Hello James, it looks like your masking follows the "chine", the sharp edge where the hull sides meet the bottom. it should be below the chine at the bow and above the chine at the stern. On the 1/35 scale boat I built, this works out to about 1 1/4" below the chine at the bow, and 5/8" above at the stern. In 1/72 it would be roughly half of those dimensions, or about 5/8" and 5/16" respectively.
These are not exact measures and should not be taken as Gospel, but looked right to my eye. Hope this helps. Al

I know Al quite well. GREAT guy too. Was a member of W&W myself as well ... but I could not afford the renewal.

Al painted the figures for two of my PT boats ...

James,

Email me at [email protected] and I'll send you something as a guide that has the correct waterline on an Elco 80 footer.

Garth, emal incoming! Cheers, James

It is a small world, indeed.

Yes ... it is.

"Hello James, it looks like your masking follows the "chine", the sharp edge where the hull sides meet the bottom. it should be below the chine at the bow and above the chine at the stern. On the 1/35 scale boat I built, this works out to about 1 1/4" below the chine at the bow, and 5/8" above at the stern. In 1/72 it would be roughly half of those dimensions, or about 5/8" and 5/16" respectively.
These are not exact measures and should not be taken as Gospel, but looked right to my eye. Hope this helps. Al"

Indeed I was following the "chine".. thank you and Garth (and for the extra info).

Below are the lines and sections for an 80' ELCO and a profile drawing showning the design waterline (DWL). The normal waterline is WL 3 on the lines section. Note the shape of the waterline where it crosses the chine. It is a concave curve.





Al Ross

Dr. Ross,

Hi Al, thanks or posting those drawings sir, I tried to, but I'm not that computer literate in order to do that. Thank you.

I emailed the gentleman a similar drawing though. BUT it is always nice to have something in the thread.

Garth

Thanks again! I am redoing the masking today good timing!

hello Garth,
i have a few questions for you on my PT-109 build.
1)are the mufflers black or the hull color?
2)the hardware on the torpedo tubs painted a differant colors or are they are they painted deck color?(the hardware is brackets,aiming posts,etc).
thanks for your help.
cheers,
Bruce

Gunny was kind enough to share this image with me regarding PT boat muffllers (Small Craft GB)

hello James,
my instructions show them all black.all the photo's i have on PT Boats,half show them like your photo and the other half show them all one color.that is why i am confused and thought to ask our resident expert on PT Boats.
thanks for your help,info and photo.
cheers,
Bruce

Hello Bruce, Color call outs on some instruction sheets, especially older kits, should be taken with a grain of salt. They may not be the most accurate source of information. Photos are usually a better reference, but even they can be deceiving. Most of the photos I've seen show the mufflers painted the hull color above the water-line, and anti-fouling red below. Some tended to be very rusty, maintenance depended on the availability of spares, and time. PT squadrons were usually at the bottom of the supply line. I don't think any fittings on the torpedo tubes would be painted a different color than the tubes themselves. The roll-off racks were some times seen painted a different color than the boat. In one photo, one rack is even a different color than the other three. The Navy motto usually was If it didn't move, paint it gray (or green, in this case). Al

Hi, what he said. The tube hardware - the same color as the boat.

Garth

hello all,
@Al,
thanks for the info.i did not think that the bottom of the PT-Boats were painted with the red anti foul as they were made out of wood.i thought that the red anti foul was only used on the steel ships and that the PT's bottom were painted a gray or black color?
@Garth,
thanks for the info.when is your new book coming out?i would like to buy it.
cheers,
Bruce

Hello Bruce, Glad I could help out a little,looking forward to seeing some pictures of your build. Al