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ť Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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ť Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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ť Topic: RON 33 BOATS
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In deciding to do the USS OYSTER BAY for the main subject Ship in the new upcoming Diorama, I also decided to represent Ron 33 in honor of RAY WILBUR. One of the 1/72 boats will be Ray's 495. I have photos of her, but now need 2 more boats from that Squadron. If you have any photos of PT's 488-492, or 493, 494, 496, 497 would you please share them with me. I need to know how they were set up for armament. Thanks in advance...........

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Sep 6, 2010 - 6:42am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Hi Frank,
So you know Ducati has a whole bunch of photos of these same boats right? Here is a link to Ducatis photos [url]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-11/65524/1840703[/url]

Here is one that I have but you probably already havve seen it before!
Jerry PT658 Portland

NESTED RON33 BOATS
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/PT4909195nested.jpg[/image]

Jerry Gilmartin

Posted By: Jerry Gilmartin | Posted on: Sep 6, 2010 - 11:02am
Total Posts: 1473 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 11:16pm

Thanks Jerry. I do have that one and it looks as though Ihe other boats will be 490 and 491 to go along with Ray Wilbur's 495. At the moment I am collecting as much information and photos for Stan. Thanks to Carl, who will be sending me blue-prints for the Oyster Bay that end of things will be wrapped up soon............

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Sep 6, 2010 - 1:00pm
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Frank, do you have a specific time frame or location for your new diorama?

Posted By: ducati650 | Posted on: Sep 7, 2010 - 4:40am
Total Posts: 450 | Joined: Feb 19, 2007 - 10:01am

Because this project is in honor of RAY WILBUR who served on PT-495, we must keep it within his time frame of service...............

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Sep 7, 2010 - 6:03am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Point well taken. My 495 model is pretty accurate (with a couple of small exceptions) and fairly represenative of the other boats you are looking at building. The photo above is a wealth of information. I have it in photo format and observations with magnafication reveal some differences between the boats. Because i have posted so many photos of the 495, I will use it as a reference point when picking out details for the others.

Posted By: ducati650 | Posted on: Sep 7, 2010 - 8:13am
Total Posts: 450 | Joined: Feb 19, 2007 - 10:01am

Some great work:
[url]http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/carlomaha/Model%20-%20PT%20Boat%20Tender%20AGP/[/url]

Posted By: ducati650 | Posted on: Sep 7, 2010 - 1:00pm
Total Posts: 450 | Joined: Feb 19, 2007 - 10:01am

This is great! I'm calling him tonight to let him know about this.

Ray

Posted By: Ray Wilbur | Posted on: Sep 7, 2010 - 1:32pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered

Cool Ray. Tell him i said hello and think of him often.
i've sent Frank a lot of photos and as much detail information as i can. This is very exciting.

Posted By: ducati650 | Posted on: Sep 7, 2010 - 5:03pm
Total Posts: 450 | Joined: Feb 19, 2007 - 10:01am

Ed and others, thanks for the photos. I should be getting the blue prints for the USS OYSTER BAY soon. The real cost is all of those darn cannon's and extra weapons PT-495, 490 & 491 had on her decks. I may cover up a few with tarps and come up with something underneath to simulate cannon's. This is going to be an expensive project, but well worth it in the end..........

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Sep 8, 2010 - 3:32am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Frank, would a few donations help?

Ray

Posted By: Ray Wilbur | Posted on: Sep 8, 2010 - 9:12am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered

Ray, donations would be a welcome site. I have put together my Mosquito Fleet Exhibit donation letters and just picked them up. I will be sending them out on Thursday. The true cost of this project is having Stan scratch build the USS OYSTER BAY. At 60 inches in lenth, she will certainly be a sight to behold, and with PT-495, 490, and 491 next to her, people will get the true feeling of what the boats looked like next to ships of the line. If you have any folks that might be interested in helping me, just send me the address's and I will forward them a letter. Thank You very Much...........

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Sep 8, 2010 - 11:29am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Thanks to Carl Musselman I have all of the blue prints needed to have Stan build our USS Oyster Bay/Ray Wilbur project. Now all we need is money...............

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Sep 14, 2010 - 10:50am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Frank, glad to hear you're honoring Ron 33 with your tender diorama. I have all my Uncle's Ron 33 pictures from Layte Gulf & have scanned & sent them out on disc to a few people. I've been going to put them on photobucket in an album, but just have never gotten to it. Some of the pictures are damaged from surviving a house fire & my goal has been to get them retouched & restored as much as possible before I post them, however after working 8-10 hours a day retouching & color correcting photos at work I'm very rarely in the mood to do it when I get home.
That said I'll just go ahead & post them as they are when I get home tonight.
When his daughter called me & told me she found them I had huge high hopes, and while I enjoy very much what they are, I wish some of them were better & in better condition. One neat thing he did do was to take close up cockpit shots of some of their boats which show the boat names & kill markings. I'm currently building my Italeri kit as the 488 Little Joe & while it appears in his pictures, it's frustrating that the photos aren't better. Hopefully you can get some use out of them.
Also if you'll e-mail me your address I'll put a CD of the photos in the mail to you, so you'll have them if you ever need to reference them.
Blake-

Posted By: Blake | Posted on: Sep 14, 2010 - 11:06am
Total Posts: 61 | Joined: Apr 18, 2008 - 2:44pm

Blake thanks very much for your kind offer. You can never have enough reference photos in your Library. E-Mail has been sent to you............

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Sep 14, 2010 - 12:49pm
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Blake, I would be pleased to add your photos to my Ron 33 photo album site.

Posted By: ducati650 | Posted on: Sep 15, 2010 - 4:58am
Total Posts: 450 | Joined: Feb 19, 2007 - 10:01am

Hello, All!

I'm back in the swing of finishing up my 1/350 scale USS Oyster Bay and Ron 33 at Leyte Gulf in Nov 1944 diorama.

When I last left off, I had one PT Boat (PT-490) done with eight unfinished or not started. Each boat model requires removal of some molded-in features, the drilling out of deck hatches where they will be portrayed as open.

Then there is creating and attaching the gun mount circle bases and cleaning up, modifying, and attaching the 20mm and 37mm guns and the assembly of the resin and photo-etched 40mm guns for each boat. I am adding ammo ready storage boxes, and engine room vent assemblies that I had to create myself and have a friend cast mutliple copies of, in resin. And then there are the photo-etched rails around the .50 cal turrets and the photo-etched mufflers on the stern.

Each boat will have a varying assortment of supplies, laundry, tents, etc. on the decks, as well. This is why I have been putting this off for time for when I'm back in the mood. I'm really not in the perfect mood, now, but I want to get this done.

Another thing on my mind is that Victor Chun asked me for photos of the Oyster Bay model to put in his newest PT Boat book. I'd love for that to happen but, not of my incomplete model and diorama. Maybe I can get enough boats done and complete the ship, herself, for something to submit to Victor.

[image]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/carlomaha/Model%20-%20PT%20Boat%20Tender%20AGP/P1090922.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/carlomaha/Model%20-%20PT%20Boats/P1090918.jpg[/image]

It was my pleasure to provide the plans of the Oyster Bay class of tenders to Frank for his 1/72 scale endeavor.

I, too, have the same dilemma as Frank in that I don't know how to arrange the various armaments and equipment (mostly torpedoes, depth charges, and smoke generators) on the individual boats of the squadron.

I want to identify each boat, in my dio, with their numbers but, I feel that I really can't if the number doesn't match the configuration.

I don't need to know PT-493's configuration for I am omitting it from my diorama because it was lost on Oct 25, 1944. No offense, but it's just one less boat to make.

I am going to follow ducati650's PT-495 model for that boat in my dio and PT-490 had two DCs and one smoke generator on the stern but, that's about all that I can confirm, at this time.

Blake,

Can you confirm the torpedo, depth charge, and smoke generator arrangement on the PT-488 since you are building a model of it?

Also, have you uploaded your photos online or given any to ducati650 to post on his web site? I'm hoping there are new and vaulable shots that I have seen, yet.

Posted By: Carl M | Posted on: Oct 3, 2010 - 11:52am
Total Posts: 79 | Joined: Jan 12, 2010 - 1:15pm

Carl
So nice to see that you are back in the saddle again and working on this wonderful project. The photo's and the Bl;ue Prints you sent to me have been very helpful, and should provide Stanley with everything he needs to make the USS OYSTER BAY. Again, it all depends on funding, but to see this Tender at close to 60 inches in lenth , should be wonderful. Thanks to Frank Ryczek who again has come through for me. He wil provide all of the 1/72 figures we would need for the project.

We will be using only three of the Ron 33 boats as any more just might cause this project to become way to large. Ray Wilbur's boat plus two others, should make this project a real winner. If any of you have any other photos to share please contact me by E-Mail. I will be happy to get them................

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Oct 3, 2010 - 4:09pm
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Carl;
As is a later RON and RON 33 is well documented, I am sure PTBOATS HQ has the photos you are looking for, remember, since all boats involved in Surigao Strait sortied up from New Guinea, they did not have any real time to change weapons mounts or armorment packages, so It would be correct to say you have a window, give or take a month.
take care,
TED

Thanks for the tip, Ted. I'm not familiar with " PT Boas HQ ". Is that a web site? If so, where?

Ahoy Carl.

There's a link at the top of this forum on the extreme left side of the page that will take you to PT Boats HQ.

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: Oct 3, 2010 - 9:21pm
Total Posts: 494 | Joined: Jun 24, 2008 - 5:59pm

Carl;
As is a later RON and RON 33 is well documented, I am sure PTBOATS HQ has the photos you are looking for, remember, since all boats involved in Surigao Strait sortied up from New Guinea, they did not have any real time to change weapons mounts or armorment packages, so It would be correct to say you have a window, give or take a month.
take care,
TED

Thanks for the tip, Ted. I'm not familiar with " PT Boas HQ ". Is that a web site? If so, where?

Ahoy Carl.

There's a link at the top of this forum on the extreme left side of the page that will take you to PT Boats HQ.

Cheers from Peter

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

Thanks Guys,

But, I don't see any pics, there, for the Ron 33 boats for any time frame.

Posted By: Carl M | Posted on: Oct 4, 2010 - 5:56am
Total Posts: 79 | Joined: Jan 12, 2010 - 1:15pm

Carl;
As Peter said, there is a link on this page, PT HQ is located in Germantown, TN, and you will find the mailing address within this site. when I was there in 1997, they had about 10,000 photos, (filed by Boat number, RON, Manufacturers photos, Tender, and Base) I am sure they have many more photos by now.
Good Luck,
TED

Oh, okay. So PT HQ is a physical place with photo archives. Thanks.

Now I'm wondering if others, like Blake, ducati650, or Frank Andruss, have asked them for the same thing on Ron 33, or the Oyster Bay.

Posted By: Carl M | Posted on: Oct 4, 2010 - 6:18am
Total Posts: 79 | Joined: Jan 12, 2010 - 1:15pm

Carl & Ed, Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your questions about the Ron 33 photos I have. Life has just been very full of life lately & I haven't been able to visit the message board more than just a few times in 3 or 4 months. Carl to answer your question, no I haven't contacted PT HQ about any possible Ron 33 photos, especially PT 488....It's one of those things I have always been going to do, but just haven't. Ed I appreciate your offer to put my pics up on photobucket, but I already had a few there, so I (finally) just added the rest tonight. The album is:
PT Boats Ron 33 Howard E Herling Leyte Gulf
Carl, there are a few of the 488, but not near as many as I'd like, nor are they as clear as I'd like, but you take what the past will give you. Maybe you can glean something useful from them. Again, sorry for such a delay, if you have any questions, let me know & I'll try to answer with what I know.
Blake-

Posted By: Blake | Posted on: Oct 5, 2010 - 10:34pm
Total Posts: 61 | Joined: Apr 18, 2008 - 2:44pm

Carl & Ed, Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your questions about the Ron 33 photos I have. Life has just been very full of life lately & I haven't been able to visit the message board more than just a few times in 3 or 4 months. Carl to answer your question, no I haven't contacted PT HQ about any possible Ron 33 photos, especially PT 488....It's one of those things I have always been going to do, but just haven't. Ed I appreciate your offer to put my pics up on photobucket, but I already had a few there, so I (finally) just added the rest tonight. The album is:
PT Boats Ron 33 Howard E Herling Leyte Gulf
Carl, there are a few of the 488, but not near as many as I'd like, nor are they as clear as I'd like, but you take what the past will give you. Maybe you can glean something useful from them. Again, sorry for such a delay, if you have any questions, let me know & I'll try to answer with what I know.
Blake-

Blake,

Thanks for responding and posting all of your photos! I am, however, having troubles finding your album on photobucket.com. Is you album posted as "public" like mine?

Can you copy and paste the URL in a message, here?

Posted By: Carl M | Posted on: Oct 6, 2010 - 5:46am
Total Posts: 79 | Joined: Jan 12, 2010 - 1:15pm

There just doesn't seem to be very many photos floating around when dealing with the Tenders. This morning I spoke to the son whose dad served on the USS Varuna. He has his Dad's photo's from his time spent, but mostly crewmember shots. I have seen little in the way of deck shots, machine shops, working on the boats. Just not many were around. I had contacted Alyce about tender shots when I was working on my second book, "PT BOATS behind the Scenes. She had little..................

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Oct 6, 2010 - 7:31am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am