I’ve got a couple of projects to finish off in the paint department ( and one in need of grp weave, and no workshop to do that smelly job at present) over the coming weeks which while to British weather is still unstable leaves my projects on hold.
However that gives me time to prep up a new build....
In fact it’s a pair of boats.... one for my brother the other for me.
I don’t tend to build war ships in any form, in fact the last war ship I had was given to me as a bare kit in payment for another model I built, to which my dad ended up taking it off my hands to get it built ( he was bored and needed a project) to which I was happy to see it off my hands and just accept the finished artical ( that said I still had to paint the bloody thing!)
This time however I found a boat that’s right up my ally in regards to things I like to build, first off being a speed boat in some respects but more accurately a hydroplane, 2nd it’s quirky and very little is commonly known that these even existed, belive me both Dad and I didn’t have a clue about these until recently and Dad worked in chaterm docks so you think he would have heard of them.
The 3rd is simply it’s unique ability and versatility, being that it’s an early mtb it’s unique ability was speed, stealth able to hop across sea defence nets in opposing ports and harbours and deploy 3 torpedos and escape before anyone noticed! It wasn’t all roses for the history of this maybe many were lost during engagements doing that very job.
However the unique design of this boat and it’s history are something to be admired of the British ingenuity to which many successful versions were build by other navy’s during the 1940’s.
It’s history started as early as 1912-17 during ww1 to which the boat smaller carried a singular torpedo, up until the 1940’s where they were made bigger and able to carry a variety of weapons from duel torpedos to depth charges and mines.
Well I can give you all a much more detailed history but I’ll let anyone Intrested look for them selfs.
The boat in question although an mtb was never known as an mtb, in fact it was the company’s who built the first versions much later created what is known today as mtbs and started the history of the Vospers. This boat being a CMB ( better know as a coastal motor boat) and this variation was the cmb 55” torpedo.
These we’re many design variations to the wheel house from a simple steel windscreen/deflector to a full armoured cockpit and other variations included a wooden and glass surround with a roof.
As of yet I’m undecided which cockpit area to build but I have opted to not build the full wood and glass version leaving me with the other two variations to which I expect at time of writing I will build one of each.
A few days ago I revived the plan, as expected a lot of detail however I will have to enlarge the line drawings to make a model of reasonable size, at present if built as per the plan the models 13.75” to which that’s vastly to small for a rc boat of this type, so at present I’m looking to either double the size to 27.5 or triple it to 48” in length.
I expect I’ll work one as the 27.5” size which overall is a good model scale being 1:24th. If I decide to go bigger for the 2nd model it will be the display model I’ll keep and not give up to my brother.
I’ll start with making up some templates of the bulkheads and judge how big I want to go, I’ve seen a few boats of this built, the biggest being 55” long which make it 1:12 scale which is always an option however that would be to date the single largest project I would have built since building the S.s.komet which came in at 6.4” including bow sprit.
At those sizes the model becomes somewhat of a headache to work on, store and transport later ( it’s ok if you have a lorry!)
So anyway some photos of the plan and keep watching this space over the next few months I will be starting to hammer out this project as I want one finished for April next year.
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