Fulminate of Mercury in both Marks. Then the Booster assembly is Tetryl explosive (2 oz) contained and shaped inside of a copper container (about the size of a can of vienna sausage) which completely encloses the extended Detonator assembly. So you were still partially correct in referring to it as a "Mark 8". Gustavo, thanks for you suggestion of how to modify the torpedoes to be accurate. I am not sure I have a steady enough hand to do freehand engraving on the plastic torpedo bodies. But that is a good idea. Thanks for the idea.

Jerry Gilmartin

Posted By: Jerry Gilmartin | Posted on: May 1, 2009 - 5:02pm
Total Posts: 1469 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 11:16pm



This video shows what appears to be a Higgins boat launching torpedoes, like Jerry said they mostly slide off:

[url]http://www.navytv.org/channel.cfm?s=52&c=150[/url]




Posted By: Jeff D | Posted on: May 2, 2009 - 12:50am
Total Posts: 2200 | Joined: Dec 21, 2006 - 1:30am



Looking at the torpedos in my kit I've decided to just cut the warheads off with a track saw rotate them to the correct orientation & glue them back in position. I'll add a spacer made from sheet styren to make up the small amount of plastic that was lost by cutting with the saw. I have a panel scriber, but probably like most only use it in extreme cases. Although I haven't done it yet, looking at it the cut & rotate seems a much better way to fix it.
Just my $.02.
Blake

Posted By: Blake | Posted on: May 2, 2009 - 10:59pm
Total Posts: 61 | Joined: Apr 18, 2008 - 2:44pm



Blake
Your way to fix the problem looks easier, normally rescribe convex surfaces is dificult.
At the moment I 'm searching for pics , refereferences and try to decide what PT must build .
I 'll consider your way in the future , thanks !



Posted By: Gustavo Martinez | Posted on: May 3, 2009 - 5:42am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered