Italeri 1/35
PT Boat Crew

Here's a long-awaited release from Italeri - a crew for their magnificent PT 596 kit. It was a bit surprising that few figures were available for the PT 596. Some folks tried to adapt the Trumpeter 1/35 LST crew figures, while VLS started to release their own masterpieces about the time they were acquired by Squadron. Only two figures were released and even these are no longer available.

So now Italeri has stepped in at last with their own crew set. There are ten figures provided in the set, molded on two sprues of light gray styrene. Yes, these are styrene, not vinyl.

The figures are depicted at action stations with a four-man team at the 40mm gun, one each at the two bow guns and one each in the twin-50 caliber turrets. That leaves one figure posed over the torpedo release and one driving the boat. If you're depicting your boat during an attack, these figures are perfect straight out of the box.

If you've been following my build article for PT 596 as well as the display base, the project isn't quite complete. I've been waiting to crew up the boat since it is being depicted coming alongside the pier. Now that I have some suitable figures, here is where the magic begins. First, I've got to repose these figures into a more relaxed posture as they're pulling into to home base. This will entail a little surgery and some part swaps with a few other figure sets, but we now have a great starting point.

One interesting note, in the painting instructions, Italeri provides the color instructions using Testors Model Master paints, both enamel and Acryl, where available. Thanks Italeri!

If you've been waiting to crew up your boat as I have, your wait is over!

Definitely recommended!