Revell 1/72 Elco 80' PT Boat PT-117
Of the numerous types of PT (Patrol, Torpedo) boats used by the US Navy during World War 2, one of the most successful and certainly the most famous is the 80-foot type built by Elco (originally "Electric Launch Company").
These mahogany-built, 50-ton boats were powered by three Packard 12-cylinder engines giving them a maximum speed of 44 knots. They had around 15 crew, the exact number depending on the armament carried.
Though originally intended for torpedo attacks on enemy surface warships - and employed in this manner in several battles, with varied success - the PT boats were most effective in the Pacific campaign in the role of coastal patrol, and were particularly successful
at intercepting Japanese supply + troop transport barges. Three squadrons (two in the Channel/North Sea and one in the Mediterranean) also operated in the European theatre alongside Royal Navy MTBs
In addition to the four torpedo tubes (usually replaced by roll-off racks later in the war, to save weight) the gun armament of Elco 80' boats consisted of two twin .50 calibre machinegun mounts and a single
20mm Oerlikon gun. This was augmented with heavier weapons as the war progressed and many boat crews equipped their craft with surplus Army or Air Force weapons such as the 37mm Oldsmobile M4 automatic cannon, designed
for the P-39 fighter aircraft. Italeri's 1/35 kit of a late-war Elco has a formidable armament of a 40mm, 37mm and 20mm gun, two twin .50 calibre MGs, and two eight-barrel rocket launchers in addition to the standard 4 torpedoes!
Late-war boats were also usually equipped with radar - particularly useful for night operations - and replaced or supplemented their single "Carley float" raft with a small wooden rowing boat.
The most famous Elco PT boat of all is certainly PT-109, commanded by the future US president John F. Kennedy. It's no surprise that Revell chose PT-109 as the subject for their 1/72 scale plastic kit!
Revell's PT boat kit has been around since the early 1960s, and many of today's ship modellers, especially in the USA, no doubt have nostalgic memories of building it when younger! (It wasn't Revell's first PT boat kit, though; that was the
Higgins 78' PT-212, in about 1/100 scale). The kit is most commonly issued as PT-109, though it has also appeared as PT-117, -167 and -190. All are identical kits apart from PT-190 which apparently had open torpedo racks
instead of tubes. Currently, the kit is issued by Revell-Monogram in the US as PT-109 and by Revell Germany as PT-117. The latter boat had a fairly undistinguished career and was sunk by air attack in 1942.
Although the kit is nowhere near present standards of detail and moulding quality, the kit is surprisingly good for its age, and Revell's kit designers obviously put a lot of effort into producing a good kit within the limitations of 1960s moulding technology
Overall, it's quite an accurate representation of an Elco 80' PT boat "as built" with torpedo tubes, MG and 20mm armament. There are a few issues such as the far too prominent deck plank lines, and many details suffer from being moulded as part of the deck or superstructure
- the handrails, deck rails and cleats, and air horn, for example. These could be scraped off and replaced with scratchbuilt parts (the rails are easy to make from brass/copper wire). The .50 calibre machineguns are awful, and best replaced
with spares-box or aftermarket aircraft guns using the flash hiders from the kit parts. Other areas of the kit are quite good - such as the bridge interior detail, cowl vents, and 20mm gun - and 3 quite realistically moulded crew figures are included, along with a half-figure
gunner. I believe one of the figures (probably the one with the cap) is meant to represent Kennedy.
Basically, with a bit of cleanup and scratchbuilding work, and maybe a few basic aftermarket parts (such as replacement .50 calibre MGs) Revell's kit will produce a detailed and accurate model of an early/mid-war Elco 80' PT boat. With more work, and suitable reference
material, it has a huge amount of conversion potential! However, it is a great shame that there isn't a "new-tool" kit of an Elco PT boat available.
It's also worth noting that the kit isn't totally accurate for PT-109 as sunk; it had a number of modifications from the basic configuration, most notably a 37mm army anti-tank gun mounted on the forward deck. It's not too hard to modify the kit to represent PT-109 accurately
(a 1/72 37mm gun is available from Hasegawa packaged with their Jeep kit, and probably from other military vehicle kit manufacturers).
A highly recommended reference book for Elco PT boats is "Allied Coastal Forces: Volume II" by John Lambert and Al Ross (this book also covers Vosper-built MTBs).
