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Hello! My name is Dmitry, I am 54 years old, I live in Russia. I apologize immediately for my English. I don't know him very well. You could say I don't know at all. I've never studied it. The computer will help me translate. Do not hesitate to correct me if I write incorrectly or incomprehensibly. It will be useful to me. As a child, I made many plastic models in 1/72 and 1/100 scale. It was mostly planes, I didn't like ships. Now, I have free time, I want to assemble something with my own hands again. Some kind of ship. There are a lot of ships, but, I don't know why, I chose HMS Brave Borderer. Starting to study the ship, I was surprised how little information there is about it. I found Polish drawings. They are not very accurate, but there is no other. I found the Britmodeller website and the JohnWS build: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235056797-172-hms-brave-borderer/ I watched John's work with pleasure. Much has become clear. He found a lot of new things and worked so deeply on detailing. This is excellent! I express my great gratitude to him. I understand that I am a beginner and will not be able to assemble a ship, as experienced craftsmen do, but I will start doing it. After all, the main thing is to enjoy creating something with your own hands. I will post the assembly process on this site, I hope they will tell me better about the English ship here. I'm doing everything slowly, so the build will be long. I hope I will finish the job. I hope… 🙂

Just the follow-up thread from my recent build thread BPB Gunboat Build. My photography is equal to my rigging skills, i.e. not great. Still this time I've made a little effort to show the boat clearly without distractions. This project started with the Haynes Manual I'd bought while researching the Vosper MTB. This excellent book contains reproductions from two shipyard drawings. These were enough to challenge me to build it, unusually, there are no commercial model plans available... So, this is what I started with (the plan was scanned and scaled to 1:48th), it's pretty clear and good enough to work from. The second sheet has the lines... IWM also has some detail drawings scanned , a real help on the deck-house shape I won't repeat the build details here, they are fully covered in the build thread, still, for those who don't want to work through that, the boat is mainly made in wood and metal, as with my other projects. The hull is diagonal planked in cherry and maple. In the right light, the faint diagonal lines on the hull are just discernible. Custom brass etchings were used for the gun mounts and other details, the props were cast bronze to my drawings and some components were 3D resin printed at home. The rope coil is rope made on my little ropewalk from 6-strands of fine off-white cotton. It's an emergency tow-rope anchored to the water-line tow point The model is hand painted using Vallejo paints and washes. The blue (B15) and pale grey (507C) are my own mix, The white is Vallejo Off-white. After a lot of studying photographs, I decided the hull was grey while the deck-house is white. The cowl vents are blue. As ever, who really knows, but these colours do align with the photographs. The modelled was weathered using (mostly) Vallejo washes and metallic chipping, I like my models to look lived in (painting is a journey, I have a long way to travel but I think I'm getting better albeit slowly). The ensign was hand-painted on linen using fabric paint The only commercial items I bought were the grab-rail stanchions, fine-scale O gauge railway items. The model is mounted on a French-polished stop-chamfered oak base and turned brass pillars. The forward pillar has a steel pin that runs in a brass tube set into the keel to keep it balanced and allow it to seem to float. The details plate was supplied by Engraving Studios who do an excellent service for ~£14 all in. The case is made but I've not had the opportunity to collect it yet. The boat poles were added since the build thread, they are brass and lime wood. A couple of buckets have also been added, for cooling gun barrels. The figure climbing into the "dustbin" is added for scale, he is from Shapeways Finally, this thread wouldn't be complete without the companion model I build last year, the Vosper MTB, for comparison. I think they make a great pair side by side, both are ~ 70ft, they often operated together Thanks again to all those who commented and helped during the build and of course for the many likes. I'll be back soon with more progress on the Räumboote drawings and build Cheers Steve

I've been back into this modelling malarky seriously now for close to 3 years after a 30 plus year break. OK, there were one or two lapses in that time, but nothing major. In the last 3 years I have done a little on the AFV front, quite a few 1/72 and 1/144 aircraft, but have not re-dabbled in a maritime model. I did start a couple of 1/700 Cold war frigates some years back in the form of two conversions of a Matchbox HMS Kelly. One was to be an RN Type 15 Frigate - HMS Rapid, and the other a type 16 Frigate, HMS Terpiscore. I still have these in their semi made state, and they will form a WIP in due course. In the meantime, I decided to wet my appetite on something "simple", or so I thought. Influenced on here by some superb examples of Coastal Forces craft by many including @robgizlu @longshanks @andrewa @seadog @JohnWS and @Courageous (I am sure there are others), I recently picked up a very old boxing of Airfix's Vosper MTB, which along with these two beautiful publications (below), has tempted me to make a start on a Coastal Forces model. Of course, those of you already into this fascinating world will know that the subject can become quite consuming! The two publications I picked up were these. It goes without saying I now want vols 3 and 4 but they must wait! And the model in question is this old girl: Other key bits of research include the John Lambert plans for MTB 379 through 395. One immediate question I would have of those who know this subject well, is that these plans appear to show an extra exhaust vent on the starboard side at the rear. From the internal diagram, this looks correct for the Port side but I suspect it should not be there on the starboard side? Indeed the profile drawings of MGB 380 and 391 in the Coastal Forces series, show this as not existing (assuming the starboard view of 391 is correct). I clearly have much to learn about these, and many other classes of MTB's and indeed MGB's, so hope for advice on the way! A start has been made on the hull, with lower, sides and rear in place (eventually after some struggles). The deck is simply taped for now, and I have also removed the moulded on torpedo guide/supports, as I was not really happy with these as moulded. I suspect there will be other areas I will change/remove, as per some of the other BM'ers I have mentioned already. I am learning from your builds guys! I've also started to remove some of the existing deckhouse moulded on detail, as I would prefer to scratch build these. Also I can see from the plans, and some other builds on here, there appear to be some minor inaccuracies. You will be familiar with these (held with blue tack): Well so far, we have these. Much detail to add I know! I have already modified the front part of the bridge by removing the raised part and scratch building a new doorway. The detail on my copy of the plans is not brilliant, but I think this is fairly accurate. I have also started to improve and clean up the deck vents (is that what they are called?) using a drill and mini dremel tools. One small and one large down, five small and three more large to go! The rear end has had the the locating holes drilled out, ready to remove the moulded on steps and replace with brass wire. As I said above, I would really appreciate any advice/guidance/tips along the way and suggested areas to improve on the kit. I will unashamedly be referring to others past builds on here, for guidance and assistance! Thanks Terry

Following on from my build thread (Vosper build thread), here are a few pictures of the completed model MTB 34 was one of the first batch of 70ft MTB's built by Vosper's as part of the 1939 contract, completed in August 1940. She was converted to a target tug (CT23) in 1943 and sold in 1945. The drawings for the project were taken from the 1991 Model Shipwright plan and John Lambert's plan for marine Modelling international. In addition, details were confirmed from the IWM builders drawing that both these plans seem to be based upon. All rescaled to 1:48th scale and re-drawn. The colour scheme shows her with the 4th MTB flotilla based at HMS Beehive in Felixstowe in 1941 with very distinctive blue (B15) and white bands as illustriated in Coastal Craft History Vol 1 Below is that actual vessel at speed and the colour artwork from the Coastal Craft book. The torpedo chute bands are indicative of a senior officer in command The hull of the model is timber on ply frames, diagonal planked as per full-scale practice, the rest is a combination of brass, wood and some 3d printed items. The model has no commercial components, though the props were cast in bronze by Shapeways to my drawings She is shown weathered, not pristine, mounted on turned brass pillars and an oak base. A single crewman walks the deck to help people understand the scale and she carries a rigged danbuoy on the port side Here she is next to my last model, a Schnellboote to the same scale, for size comparison showing how relatively diminutive these vessels were Thanks to those who followed the build thread, I hope it was interesting and informative. I'll be back very soon with a new thread Cheers Steve

Hi, I'm new to this forum and to sharing my build process on-line, hopefully what I'm doing is of interest. As background, I've been (mostly) a ship modeller for over 20 years, in between other projects. I am a scratch builder. Wherever possible, I make every part, meaning the projects take a long time each. Over the years I've finished 8 projects, which doesn't sound a lot, but the longest took me 4 years and ~3,000 hours, so fitting this in with a full time job that takes me abroad a lot is tough. I build mostly in wood and brass/copper, rarely plastic. In general I try to follow full scale practice, it the full scale item was metal, I model it in metal, if wood, then wood. My scale of choice is 1-48th, following ship-builder's model practice though I've also build models in other scales, see below. I produce drawings to scale from the many books I've acquired over the years and build from my own drawings. I have exhibited a 4 models and the old International Model Engineering Exhibition (is it still going?) and each time been fortunate to be awarded medals. I've also written a build article for Model Shipwright (20 odd years ago). The scratch scale models I've completed (in date order) are: Gun-boat Amarpa built by Thorneycroft for the Brazilian navy around 1905, 1/24th scale - Silver HMS Medea - M class destroyer 1915, 1/48th scale - Gold. My grandfather was an engineering petty officer on Medea, modelled just before Jutland in black overall Darby Hydroplane - post-war, working model, 1/6th scale Saunders-roe flying boat launch - 1/12th scale. This was the launch that took passengers out to the flying boats in the Solent between the wars - Silver 40 ft CMB WW1 - 1/48th scale Admiral's Launch WW1 - 1/48th scale Turbinia 1894 - 1/48th scale - Bronze WW1 ML210 - 1915 - 1/48th scale So, that's me, the sum of many mistakes, re-tries, impatience, and determination. I simply love ship models, as long as there are not too many knots. This thread is about a Fairmile B (#188), see https://laststandonzombieisland.com/2016/11/01/want-a-rn-coastal-forces-ml-from-wwii/motor-launch-ml-188-dazzle-painted-and-on-patrol-duty-in-fleet-anchorage/ that I started over a year ago and is now heading towards final making and assembly of parts and painting. Again, at 1/48th scale, intended as a companion model to the WW1 ML, really to show the evolution of the class and purpose from one war to the next. I chose this particular vessel because I like the dazzle scheme and the picture is very clear so the equipment fit is relatively certain, 3pdr forward, Holman projector amidships, Y gun and Rolls-Royce 2pdr aft and 6 depth-charges down each side. The challenge for me with this model is painting. I don't get much practice painting and so I'm not very good at it. I hope on this model to change that. The model is based on the coastal forces books and Lambert's plans, re-drawn to 1/48th, these are listed on another Fairmile B thread here so no need to repeat Once I work out how to load pictures, I'll post some images, but I don't have that many to date. I will try to take more if there is interest in my little project

Hi Folks, Here is the new build! This will be built alongside the Vosper as this is approaching the paint stage which I've got to admit is my least favourite task. Mainly because I'm C*** at it. The build will be built on Christians latest hull a 'Fairmile D' @ 1/72 complete with spray rails and rubbing strake which he has kindly let me have the first one. http://www.mtbhulls.co.uk/home This picture is the inspiration for the build, taken in Bastia, Corsica. The hull is a superb rendition of the Dog Boat hull requiring very little in the way of preperation, a few air bubbles and the odd blemish. Great job Christian. After washing, sanding with wet and dry, washing it was primed with Acrylic grey primer. Thanks for looking in Kev

I picked up this book on eBay for a couple of quid in the knowledge that it contained some nice drawings, which I planned to knife out and mount in a frame. It arrived today and having realised the age of the book, and how beautiful it is an object, I cannot now bring myself to cut it up. I am yet to read the book, but will do so, and report back once digested. It was first published in 1943, and was presumably written around that time. Perhaps events depicted will date it better. It contains wonderful little nods to history, like the following declaration; And the inscription dates this copy perfectly At 7/6 (about £13 now) this must have been a generous gift in wartime! I thought I would share the images with you so that others can enjoy them also. In addition to these drawings there are a few photos, two of Vospers and a couple of MGBs (Fairmile C and BPC/Elcos (I don’t know which, I’m not up on my MGBs)), but if you own any Coastal Forces reference material you will have seen these photos reprinted already. If anyone wants me to post them I will. Lewis

Hi All I'm not sure whether this has "appeared" before. A tweet popped up from @seaspitfires with a link to the film The Broad Fourteens by the Crown Film Unit and produced in 1943/44. A tale of Vospers in action and well worth a look for reference: https://t.co/2nM4m5CylY There also a useful commentary about the film on www.spitfiresoftheseaa.com. It was completed after VE Day and consequently its relevance as an "information" film diminished and was not released/circulated. The Crown Film Unit used serving servicemen (and equipment) and as a consequence it is the "real thing" albeit that the story is a fiction. Al

Just seen on another forum Italeri 2018 brochure http://www.themodellingnews.com/2018/02/preview-of-italeris-catalogue-new-items.html#more Happy Days Kev

Thought I'd post some pictures taken at IPMS Inspirational . . . Kev