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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'm back, this time with a history thread. One thing about moving, you get to clear out stuff and my wife came across a box a photographs of a model I built ~20 years, a Darby Hydroplane. The pictures chronical the little project quite well, so I'd thought there might be some interest in my posting the build here. This will be short and quick (as its historic), but it does show some techniques that may be of interest. The idea came from a copy of the MotorBoat and Yachting Manual, but frustratingly, the copy with the lines in seems to have gone missing in the intervening years. This is the 13th edition, I think the lines were from the 11th edition but I can't be sure These turn up on old bookshops (if any still survive) for a few pounds, I'll keep looking, it must be here somewhere. If it turns up, I'll post the lines, also I can't see my own drawing, so I must have redrawn them on paper... For the history of the boat, it was created just after the war to help get people into small powerboat racing. It was small enough to build in a single garage and used (I believe) a Ford standard 8 engine, inboard. This description is from the Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club history page The Club received a boost at this time when Guy Batholomew, a director of the Daily Mirror newspaper, became interested in the racing whilst on holiday in the area. Keen to revive racing after the war, he commissioned Alan Darby to build six identical single step hydroplanes powered by British Anzani 350cc engines. These craft were hired at £10 for the season to local businessmen during the early 1950’s. The idea proved a tremendous success because the following year these drivers went out and bought their own outfits. The popularity of inboard racing continued into the 1960’s thanks to the Albatross Marine concern at St Olaves who produced a range of aluminium runabouts. The boats were a hard chine design with a small step and must have been a lot of fun to race around the Broads The boats were built upside down by positioning transverse frames on a building frame, so I decided to do the same, the string is to keep everything straight. Being 1:12th scale, a lot of this build is almost full scale practice First 4 frames in place The frames were made like you woudl a model aircraft, pinned onto greaseproof paper while the glue dries, then mounded on a removable transverse beam which is located in the build frame The stem piece was laminated on a former It runs back to frame 6 which is the step Chine corners installed here Once all the frames were in place, the lower hull ply was added, 0.8 mm thick, you can see the rear hull binds in past the step to frame 3 The hull can now come off the build frame and the upper transom piece and sheer timbers added The wood is a mixture of lime and spruce