Ahoy Shipmates! John F. Kennedy''s now famous PT-109 is available in all new tooling from Italeri!

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thanks Jeremy,

I look forward to seeing this kit.
The pt range from Italerie has been a great avenue to take in the way of model building .As an armour modeller I love the PT boat and Schnellboote. The PT109 will be on the must get list .Happy days

I agree, and I really like both of them in the larger scale as well. They are a bit on the expensive side, but I think they are worth it if you are a fan of either one of them.

I like that Italeri decided to do an earlier production series eighty-footer; but personally? I think that the 109 has been over done. There were other PTs of that class that saw service.

PT-174 would have been an interesting subject with a shielded 40mm on her foredeck (either the shielding and the 40mm she was seen with in the States, or the field mounted 40mm and shield she received in the combat zone)..

Any of the boats which mounted the SCR-517 radar, any of the RON 10 boats in the Adaptor scheme, or any of the early eighty-footers which had the MK.12 20mm mounting in one or both turrets.

So, as you can see, there were other - just as interesting as the 109 - PT boats which Italeri could have chosen.

Garth

I like that Italeri decided to do an earlier production series eighty-footer; but personally? I think that the 109 has been over done. There were other PTs of that class that saw service. [Quoted text]

If Italeri would consider releasing the weapons sprues from their previous PT-596 as a separate accessory set, it would be possible to model almost any of those boats. All we would need then is the radar(s). They could even release a third kit. By mixing and matching parts from the two existing kits they could release a kit of PT-328 for example. Al

You mean, like the 20mms, 40mm, 37mm and the MK. 50 rocket launchers?

I would have like to have seen them do the 556, 557, 558 or the 559, the four RON 29 boats which did an operational evaluation of the Elco Thunderbolt quad-20mm mount in stead of the 109.

Although, that said, one could use the new 109 kit as a basis to build the 139 boat - which was a testbed for that mount in the states.

I'd like to see WHITE ENSIGN or someone do a really good SO-Type (NOT the SO-3 Type in the 596 kit) radar in 1:35.

Garth

You mean, like the 20mms, 40mm, 37mm and the MK. 50 rocket launchers?[Quoted text]

That's exactly what I mean, not to mention the Mk. XIII torpedoes and their roll-off racks. There is a photo of PT-328 in the Squadron "in Action" book with the same weapons fit as the 596 boat. Al

Ah, I know that photo extremely well.

I would like to see someone out there, like WEM or AMP models, even EDUARD make a MK.12 mount for the 20mm gun in a PT's turret ...

Or, the Elco "Thunderbolt" mount ... the quad-20mm mount. I really feel that those two mounts would be welcomed by all of you modelers ...

Those and a SO-Type radar.

Garth

This is great feedback gentleman. These thoughts are what companies need to hear.

Well,

I'm just trying to help modelers - people who I like, guys like Al Bubnis here, Bob Cicconi too, and Keith Bender and others like them.

Garth

I have to agree that having extra parts to model other variations would be superb, we all know why the 109 is theselected boat. It is hands down the most famous one. Just the name John F. Kennedy's 109 guarantees 100's in sales. I have the 596 kit becasue this one didn't exist. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I do plan on doing a cahnge to it. Got old of some old style torpedoe tubes from the Lindberg kit and plan to substitute them , that and delet some of the fire power..

As you ARE (T.Garth) the expert, what all can I do? Garth what boats have this kind of setup?. I understand the cabin and gun mounts are different in the early boats like te 109. Did any of the later style have the old style tubes?

Me?

An expert? Certainly not - if you listen to some people out there in the modeling and PT communities, I just try to do my best to pass on what I know and what I've learned about PTs.

Some say that I get everything wrong ... so be it. However, I TRY my best to give you guys accurate information. Sadly, at times, I stumble along the path on the way to do that, but at least I try.

By the mid-point of 1943 and later, the boats of the first production series (103-196) began to lose the steel torpedo tubes in lieu of what Alex Johnson called Mark I roll-off racks and started to mount the 40mm Bofors, extra 20mms, extra .50s, .30s and the 37mm guns as well as beginning to get the SO-Type radar ...

The first of Italeri's 1/35th serie I will pass on. More interesting and with less "Cash in on the mold we already have" mentality models are available. With all respect to JFK, this is a model I will not be buying.
Julian

Not to sound like an experten/know-it-all type ... I tried to tell people the 109 would not sell. True, we did need a new Elco 103 Class boat, but why the 109?

Name brand recognition, that's why. Many people, who wouldn't know an Elco 80 footer from a hole in the wall, have heard of PT-109. Heck, Jimmy Dean even did a song about it (before he went on to make breakfast sausages that is). I have one friend who is interested in this release solely because it was Jack Kennedy's boat. No law says that it has to stay the 109 though. And it'll be easier to modify this one than to backdate the 596 as others have done. Al

True, true.

But, an Elco "Thunderbolt" mount equipped eighty-footer? Italeri could utilize some of the 596 kit's sprue trees, in lieu of creating a whole new kit ....

Something like that would PROBABLY be more of a seller than the 109 ... but, hey, what do I know?

Hi folks,

Not that interested in building 109 but as it stands layout wise would it be a good contender for PT 117?

I like the clean uncluttered lines of the early boats.

Cheers

Al

Indeed she did, sir. In the same light, the lead boat of the class would have been an excellent subject.

Garth

Hey guys, there is a hard back book out titled P.T. boats of W.W.2, can;t remember who wrote it though. Al, maybe you might remember the conversation and recall the writer? Anyway, in it is a whole bunch of B/W pics and some show the roll off racks. They don't look too hard to scratch build. That's where I'll go with mine. And in the back is a listing of all the P.T. types and the boat numbers and where they served along with boat nicknames. How accurate the list is I couldn't say, but the book is deffenatly worth checking out for P.T. info. And it's where I first saw a thunderbolt set up, never heard of it till I read the book.

Hey Garth, figured you'ld have your boat in your pics so I checked them out. Question, did the boat you built come with the roll off racks for the torpedos? If not, did you scratch them or A.M. them?

Al Ross

Hey Al, good deal, thanks alot. Will really make things easier and more acurate now. Had some pics but not as clear with the details as the line drawings.

Hi.

OK. That model, and I'm assuming my model of the 171? It was originally built in 1997 by Mr. Stan Pienkowski for me, as I can't build due to my Cerebral Palsy, and he scratchbuilt the roll-off racks and Mark XIII torpedoes.

After that, WEM released their fret, racks and torpedoes, and guns for that kit and I wanted to see how they'd look on a model, so, in 2005, I had my late and good friend Alex Johnson rebuild the model and correct it.

Not to sound like Howey Carr plugging my own books, but, soon I'll have a book relating to the Revell line of USN PTs, the 109 and 212 kits and their subsequent variants out in print. In it, various modelers, including Alex Johnson, tell how they used the 109/117 kits to do boats other than the 109.

In fact, one modeler; George Wojcicki, explains how he built a model of the 117 as she appeared during her acceptance trials off Bayonne, NJ.

I think the book COULD BE also used as a reference for the new Italeri 109 kit as the models in the book do depict "early" eighty-foot boats later in their lives. Plus, there is Wojcicki's 117 if you guys would want to do a factory fresh 103 Class boat, and Fritz Koopman did a model of the 109 which I, personally, think is very well made and extremely accurate.

Garth

Hey Garth, thanks for the info, will help and go a long way with the roll offs. Sorry to hear about your C.P. hope all works out for you. By the way, I checked out WEM and couldn't find it, my luck it's probably no longer available.

By the way, I checked out WEM and couldn't find it, my luck it's probably no longer available. [Quoted text]

Hey Bob, Don't know if you're aware of it but the WEM set is 1/72 scale, for the old Revell PT-109 kit. Al