Hey, Shipmates,

I was on the WEM web site and they have the Italeri crew figures up for pre-order with an anticipated release date of September 2008. Italeri has the same pic of the group but no date is mentioned there. Looks like the wait is coming to a close finally.

I am sure that will be a decent set. Italarie is not known for making exceptional figures, but there seems to be a large dearth in Naval figures in 35th scale, so any would be welcome. I am sure some of them can be added to the LCVP or LSV kits they put out earlier

This may not be news, but Warriors has released some figures for the Italeri PT Boat. Their first was a bridge crew set of two figures, the Boat Captain and a coxswain. There are also four gunners. One is for the 37mm, one is for the 20mm, and two are for the .50cals. The 37mm gunner looks good, but I don't care for the pose of the 20mm gunner. He is leaning way back, with all of his weight supported by his grip on the two handles of the gun. It looks awkward and impractical. The original heavy 20mm mount used on early PT's had a waist strap to support the gunner when firing at a high angle. I don't believe the tripod type did, it was intended more for ship to ship rather than AA. The two .50cal gunners are different from each other. The position of their arms varies, and one has rolled sleeves, the other does not. I inadvertantly posted this on the armor forum(since deleted) originally. Warriors also has a three figure set for the LCVP that could be used on the PT. The Italeri PT Crew will undoubtably be cheaper in the long run, but it is hard for an injection molded figure to compare to a resin one in detail. As usual it comes down to your budget and/or preference. You can see them on the Squadron Shop website. P.S. I don't work for Warriors or the Squadron Shop. P.P.S. I believe it was Verlinden that made a set of four half figures for the Italeri Amtracs. They were wearing life jackets and could also be adapted by adding legs and/or using Hornet's USN heads. I did that for an Amtrac diorama that I did a few years ago. (I don't work for them either!) Al

The tripod was made for reduced weight, not any type of different action. Some versions were cut down, including those on PTs, but there were an awful lot of the tripods on some late-war essexes, and they weren't meant for ship to ship!

Hi Tracy, What I meant was that the height of the tripod used on PT boats, not on a Carrier, is low. The gun is about waist high on a gunner. To fire upward the gunner would be leaning forward, not back. Some of the 20mm cannon used on the tripod had two forward- curved handles extending upward so the gun could be used for high-angle firing more easily. The original heavy mount usually seen on the stern, could be raised or lowered by using a hand-wheel. You see gunners using these mounts leaning back when firing. Al

Those Warrior figures sure are great looking, but at $12-13 a pop, it wold be pretty price prohibative to outfit your boat; as a minimum you would probably want 8 or so. I know Trumpeter makes a 3 man set for the LCM (haven't seen up close) hopefully the Italerie are at least at this level and offer 6 to 10 figures in the set.

Of course ths is a moot point with me as even though I think the boat is marvelous, I would want an earlier version with less armament then is presently offered.

Hi Steve, Be patient. The way Italeri laid out the main deck, there are many flashed over holes to be drilled out, and there are un-used decklights that are hidden by the 40mm mount. These decklights would be exposed on an early war boat. This indicates that they probably will release any early Elco. Most companies want to get their money's worth out of a set of molds. You may have to wait a few years though. Al

its not like I don't have some 60 to 70 kits in the stash. I'm still waiting for PE releases (reasonably priced that is) for the Nagato and Richelieu. I also want to get a couple of Kenny's mask sets one for the Alabama the other for the hornet. I have the PE and wood deck on back order for the Kongo, and still need to order the PE for the San Francisco. and that is just the SHIPS!! I have all sorts of tanks and figures to make dioramas and just plain builds.

Hi Al
Your right about the decklights on the Italeri kit when I backdated my PT174 I used the hidden decklights & some of the unholed holes for the new parts of my build.
Even if they sometime release an earlier version I probably will by just to see how accurate I was with my build.
Any way we can keep hoping .
As for the figures as far as I've managed to find out they should be available sometime soon.

Hello all, I bit the bullet and purchased four of Warrior's PT crew. I got the two-figure, Bridge crew set, and two of the gunners(37mm & .50cal). I must say that for the money, I am a little disappointed by them. They are better than the figures that come with Italeri's LCM,or the Maiale, both of which I have. But they are not as nice as some I've seen. My biggest gripe is with the pour stubs. They are located in some spots that makes removing them difficult. For example, one is in the middle of the back of a life jacket. The 37mm gunner comes with his two hands molded to the grip assembly of the gun. This helps to align his hands, if you haven't already assembled the gun(as I have). Not a big deal, but I don't like having to cut up an already finished and painted assembly. The .50 cal. gunner has his arms molded to his body, with just his hands as separate pieces. This makes it impossible to use him anywhere else without some major surgery. The Boat Captain is nice but I decided to replace his head with another I had. The helmsman has a snap-hook with a folding knife hanging from his belt, this a nice touch, but it is pretty much hidden from sight. When I built my PT, I didn't glue the ship's wheel, letting it rotate. This allowed me to line it up with the helmsman's hands. Having been spoiled by the better detail of resin figures, I decided not to wait on Italeri's plastic ones. Maybe I should have. Al

Hello Shaun, you did a very nice job on your PT, I liked it a lot. It was an incredible amount of work to back-date it like you did, I wouldn't have tried it! Al