Revell's PT Boat Kits In Plastic

The PT-117 & 167 Versions

The PT-117 Version

This version of the 109 by Revell is actually produced by Revell of Germany. The same sprues were used for this release. In fact, the only difference between this kit and the normal 109 kit is that the decal sheet has PT-117 instead of PT-109. There is something that I found interesting with this version of the kit. The stand for the model has PT-109 on it and a decal is provided to ‘correct’ this. Why didn’t they just use the stand that was used in the PT-190 release?

The PT-167 Release







This version of the venerable PT-109 kit depicted PT-167 of PT Squadron Ten. The boats of this squadron experimented with a particular camouflage measure known as the Adaptor Scheme. This measure was made up, generally, made up of a series of black or a shade of gray or a shade of green stripes, over a background which was generally white. It has also put forth that the background was pink or even a yellowish green. However, the safest choice would be the white as the background.

Whereas the PT-190 kit did not include the figure which represented John F. Kennedy, this kit did. But instead of representing Kennedy, it depicted Ensign Berlin, the skipper of PT-167. The instructions for this kit even showed a photo of a completed model in the Adaptor Scheme.



What is interesting about the photograph in the instructions is that it shows the bottom of the hull painted in bottom paint as opposed to the box-art that has the camouflage scheme carried over to the bottom. That is incorrect. This plastic for this kit was colored white. This kit had the same stand as the PT-190 which read “US NAVY TORPEDO BOAT”. That fact begs a question; if Revell used two different stands for three models, why couldn’t Revell of Germany use that “US NAVY TORPEDO BOAT” stand for its PT-117 kit instead making the modeler use a decal cover for its stand?



I have to comment about something concerning the figure that represents Lt. Kennedy and Ensign Berlin. A couple of months ago, I watched a series of instructional videos on You-Tube featuring a Japanese modeler about how he built a model of PT-109. One of the videos showcased how he painted the crew figures, and there was a close-up of the JFK figure as he was painting it.

I was simply amazed (and I have never really noticed it before as I never really had a reason to) at the level of detail on that figure. Its face actually looked like a young JFK and I was blown away by the fact that, once painted, one could actually make-out the aviator’s sunglasses JFK was known to wear. In fact, after I saw that video, I looked at the figure which Alex Johnson put on my rebuilt PT-171, and do you know what? It is Kennedy!