Full Size Printed Plan Scale 1/32 Higgins 78-foot PT boat suitable for radio control

Full Size Printed Plan & Building Notes

No material plans only

Higgins 78-foot PT boat

Full size Plan Printed on Two 24” x 30” Sheets 

Fourteen pages of building notes and photos (Not all shown)

Scale 1/32

Length 29 3/4"

Power Electric motor

Radio Control

by Peter Miller

The majority of the Higgins boats saw service in the Mediterranean and the English Channel. They were used to defend the northern flank of the invasion fleet on the 6th of June 1944.          The Higgins boats were one mile an hour slower than the Elco boats but were more manoeuvrable. The hulls were slightly simpler in shape, the sides being flat. 

I used the drawings and photos from the Squadron Signal book, PT Boats in Action and PT Boats at War by Polinar and Loring. These two books also contain all the photos that you will need, the much bigger and more expensive American PT Boats in WW II by Chun merely duplicates most of the photos and only gives waterline drawings for the Higgins boat.

A careful study of the available photos shows that the main superstructure, the mast, the torpedoes and the ventilators were always in the same place but all the guns and ammunition ready lockers varied; even the smoke generator mounting and location varied from ship to ship.

Gun types and locations depended on what the crew could scrounge. The Bofors at the stern was pretty standard but for the rest, well, take your pick.

Models that I usually design do not have a lot of fine detail, one heavy landing can knock all that off, but they, like this PT boat, look great travelling at speed a few yards away.

Thank You for Looking