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1/72 RCN British Power Boat Co. Motor Torpedo Boat


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I've been prepping the Coastal Craft torpedo tubes for paint.  Overall, I'm happy with the quality of these parts.  The PE parts are very small, but well detailed.  I found one small blow hole in the resin of one of the tubes, but it was easily fixed with some putty.  The tubes & PE fit nicely with my scratch built tube rails.

 

Here's a couple of photos taken during the test fit.

 

58a4cc7536354_068TorpedoTubes.jpg.e0711621c8d448307757b7af8f74ab8f.jpg

 

58a4cc9fe0296_069TorpedoTubes.jpg.0039f059e73c388d1181c5acc5573f1c.jpg

 

She's looking like a torpedo boat.

 

Next, I'll be adding paint to the tubes & scratch build the torpedos.

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Good to hear, Steve.  I've always liked the Airfix kits.

 

I still can't find detailed information for a few things I want to add to my boat.  So, I contacted one of our naval museums here in Canada and, luckily, they found some of the information I need in their archives.  They're sending me copies of their documents and I can't wait to start incorporating what they found in this build. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi again everyone.  Progress has been slow over the past week as we've had unbelievable great weather - sunshine & Spring-like warm temperatures.  I have been able to spend a little time at the modelling bench to complete the torpedo tubes.  I continue to be impressed with the Coastal Craft parts.  The tubes are tricolour - white underneath, grey midsection & B-15 on top.  The PE handles are really small, but add nice detail.

 

Here's a pic of the finished torpedo tube assembly, including the PE .303 Vickers gun platforms;

 

58b2075609a5e_70Finishedtorpedotubes.jpg.40f053899668c8e239a54e01646ec42a.jpg

 

The torpedo tubes are solid resin with about a .1" recess at the tube opening.  I made .1" long torpedoes :rolleyes: from 1/4" plastic rod, and painted them gloss black before glueing them in the tube openings.

 

58b2077442e0d_71Torpedos.jpg.c793967447ceebf711e163500aa11694.jpg

 

Here's a pic of the right (starboard for you sailors :salute:) side profile of the boat showing the progress to date.

 

58b2078dcd698_72TorpedoTubes.jpg.a08d130ed722b9f88c094591436a7f4c.jpg

 

Looks like we're heading back to winter weather, so hopefully I can spend some quality in-door time with this build.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

:cheers:

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Thanks again, Steve.

 

IMHO, the sleek BPB MGB/MTB was one of the best looking designs.  The actual boats did have steering issues & didn't like rough seas, but they did look fast even standing still.

 

There's still a lot of work to do, but seeing how the boat is coming is coming together is keeping me motivated.  The naval museum has mailed me their information about these boats, so I don't want to get too far ahead in the event I'll need to make changes once I receive their package.

 

 

Edited by JohnS
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi again, everyone.

 

I've been working away at building the various lockers located on the MTB's deck.  Looking at WWII photos of the boats, I found the boats built early in the war had more deck lockers than the later (1944) version I'm building.  Again, I couldn't find a lot of information, so I built the lockers using a little modeller's license, dimensioning the parts from the WWII photos.

 

Here are the lockers as-built, before paint;

 

58bf28f7306dd_073DeckLockers.jpg.81ff866c9590c87392538ab1020afe53.jpg

 

... and a few photos showing these lockers placed on the deck.

 

58bf291eed70f_074DeckLockers.jpg.a6064004d639064bd9cb2ae647ca4d94.jpg

 

58bf294b8c246_075DeckLockers.jpg.d898a731021da759fd5bbcab3c24df7f.jpg

 

58bf297c41010_076DeckLockers.jpg.540a6490de4fb379d95fba1846810088.jpg

 

Next up, I'll get these little things painted before continuing the rest of the build.

 

Thanks for looking.

:cheers:

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Thanks again Steve, for looking in.

 

I've taken a break from the little deck boxes & have been working on assembling the Coastal Craft twin 20mm Oerlikon guns.  Again, like the torpedo tubes, the detail is amazing for the small size.  The quality of the resin parts wasn't quite as good as the torpedo tubes, but with a little work the guns came out pretty good.

 

Here's a pic of the finished guns;

 

58c7318235657_077Oerlikon.jpg.503f9a36157364d5ce26bfbf4525afa6.jpg

 

Even though the gun & PE parts provided a lot of detail, I decided to add a few scratch built add-ons.  This included repairing the resin gun sight damaged in the box, and making a replacement bracket that decided to go AWOL.  I made replacement shoulder rests, as I felt the kit PE part was too big.  I also made a box to attach to the gun pedestal using an original photo as a guide. I'm guessing the box holds an intercom speaker for the gun crew.

 

58c731a9bd8d5_078OerikonScratchBuilding.jpg.d125677de35782b7e6057f5d9dfc8d22.jpg

 

The Coastal Craft kit includes railing stanchions & splinter pads and the gun bandstand.  I needed to repair a couple of stanchion mounting holes in the bandstand that appeared to be incorrectly cast in the resin part.

 

The kit instructions requests the modeller supply plastic rod for the bandstand railing.  I used stretched sprue instead.

 

I used wine bottle foil to simulate the cloth straps used to hang the actual splinter pads from the railing.

 

58c731c34126e_079BandstndScratchBuilding.jpg.179f5529dedd3e5990590535116a3976.jpg

 

Next the gun & bandstand assembly was test fit on the boat.

 

58c731f6e7eb0_080Oerlikon.jpg.4fff714bf0481cf150b2cf43cbd182a3.jpg

 

58c7322d12272_081Oerlikon.jpg.c6ba6bb891839324a206e5d57e132c1c.jpg

 

I'm really happy with how the Oerlikon gun mount looks.  Even my little RCN sailor looks like he's anxious to have a good look at the guns.:rolleyes:

 

58c7326a0f8df_082Oerlikon.jpg.790ab046e070fe6273f68d3c9a987b5c.jpg

 

Well, it's back to finishing the little deck ammunition & storage boxes.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

:cheers:

 

 

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Wow, thanks Steve.  Those tiny parts weren't made for big fingers.  It took a lot of trial & error to get them assembled & painted.  The detail provided in the Coastal Craft kit (e.g. the gun sight) is amazing for this scale.

 

Here's a photo of the actual gun.

 

58c93ba6c05e9_083Oerlikon.jpg.d5da2403d297407fa3aba5e5ed8308d9.jpg

Edited by JohnS
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello, again!

 

I've finished painting the storage & ready-use lockers using the boat's camo scheme.

58dbeb3e68f48_084PaintedBoxes.jpg.3cbbb9cb5e41e2f8286abacaf257400a.jpg

 

Also, I had mentioned earlier that I received some information from a naval museum.  The good news is that I received the information I needed about the boat's bridge.  There are not a lot of photos of this part of the boat, so the naval museum's help was much appreciated.  The bad news is, I ended up throwing out my original first attempt at making the bridge.  I tried to use just photographs as a guide, but as it turned out, I made some dimensional & detail errors relative to the actual boat design.

 

58dbeb54b6ec7_085Bridge1stAttempt.jpg.12e5f47f589b0eacf396d6dbca572b08.jpg

 

I've completely remade the bridge assembly, using the new information I received, from plastic sheet & stretched sprue (door hinges & handles).

 

58dbeb6ff340e_085BridgeParts.jpg.063375f3561e12edf66db9d269537019.jpg

 

58dbeb8ab3b01_086BridgeTestFit-up.jpg.6dc825e4b4b836deba048477d77ae133.jpg

 

I'm really happy how it turned out (before paint), as it's now dimensionally correct.  The overall size is approximately 1-1/4" square.

 

58dbebb687b21_087BridgeTestFit-up.jpg.2387dcee7292978b617819fc211be556.jpg

 

I've also scratch built the boat's wheel from paper card & stretched plastic sprue.

 

58dbec2d86627_088ShipsWheel.jpg.7e57604355246e1f2fdc10d6c3e9e603.jpg

 

That's it for now.

 

Next up, I'll be painting the bridge parts before assembly, & start work on the smaller details around the boat.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

:cheers:

 

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Back at it again!

 

Another design characteristic, that sets these MTB's apart, is a pair of Carley floats mounted on the forward deck.  Early boats had the floats originally located side-by-side on the bow.  The captains of many of the later boats stacked the two floats, one on top of the other, to provide more deck storage space for mooring & towing lines.

 

I've decided to stack the floats on my boat, but I needed scratch build them first.

 

I started by cutting balsa wood strips and gluing them together in a rectangle shape.  Then the balsa wood was filed and sanded to the proper shape & size.

 

58e401b76cdd3_089MakingCarleyFloats.jpg.513b5e7c655d470c065f109deb40d173.jpg

 

Next paddles were carved from wooden toothpicks, and painted the deck colour.

 

58e401cddeb6e_090MakingPaddles.jpg.ea402193c07a84091d02578488c007b5.jpg

 

The balsa wood floats were painted the deck colour, thread was added to simulate ropes, and the floor was attached.  The floor was drawn using Photoshop and printed on paper card.  Finally the paddles were attached and the two floats were stacked & glued together.

 

58e401e812808_091FinishedCarleyFloats.jpg.2e6607a573094bcc148dc377e4481371.jpg

 

The Carley float assembly was glued to the MTB deck on the area initially painted white as part of the Coastal Forces camo scheme.  Lead wire (.04mm dia.) was added to simulate the float tie downs.

 

58e402352c973_092CarleyFloatTieDowns.jpg.4ead54a9f6187272b5ba23ecd3d1c476.jpg

 

Done!

 

58e40258307ab_093CarleyFloatsMounted.jpg.71fdc7d622e24bdba43a51dc9703de28.jpg

 

Next up, work continues building & adding more details to the boat.

 

Thanks again for looking.

 

:cheers:

 

 

Edited by JohnS
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A quick in-process update.

 

I've been working away at the tiny bits for this build.  I've finished building the chemical smoke apparatus from Evergreen plastic & stretched plastic sprue.  The smoke apparatus will be located at the stern of the boat.

 

Here's a photo of the smoke apparatus waiting for paint.

 

58eacbf6d7f12_095ChemicalSmokeApparatusin-process.jpg.f465aab779630a7c9101854e32480b52.jpg

 

I'm currently in the process of building the Vickers .303 machine guns from Evergreen plastic & stretched plastic sprue.  I still need to add a few details to the guns & build the gun mounts.  The guns will be assembled in twin mounts, one located on each torpedo tube.

 

Here's a photo of the guns in their current state.

 

58eacc1f02466_094VickersMachineGunsin-process.jpg.35a4698c27deb232bef909c9282a5e27.jpg

 

Next, I'll assemble the gun mounts and add a little paint.

 

:cheers:

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I've finished the Vickers machine guns ... finally, after a lot of finger fumbling, breaking tiny parts, & glue over load. :bandhead2:   :boohoo: 

 

58f38a417cf40_096VickersMachineGunsfinished.jpg.d58920deec5c322b4a2b4c795c02831b.jpg

 

The gun sights were formed from flattened lead wire.

 

Here's a pic of the actual guns mounted on an MTB.

 

58f3904e46297_098VickersMachineGunsphoto.jpg.0e1222c7b9a040acc68891557b5271fa.jpg

 

... and a photo of my guns test fit on the model.

 

58f38a5cab382_097VickersMachineGunstestfit.jpg.60be4f25ee136671227549af5908174e.jpg

 

Happy Easter, & thanks again for looking in.

 

:cheers:

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Thanks Phantom.

 

Next up, scratch building life rings.

 

Most boats in this MTB class had three life rings (1 - 24" & 2 - 28"), all mounted on the exterior of the deck house.

 

Before scratch building any part, I usually look around my workshop for material that resembles the size & shape of the part I'm going to build, to save as much work & build time as possible.  In this case, I lucked out finding plastic wall anchors that have shoulders that match the size of the scale 28" life rings.  After cutting the shoulders off three anchors, I needed to sand down one part for the 24" ring, and then rounded the edges of all three parts.  Small paper strips were cut & glued to the parts for additional detail.

 

Here's a photo of the end result, waiting for final paint.

 

58f7e6e292acb_099LifeRingsin-process.jpg.91fc2aa2fcfd75e281f6a2f9e054c467.jpg

 

Next up, I'll be painting the life rings & continue with the bridge build.

 

:cheers:

 

 

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The Life Rings are completed.

 

58fb85ecdbb91_100LifeRingsfinished.jpg.bcce46136b999e5fb4667911eaf91393.jpg

 

The life rings turned into a mini project.  Ropes were added using beige thread, & the grey mounting brackets were cut from white printer paper & painted prior to gluing in place.

 

:cheers:

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Thanks Hajo.

 

I've started adding the details to the exterior of the chart/deck house.

 

The actual boat's deck house was armoured for protection with metal shutters added to its windows, as well.  Each shutter assembly consists of a frame, three metal louvers that slide up & down vertically, and a latch to hold the louvers in the closed position.

 

5901110016e1f_101WindowShutters.jpg.f275ba8f0013ddac1772c01b08f67924.jpg

 

This is one part of the build that I've been hesitant to start, due to the number of small parts required to make the window shutters on the model.  I finally got up enough nerve to attempt making the shutter assemblies.  I made each shutter frame & the louvers from Evergreen plastic sheet, & the latch from stretched sprue.  Most photos of these boats show the top louver on each window in the open position, I imagine to let in some light.  So, that's how I made mine.

 

Here's a pic showing the finished shutters before paint.

 

59011116657ab_102ScratchWindowShutters.jpg.5d7b4ceae8fa244099f5818fce9c8e53.jpg

 

Before gluing the shutters to the chart house, I painted the shutters light grey & the chart house window area gloss black behind where the shutters are located.  The gloss black gives the impression of shiny glass.  Once the paint dried, each shutter assembly was glued in place.

 

59011134397cd_103ScratchWindowShutters.jpg.075f75a5a3039e5ddd1e8eb3df378ecf.jpg

 

Here's a close-up showing the chart house test fit on the model.

 

5901116d17b70_104ChartHousetestfit.jpg.108590e07c4dbe1767e963902c18d645.jpg

 

...and another ...

 

5901118fe321c_105ChartHousetestfit.jpg.7cb5c71f329f6662366363ff534f0705.jpg

 

Whew, so far, so good! :banana:

 

More detailing to follow.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

:cheers:

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