DIpping my toes back into Maritime - a 1/72 Vosper MTB

[Terry1954]

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

Edited September 2, 2018 by Terry1954
update text

[beefy66]

Looking good so far and I’m sure you will appreciate all of the advice from everyone around here as I have during my builds 

 

Great bunch of people with a great deal of information on hand to help you along the way 

 

Look forward to more on your project. 

 

beefy 

[Courageous]

A good start Terry.

I'm cutting my teeth on the ASR launches before moving onto the MTB's so I'll be following along with this build. 

Stuart

[longshanks]

Welcome to the fold / madhouse Terry.

 

Re the exhaust out let you are quite right there were three engines. Two at the front of the engineroom with shafts coming out the back. One in the centre rear, shaft going forwards and then through a gear box out the rear. At the rear on the stbd side is a V8 generator which exhausts on the stbd side.

 

Good start on the project, looking forward to seeing more …..

 

Kev

[Terry1954]

1 hour ago, Courageous said:

I'm cutting my teeth on the ASR launches before moving onto the MTB's so I'll be following along with this build.

Thanks Stuart. Yes, I've been following your ASR launch build - very nice. I also acquired one of those at a recent show. Plan would be to start that after the MTB, although I'm feeling bold enough to convert that to an MGB40. Its certainly an interesting area for modellers!

 

1 hour ago, longshanks said:

Welcome to the fold / madhouse Terry.

 

Re the exhaust out let you are quite right there were three engines. Two at the front of the engineroom with shafts coming out the back. One in the centre rear, shaft going forwards and then through a gear box out the rear. At the rear on the stbd side is a V8 generator which exhausts on the stbd side.

 

Good start on the project, looking forward to seeing more …..

 

Kev

Thanks Kev. I thought so re the engine issue. Having just started to seriously look at MGB's/MTB's I'm amazed at the variety of types and potential modelling subjects. Looking forward to this extension (for me) to the hobby!

 

Cheers both

 

Terry

[robgizlu]

Great to see this Terry - classic kit.  This was my first foray into Coastal Craft and FWIW here's the blog

 

https://www.plasticpanzers.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=113

 

The Coastal Craft History volumes are totally addictive.

Good job on the vents - it makes a huge difference and Yes to the rear handholds which foolishly I left.

Thoroughly looking forwards to this.  At some stage I'll try one with the radar housing fitted.

BTW - by my recollection getting the deck to fit the hull is a struggle

Yo!

Rob

 

[Terry1954]

25 minutes ago, robgizlu said:

Great to see this Terry - classic kit.

Thanks Rob. The link is very helpful and that looks like a great build.

 

Those Coastal Craft volumes are certainly addictive. At some stage I also plan to get the two volumes of Coastal Forces books by John Lambert and Al Ross. It looks like they are being re-issued later this year though?

 

Not fitted the deck to the hull yet, and it looks like it could be a struggle as you say. I did find getting the bottom, sides and rear together was quite a struggle also!

 

Thanks again

 

Terry

 

 

[JohnWS]

Great progress, Terry! 👍

 

Welcome aboard!

 

John

 

 

[Terry1954]

A little bit of progress on this one, with most attention being on the T21 and Sabre in the aircraft WIP. Need to get those two done and dusted to focus more on this.

 

Spent a pleasant hour or so completing the drilling and dremel work on the inside of these little beasties

 

 

Just need to clean up the rims and the outsides which I hope will be a lesser task.

 

Some questions for the experts on here or even just those who know more about these boats than me!

 

Looking at the 20mm Oerlikon platform, I probably replace things with some aftermarket offerings, but I have some questions around this part

 

 

It appears to be a solid stepped affair, and I'm trying to work out whether if on the real thing, there are gaps on the vertical parts of the steps? i.e. spaces which show through to the underlying deck?

 

My sketch shows the bits I refer to. The upper diagram is as per kit, and the lower is speculative, showing where I thought there might be gaps? I cant see this detail on any plans or pictures. Anyone know?

 

 

I guess I'm trying to understand whether this platform is really a series of horizontal round steps that fit on the horizontal parts of the supports here:

 

 

My other question is around the rear hull. The picture shows the back end with steps removed and drilled ready for wire. At the bottom, the lower hull plate seems to stick out to the rear a little. Question is have I just badly aligned it or is there a real lip there?

 

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Terry

[JohnWS]

Hi Terry;

 

I'm not a Vosper MTB expert, but I'll try to help.  Others with more knowledge may chirp in.

 

Here's a photo of the Oerlikon gun bandstand mounted on a Vosper MTB, showing solid vertical surfaces.  

 

 

Also, I pretty sure the transom is flat with no step at the bottom.

 

John

[Terry1954]

27 minutes ago, JohnWS said:

Hi Terry;

 

I'm not a Vosper MTB expert, but I'll try to help.  Others with more knowledge may chirp in.

 

Here's a photo of the Oerlikon gun bandstand mounted on a Vosper MTB, showing solid vertical surfaces.  

 

 

Also, I pretty sure the transom is flat with no step at the bottom.

 

John

Hi John,

 

Thanks. That picture is the best I have seen, and sorts that issue for me. There is actually a lot of other detail there that helps a lot. Really helpful.

 

From everything I have seen, I also think the transom is flat, I suspect I must have slightly mis-aligned things at the bottom!

 

Cheers

 

Terry

 

 

[longshanks]

A picture speaks a thousand words …..  perfect John

 

Transom flat in the plans I have

 

Kev

[JohnWS]

A larger version of that photo can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/bud_scotland/8194706876.

 

If you decide to build additional Coastal Forces models, many on this forum (including Kev & myself) have purchased the following invaluable books for reference;

 

Allied Coastal Forces of World War II Volume 1 - Fairmile Designs and US Submarine Chasers, by John Lambert & Al Ross, ISBN-10: 1557500347 & ISBN-13: 978-1557500342.

 

Allied Coastal Forces of World War II Volume 2 - Vosper MTBs and US Elcos, , by John Lambert & Al Ross, ISBN-10: 0851776027 & ISBN-13: 978-0851776026.

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Terry1954]

27 minutes ago, longshanks said:

Transom flat in the plans I have

Thanks Kev!

 

19 minutes ago, JohnWS said:

A larger version of that photo can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/bud_scotland/8194706876.

The larger picture is even more helpful john, so thanks again. There is quite a bit of detail to be gleaned from that.

 

I think it is inevitable that I purchase those two volumes at some point in the near future. 

 

Cheers both.

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

I've been doing lots of research and general looking over pictures and plans in order to work out what I should replace/correct, and also generally get my head around these boats. I have a couple of good photo's of the bridge, so can now start to work out how to scratch build the detail back in.

 

Having already removed the Torpedo loading chocks from the deck, I have decided to do even more surgery on the deck!

 

I plan to replace the whole Oerlikon gun platform and supports, probably also the gun itself at some point.

 

When I compare the deck detail in the kit, with the plans, the platform seems to fowl the deck 6 inch cowl vent supports, which is not the case certainly on the plans. Also, in order to get all of the existing detail down to a flush deck I needed to remove the cowl vents as well. They can all be replaced later on.

 

 

 

So as I'm either scratch building the gun platform and supports, or replacing it with an aftermarket one, I have taken all the platform supports off, as well as the 6 inch cowl vent supports around the gun platform.

 

 

You will also notice at the rear, there is a white plastic card circular plug where I removed one of the aft 12 inch cowl deck vent support. I did this as it seems to completely fowl the vent chamber(?) next to it. Looking at the plans the vent support needs to shift back a very small amount. When the vent chamber(?) is in position, it tilts back and prevented the 12 inch cowl vent immediately adjacent from fitting properly it seems.

 

This shows what got removed (for now)

 

 

Finally, although some of them got slightly damaged on removal, I have numbered and retained the existing gun platform supports, to aid scratch building replacement, more detailed parts. I thought this might be prudent given that their heights vary from forward to aft, due to the deck slope. 

 

 

Lots more thinking and prep work on the deck to do yet.

 

Thats all for now.

 

Terry

[seadog]

Great Little Ships and Coastal Craft Models do excellent upgrade bits. GLS do an excellent Oerlikon and bandstand, f'r instance which I used on mine.

[longshanks]

Wow you're not taking any prisoners are you !

 

Kev

[robgizlu]

Nice work Terry.  Fraser is right - I'd definitely plan to use some of the Coastal craft accessories

Thy actually now market a set specifically for upgrading this Vosper BTW.

The bandstand supports were lattice framed and are available in the CC bandstand set though with the ammunition lockers in situ aren't that easy to see.

IMHO the ammunition lockers are one of the weaker CC offerings.  There are some on Shapeways that I've considered getting.

Keep it coming

Rob

[Terry1954]

3 hours ago, seadog said:

Great Little Ships and Coastal Craft Models do excellent upgrade bits. GLS do an excellent Oerlikon and bandstand, f'r instance which I used on mine.

Thanks Fraser, I'll check those out. BTW, I took a look at your website. I do like your art work!

 

2 hours ago, longshanks said:

Wow you're not taking any prisoners are you !

 

Kev

Serious intentions here Kev! 😁

 

1 hour ago, robgizlu said:

Nice work Terry.  Fraser is right - I'd definitely plan to use some of the Coastal craft accessories

Thy actually now market a set specifically for upgrading this Vosper BTW.

The bandstand supports were lattice framed and are available in the CC bandstand set though with the ammunition lockers in situ aren't that easy to see.

IMHO the ammunition lockers are one of the weaker CC offerings.  There are some on Shapeways that I've considered getting.

Keep it coming

Rob

Thanks Rob. I'll look at all those.

 

Will try and keep it coming!

 

Terry

[Courageous]

After seeing this start , I'm worried about starting mine now .

 

Stuart

 

 

[Terry1954]

7 hours ago, Courageous said:

After seeing this start , I'm worried about starting mine now .

 

Stuart

 

 

Shouldn't worry Stuart. Building it OOB makes a perfectly good Vosper by all accounts. I'm just a bit of a perfectionist sometimes. Thats why my start to finish construction times sometime span years!

 

Go for it!

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

This arrived a couple of days ago, a bargain at £16 I thought. It has enough further information in the form of drawings and photos to help me rebuild the detail in the bridge and main superstructure area. The deeper I go into this build the more I am enjoying it. Will post pictures when I get a bit more done.

 

 

More soon

 

Terry

[seadog]

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

The deeper I go into this build the more I am enjoying it. Will post pictures when I get a bit more done.

Great! Total Immersion...

[Terry1954]

7 hours ago, seadog said:

Great! Total Immersion...

Almost feels like glug glug glug at the moment............!

 

Terry

[Terry1954]

I managed to do a bit more work this week, mostly around the bridge structure and the detailing there of, as well as cleaning up the deck which is almost ready to start reconstruction the parts I removed! 

 

 

So with the bridge, I'm using some drawings from the John Lambert/Les Brown book which is an excellent reference source for me. I'm still learning about all these boats, and I'm finding the subject very absorbing.

 

Firstly the bridge sides needed modifying to make them a little higher at the front and sides. Also I've started to modify the bulkhead that supports the steering position, making that deeper too, but also removing the stepped roof above the doorway. There will be a lot more detail needed along the top - various controls and instruments.

 

 

In this next picture you can see that the shaft from the wheel housing down to the rudder linkages is actually offset and does not run vertically, at least thats what the plan shows! You can also see the bulkhead has been made deeper, to better match the drawings and photos. The second picture below shows a mat which will be placed where the helmsman stands, and a small box to the right which apparently is the captains stool!

 

 

I've spent most of this evening concentrating on the starboard side of the inside of the bridge. There is more to do, but its coming along..........

 

 

In the last two pictures the bridge is just blue tacked together to test everything fits ok.

 

There is quite a bit more to be done in the bridge area, and just behind it, but I'm pleased with progress so far, and the book contains a lot of really helpful detail drawings of many of the key parts.

 

There will be a bit of a break to proceedings as I am off to Canada on Sunday for 12 days to see my son! 

 

More on this when I return.

 

Terry