Transformou o Swift Boat Monogram em kit !

Not a lot of major progress so far... Just a lot of minor changes to make a more accurate looking, better SWIFT. 

The red Sharpie is showing the molded on hand rails. These will be removed and new rails fashioned from either brass or plastic stock. 
 

The air intakes bracketing the hatch look like crap... They gotta go! 
 

Some square stock, and a little brass screen does the trick! 
 

 

This will look much better! 
 

The ladder to the gun tub, and more hand rails will be redone, again with either brass tubing or plastic stock. 
 

 

The molded in deck is cut away, allowing me to scratch a new interior... That will be most of the work... I might put a 'ply wood board' over one or two windows... I mean portholes, to cover the interior. That's if I get lazy 
 

Removing the molded anchor made replacing the deck hatches necessary. It was only after looking at a ton of pictures did I discover that these hatches are supposed to be flush with the deck, not 'on top of it'... 
 

Well, while everyone is at Nationals, all us 'stay behinds' will be working on styrene! 

With it being so quiet around herewith almost everyone at Nats, I figured I'd throw a small update into the ring... 

New pilot house overhead...Center ring is for the trainable spotlight, while the dots are cabin overhead lighting. I still have to do the main cabin overhead. 
 

Main cabin area... 
 

Still need to add the bunks, radio operators seat and radio... 
 

I'm going to 'board over' the windows over the galley, and bunks, as some boats did to prevent curious onlookers (VC) from peeking in. 
 

I think some of you will recognize Petty Officer Nguyen... He over saw the building of my Junk, and is now in charge of the SWIFT build. 
(He was a 2nd class back then, and with the successful completion of that boat, he was promoted to 1st Class) 

Well, I'm still working on the interior... Feels like I've done so much, but yet so little shows... 

Last time I posted, I showed that I cut the deck out, and was building the interior. However, I kept the cut out decking... 
 

So I could do this... 
 

And this... 
 

 

The starboard side has the galley, radio, and chart table. This side is done except for the fire extinguisher I still need to add aft of the galley. (And paint) The seat came from the spares box, it was from an Italeri Huey. 
 

Port side has two bunks, only one is seen here... The small ladders to the main deck are from an A-4 boarding ladder cut to size. 
 

The main cabin overhead is all done now too... (Except for paint) 
 

Some one mentioned adding 'grab handles'... Well, they're there now! 
They are weapons bay door hinges from the F-22, that I tossed in the trash! 
 

A few of the other 'furnishings' I'll be adding to the cabin. 
(Suitably censored for Hyperscale, and in keeping with the time period, 1966 and 1967 Playboy centerfolds) 
I copied them at progressively lower settings till I got the right size. Yes, the maps are accurate too. 
 

It kills me that so little of what I've done will be visible... 
 

Now I have to work on the pilot house, with the control console... 

Finally! The interior cabin areas are finished! 

With this post, I'll be starting work on the exterior, which includes closing up the cabin. 

I'd say probably 99% of the Pilot house is scratch built. 
 

Everything is painted and ready to go... Obviously Petty Officer Nguyen had to approve everything first. 
 

Here you can see moving left to right.. I mean port to starboard, the chart table with the requisite map of the AO, the new engine throttles, new engine console and compass, CB radio, Fathometer, Radar, and PRC radio... 
 

The rear bulkhead of the Pilot House... (suitably censored) I forgot to mention in my last post that the portholes on the rear bulkhead had to be cut out. The kit includes the 'glass' for them, but no hole! So, out came the Dremel! 
 

This is the overall main cabin area... The cabin overhead includes lights, and grab rails (for rough seas) while the cabin has a galley on the starboard aft section, radioman's station starboard forward section. 
 

Port side has two racks, one above the other. Two fire extinguishers were also built and added. 
 

Cabin looking forward... 
 

To me, it all looks pretty ship shape! 

Stand by... More to follow! 

I finally feel like I've made some major progress! 
(Though to some of you, it may seem trivial or incremental   

The cabin is now attached to the deck, and the deck to the hull! 
I had to do some major clamping and gluing to get the deck mounted flush with the lines of the hull, and the same went for the cabin to the deck. Lots of CA was used! 
 

A new mast, with all new scratch built parts. The only original part is the radar drive motor. It seems I'm using a lot of my supplies on this one. Staples for the navigation light mounts, nickel wire for the antenna mount, telescoping brass tube for the flagstaff, with more staples for its support braces... 
 

Some round plastic stock for the new deck railings... 
 

And still more round stock for all the hand rails... 
 

Along with a new searchlight... 
 

I also scratch built some new bollards at the bow and stern... 
 

I still have to rebuild the naval mortar with the piggy back .50 cal. and the twin .50's, along with a few small items, then she will be ready for... 

Good day all, 
Don away from bench right now, so me be in charge, decide to do post for him. 

He has made some more progress till now... Small in quantity, but big in quality... He numba won G.I. in my book! 

He say for Steve to keep hat on, (What this mean?) the masking will be remove soonest. All the major painting is done, and I am very pleased with his work on the hull. 
He make very good match for 'Hull Red' using Testors Flat Red, mixed with Model Masters Rust... Looks very close to faded Zinc Oxide. 


Safety is also numba won concern! 

He Dremeled out the numba ten looking life raft bottom, and replace with coffee stirs, sanded thin and stained with wash of Model Masters Grey. 


Life rings are made of resin, provided by Mr. JR, another very helpful Hyperscaler. Don improved them a little adding the bands made of Tamiya tape painted white, and 1/24th scale ignition wires for grab lines. Same is used for the life raft. The tarp is his usual coffee filter painted with gray acrylic... First aid/survival kit is tucked under tarp... 


Don has beau coup work more to do, but he is ready... Stay near, more will be posted!

Well, Petty Officer Nguyen and I have finally finished the Swift Boat! 

I think congratulations are in order for P.O. Nguyen, as he is now CPO Ngyuen. He was promoted last night upon the successful completion of this project. 

His ‘Wetting Down’ will be held tonight… There will be no, Ba Muoi Ba 33, nuoc nam, kimchi or fish heads and rice… But instead, a few local beers will have to do… 

First I want to make one thing perfectly clear… 
This is not Senator Kerry’s (then LTJG John Kerry) boat! 
I give him all the respect I would give any Vietnam veteran, and fellow sailor, and thank him for his service, and this has nothing to do with all the news, stories and stuff said about him after the war. I just don’t personally like the guy. I don’t want this to turn into a political argument; it’s just how I feel… 
Yes, he was OiC of this boat from1/30/69 to 3/69, but I’ve built this boat for later, after his deployment. 

Ok, now that that’s out of the way… 

 

While doing the research for this boat, I found, like many of its sister boats, she saw a lot of action. If you want to check out some of her after action reports, you can look here;http://swiftboats.net/ It’s a great site. 

Operation Market Time was the United States Navy’s effort to stop troops and supplies from flowing by sea from North Vietnam to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. 

Some one asked me how much could be seen inside… Well, the shadows and flash make it difficult to see, but under normal lighting, and with the human eye, almost all of the work I did can be seen. To me, that makes it all worth it… A new anchor was scratched, as well as new anchor lines. 
 

I previously pointer out that all the weapons had to be replaced. I used 2 Hobby Boss .50 cals, some PE ammo belts, and some more plastic stock to rebuild the gun tub weapons. 
 

 

Yes, that is a Jolly Roger flying from one of the antenna… I thought it made a nice touch, as some of the pictures I’ve seen have the boats crew flying them… The American flag is the kit decal, carefully glued to some thread. The boat hook was made the same as the broom/swab. I chucked a tooth pick into my Dremel tool, and spun it down to scale with a little sand paper. 
 

I think the Chief (CPO Ngyuen) showed the aft armament being rebuilt last night… 
 

A few needed supplies were also added… Tamiya's stuff comes in handy here. 
 

Sacrificial anodes were scratch built, and added to the stern, below the water line. These helped control some of the corrosion to the hull… 
 

More spare gear… The swab and broom are scratch built too… 
 

If you look hard enough, I also added a few bilge drain outlets along the hull, as well as the sink drain from the galley. 
 

Windshield wipers are made from staples, and thinly cut plastic stock... 
 

 

All the lines are from various sizes of thread, and cord, all purchased at either Michael's, or Hobby Lobby. All the heavier lines are 'whipped' and all the knots are properly tied, including the tire bumpers 
 

Our proud new Chief taking control at the Aft Steering Station. Prepare to be boarded! 
 

All in all, this has been one of the more rewarding projects I've worked on. I don't know why, it just was... 
The swift looks great sitting next to my Junk... 
 

I still have a few more Riverine projects planned, but for now, I think I need to build something fast and loud... Hey, isn't that a TV show or something? 

Muito bom!

Muito bom !

o detalhe do peso do cabo aduchado foi bem pensado

Tremendo de um resultado.

Belo trabalho 

Muito bonito, excelente execução.

Só faltou uns esmerdeamentos para o meu gosto.

Gostei muito dos "corrimãos" em plástico branco com as curvas perfeitas.

Clap, clap, clap...aplausos a Mr. Fogal, belíssimo trabalho.

A MB operou estes barcos. Em Santos chamava-se Cação e Tubarão. 

Em Santos, década de 80

Aqui ele em Belém - PA

E sua versão "civil"

Pois é, quando vi esta montagem me lembrei imediatamente deste tópico, que eu achei muito bacana, e pensei que a montagem do Fogal poderia ajudar quem quiser fazer uma brazuca 

Revisando o kit não acho que seja fraco, dá para fazer direto da caixa com bom resultado. No caso deste melhoramento ele também mudou da versão Mk.II para Mk.I mais alongado e o outro deixou como estava.

Interessante saber que esta embarcação chegou ao nosso país.

Qual a escala dele????

com certeza, a exemplo da PT.109 e da USS Defiance, é um modelo simples que PERMITE fazer um otimo trabalho de melhoramento com resultados satisfatórios.

É na 1/48, pode ser encontrado embalado pela Monogram ou Revell, em embalagens diferentes:

Parece que em Santos eram tres  incluam o Atum, eu fiz  projeto Anfibiex e operação caiçara II com eles ( uma especie de Operação Rondom, eu não fui militar) passamos bons apuros em mar picado, tsunamis de vômitos, as armas não funcionavam, as metralhadoras 45 explodiram o cano e a .50 tinha balas vencidas que chuchavam dentro do cano !!!!!! infelizmente não tenho fotos

Amauri, que aventura rapaz !!! 

Pra quem tem uns obamas sobrando dá uma olhada nesta swift na escala 1/35:

- http://masterpiecemodels.com/p...cale-pcf-swift-boat/

Esta marca tem inúmeros barcos que participaram das operações nos rios do vietnã, tanto americanos quanto franceses.

Abraços a todos

Lembrava de 2 e não sabia da 3ª cujo nome é Atum....Muito interessante. 

Excelente montagem!!