showcase

Over the past dozen years, a group of Vancouver enthusiasts had voiced high hopes for PT Boat 659.
A glorious restoration. A waterfront display. A captivating lesson for those young ’uns who don’t appreciate the role the fast, powerful “patrol torpedo” boats played in World War II.

On Monday, those dreams were drowned out by the growl of a reciprocating saw.

Among those watching the demolition near Pearson Field were Jerry Pierce, a retired carpenter and history buff, and Tom Czekanski, director of Collections & Exhibitions for the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

Pierce, who brought along a 4-foot-long model he built of the boat, said it was too bad the ambitious restoration plans were never realized. He’d read about PT Boat 659 several years ago and was drawn to the vessel.

“The fact that the poor thing was sitting here, waiting for people to save it,” Pierce said.

Not all of the boat was destined for the scrap heap, however, Czekanski said.

Parts are being salvaged — enough to fill three 18-wheeler trucks — and will be used in the $5 million restoration of PT Boat 305

Jerry built from scratch this great model of PT 659. Starting from plans, enlarged to the proper scale, Jerry used foam to form the hull shape. Then fiberglass was coated on the form. After a lot of sanding the Lil 659 was ready for motors and controls. Jerry says, “he is new to R/C boating”, but has also made from scratch USS Monitor, which looks very nice in the water. Jerry also does some very fine work making recreations of Flint-lock Rifles. I say, “he is an old hand at problem solving!”

Jerry’s comments:
My model started as 2' pink foam insulation stacked 4 layers deep and glued with spray contact glue. The kind that doesn't melt foam. Carved to shape with Stanley shur-form tools and rasps then files. It was then covered with wallboard joint compound (sheetrock mud), sanded smooth and varnished. I shouldn't have varnished as the fiberglass resin stuck tight until I soaked the hull overnight in a wading pool. I used the lightest weight fiberglass cloth and mat that “Tap Plastics”, (in Portland Oregon) sells. Then, allot of filing and sanding, (vibrator sander) then a final coat and more sanding, some primer and behold a lightweight, strong hull.

I then installed two 550 Johnson motors. I wanted running gear that was proven and easy to obtain, so ordered replacement parts for the speedboat 'Villain EX'. The drive train, U-Joints, Driveshaft, props are all 4 mm and very inexpensive from 'Go Hobbies' on the net. So far everything is removable and replaceable.

Everything above the decks is made of lightweight material, including prescription Bottles for turrets, “Burger King” straw, rocket launchers, mustard bottle caps for gun mounts and paper glue torpedoes. Now that’s scratch built. The crew was shanghaied from a $1 store as Marines but my Drumal tool and some paint turned them into sailors.
The guns, launchers, turrets, radar mast, torpedoes, and the air scoop (which hides the switches) all move up, down and sideways, again by man power, isn't this fun.

I did a lot of research before starting the 659 project and found most of my information from books from the Library and on the internet.