by Philip LaVoie
1/350 PT-59 and PT-285 PT Gunboats (WEM and JAG)
I’ve always loved PT Boats, and one of the more unusual configurations was the gunboats. The PT Boat World website is about the only resource I’ve found to have information on these vessels and made it possible for me to construct them.
Three Higgins and three Elco 77’ boats were modified into gunboats, which entailed having their torpedo tubes removed, mounting two single 40mm Bofors both fore and aft and several .50cals added. This made them effective barge-busters.
The 40mm single mounts and crew members came from L'Arsenal, and White Ensign Models let me purchase six additional PE sets that originally came with their PT Boat kits which took care of all my .50 cal needs.
PT-285 began as the JAG PT-200 Higgins 78' PT Boat kit. All surface details such as hatches and weapons lockers were removed. I added details from the extra PE sets, made shields for the 40mm mounts and scratch built a little life raft and mast. In addition to the two 40mm mounts and dual .50 cal machine guns, four additional shielded .50 cal guns were added to the centerline. She apparently also carried a couple depth charges.
PT-59 came from the nicely molded 1/350 PT-34 Elco 77' PT Boat kit. Nothing major to the basic kit had to be done except remove the molded torpedo mounts and modify the gun tubs. Like PT-285, I added dual shielded 40mm mounts and retained the original .50 cals. In addition, six single and two more dual .50 cal mounts were added as well as ammo boxes and mast.
They, along with the PT-174 in adapter scheme I finished earlier, are all mounted together in a waterline display against a picture I found of the Solomon Islands.
In all they were fun little builds to do of two ships I’ve never seen modeled before, and didn’t take that much time.
