Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone knew of some additional reference to these boats. I have Christopher Chant's "Small Craft Navies", and have found a handful of web pages, but none of them mention if this class of boats used the design of the Elco PT boats or if this is just a standard design for most torpedo boats. They're are both very simular in design and I've been thinking if it's possible, convert a PT to a Nasty for the Welcome To The Nam campaign. I think I would need to lengthen the hull, but I'm certain that I could get good advice on that here.

Any help would be most welcomed.

Steve

Thank you Jeff, I think they'll be a little more help.

Steve

You know, the more I read about them, the more I like them. A few of the Swifties have been talking about them and their missions into the North.

I think "Nasty" is an appropiate name.

Steve

A couple of the photos on Dan's website are mine, taken when we were in DaNang harbor to pick up charts before going up on North SAR. We were told NOT to take any photos of the Nastys, but...

That night we went out off DaNang and spent the night with one of them conducting simulated torpedo attacks on us, to condition us for possible attacks by North Vietnamese PTs when up on North SAR. I can still remember the very distinctive sound of those turbocharged diesels approaching in the darkness as they occasionally came alongside to exchange voice communications. Superb boats.

An unexpected daytime approach by another Nasty once nearly had us go to GQ and train out the guns and missiles, as we were escorting ENTERPRISE at the time.

Cheers,
John Snyder
Captain's Yeoman, USS BAINBRIDGE (DLGN-25)
1966-70
The Token Yank
White Ensign Models
http://WhiteEnsignModels.com

Hi all!

I must say that this is an interesting subject to convert - a Lindberg PT-Boat would be a base for it....
Steve?
Or are you going to use the 1/72 Revell PT?

I think I would want to use the 1/72nd scale. My scratch building abilities are such that I would want it small to hide mistakes.

It would be fun I think.

Steve

John,

Your experience with a Nasty encounter sounds like those that the swfit boat guys were discussing. In one case, they did open up on a Nasty that would not identifiy itself. I think they mentioned that later there was an agreed upon radio signal to let other patrol craft know that it was a Nasty returning from up north.

Great story...Thanks!

Steve

Hmmmmm.

Thanks Jeff, I think that makes the choice of 1/72 even better.


Steve

*Sheepish grin*
To be honest with you Jeff, I haven't really given it much thought...though I think I would more than likely try the version used by the Navy/CIA.




No, but I haven't really began an honest search yet either. In regards to the mortar/50 Cal weapon, I have a set of blue prints I obtained from one of the Swifties that went through the school at Coronado with my father in law in 67 prior to being deployed to Vietnam. The plans are in 1/35th scale. (This of course is back when I thought I could scratchbuild the whole boat...then reality set in.) I've also access to a considerable amount of photos from other Swifties...in regards to the weapon that is. Though I'm not sure I would want to tackle scratch building it either...my skills in that regard....suck.

Let me ask you this, how much of a pain do you think it would be to use the hull from the Revell kit as a basis for a Nasty?

I would rather do it in this scale that way if I were to build in 1/72nd I could fudge a little on the scratch building...in other words, my screw ups would not be as obvious.

I guess that there's not that drastic of a size increase between the two. I guess what I'll do is purchase a Lindberg kit and try it as a milk run. If it turns out not that great...no harm no foul.

Like you said,it would be easier (for me anyway) and nice if someone like Masterpiece Models would just produce a kit....

Thanks Jeff, good food for thought.
Steve