PT Boat Rebuild = 1/32 scale Lindberg Kit #2
40 mm Bofors Gun and Ammunition + Ammunition Clips
Ahoy there interested parties.
A PT boat carried a lot of different weapons at different times. As targets changed from anti-shipping to barge hunting more guns were added to deal with the barges. One of the guns commonly used was the 40 mm Bofors gun that was usually mounted on the aft deck of the boat where the 20 mm Oerlikon cannon was mounted on the early boats. However, there were a few boats that mounted the 40 mm Bofors gun on the foredeck.
Here's the background as to why my model has a 40 mm Bofors gun on the foredeck.
First off, I am *NOT* attempting to model any particular boat as it appeared at any particular time.
When I built this model over 20 years ago I had on hand an old 1/32 scale Revell M-42 Duster model that I no longer had a use for as i had bought the 1/35 scale Tamiya one. Looking at the Revell model I decided that there were a number of parts that i could use from it on my 1/32 scale Lindberg PT boat. Those parts included a few pieces of the 40 mm Bofors gun. I had to heavilly modify the twin gun to get a single gun out of it and I scratch-built most of the rest of it. Over the years the gun has suffered some damage and is also being restored.
Now, I'm one of those fellers that likes to pose my artillery in use. Thus I needed some ammunition for the 40 mm Bofors gun. I took a chance and bought Mini Art's 1/35 scale Russian 45 mm Shells with Ammo Boxes set. Sure enough, the 1/35 scale 45 mm ammo is almost perfect for a 1/32 scale Bofors gun. Here're two images of the Bofors gun with a shell in the feed.
With just a wee bit of filing of the feed guides the shells will be a perfect fit.
What's great about this Mini Art set is that you get 30 of the type of rounds the Bofors gun used. You also get 12 spent cartridges. There are an additional 30 rounds that are not the type used by the Bofors on PT boats but they can be cut down to make 30 more spent cartridges.
Another neat thing is that the strips that go into the ammo boxes to hold the rounds in place are very similar to the type of clip that held 4 of the 40 mm Bofors rounds. Each 40 mm ammo clip held 4 rounds. The pieces in the kit are made to hold 5 rounds. Cut off one round section and I have a 4 round clip. This means that there will be lots of extra clips to go with the spent cartridges. Neat huh?
Here's an image of those pieces that I'll use as ammo clips. You can also see the ammo and spent casings that I'll use with the Bofors gun.
Finally, for this update anyway, here's an image of the Mini Art 45 mm ammo kit box and the ammo in it. One set gives me 7 full clips of ammo and a partial clip with 2 rounds left in it. The 2 rounds clip will go on the gun as if 2 rounds have been fired. The possile total of 42 spent cartridges will allow me to model the gun on the boat as if the gun has fired 10 full clips and 2 rounds from the clip in the gun.
I need to rebuild the broken elevating and traversing cranks for the gun. The gun also needs 1 new rear sight ring for the left side. Plus I need to add the rack at the back of the gun platform that protected the loader from falling off the platform and that also held some ready ammo clips.
Next up I'll tell you how I used the 1/32 scale M-42 Duster road wheels and Tamiya 1/35 scale fuel drums to make 10 depth charges for this boat.
Comments are welcomed and encouraged. Thanks for looking and/or commenting.
Cheers from Peter
