Steve D Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 S309, Grey Fox was one of the 7 steam gunboats built to the Denny & Sons design. They were intended to counter the S-boot threat in the channel and were the smallest RN vessels equipped with steam turbines. They were 135 ft on the waterline, 23 ft 4 inches in breadth and had a draft of 3 ft 9 inches forward. Displacing 135 tons (initially) they could make 36 knots. Grey Fox was built by Yarrow and launched in September 1941, she survived the war and was sold in 1947 They bristled with guns, of various calibres', really being armed from whatever guns were available at the time. The main armament was a HA 3inch gun of WW1 vintage, originally intended as a land-based anti-aircraft gun. The gun shield sshows was only fitted to this gun when mounted in SGB's. Grey Fox saw action in the channle and was there at D day. The following action report is taken from a thread about Grey Fox on the BMPT forum July 10th 1942. In a furious night encounter, off Etaples, Grey Fox and Grey Wolf engaged 6 German minesweepers. They sank 2 but a 3rd collided with Grey Fox with such force that everyone on her bridge was thrown on their faces and a huge hole was driven in her hull. Grey Fox struggled home, with her bows almost awash. And is backed up by this first hand account of the incident So far as I remember the almost simultaneous result was a sharp heel to starboard as the ship turned, and a burst of gunfire from our own gunners. This was followed by what my mind registered as an explosion on the port side forward. I was thrown violently out of my seat and against the ship's side. As I picked myself up the ship slowly righted itself and I have an indelible picture on my mind of seeing sea water pouring through the open watertight door in the bulkhead between the galley flat and the wardroom passage through which spare ammunition had been passed. At that precise moment there was no one forward of that bulkhead and by good fortune, or perhaps design, the watertight door closed from forward and as I pulled it together the inrush and water pressure behind it helped to shut it making it easy to knock the clips on. We were well down by the bows and I think fear of sinking was uppermost, but our forward gunner was still firing. Some minutes later the First Lieutenant came down and between us we completed shoring up the bulkhead with timbers kept at the far end of the galley flat for that purpose. I then learned from Lieutenant Erskine-Hill that what I had thought was an explosion was the sound of the German R-Boat as it rammed itself through the ship's side into the wardroom and forward messdeck. It shortly afterwards fell away and sank, leaving a large gash in our bows ... The next couple of hours or so were considerably nerve-wracking, sitting on watch with the ship very much down by the bow and wondering, apprehensively, whether the bulkhead against which I sat would hold. The level of water on the other side could clearly be seen by the condensation line which was somewhere near shoulder high, with the deck of the wireless office awash ... We were apparently wavering sluggishly all over the place but heading slowly in the correct general direction and managed to get within sight of Newhaven under our own steam. However, we could not be trusted to keep a straight course to enter harbour unaided and "Grey Wolf" took us in tied alongside. I do not remember ever being so relieved to get off watch! Daylight revealed what a remarkable escape we had had. Lieutenant Erskine-Hill solved the problem of inspecting the damage by the simple expedient of rowing the dinghy through the hole in the ship's side! Following the conclusion of the build tread Grey Fox build, here is the finished vessel in its display case and some detail shots And for a size comparison, here it is next to the Fairmile B I built last year to the same scale Fairmile B build, waterline the same Thanks again to those who followed and provided help and kind comments, Schnellboot thread starting tomorrow Steve 28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 Second picture of the Fairmile B comparison, seems I tried to exceed the number of allowed attachments... Steve 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missile-monkey Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 love it......................very very well done Regards MM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancona Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Absolutely stunning result Steve, I have followed the WIP avidly, and greatly admire your skill and tenacity. looks as if it should be in a museum ! Cheers David 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 A very credible build and a fitting tribute to a largely unknown part of Coastal Forces One to be proud of Avoid the numpties and stay safe Kev 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robgizlu Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Beautiful model(s) - and lovely display case BTW. Loved the blog - learned loads and you've done total justice to a very fine looking vessel. One to be proud of Rob 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 All I can do is echo what the experts above have said. Great stuff and a beautiful piece of work. Stuart 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Stunning build Steve and a great WIP I like others have learned a lot from your builds and look forward to the next one Stay Safe beefy 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swralph Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Superb building skills and model.😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 12 hours ago, robgizlu said: Beautiful model(s) - and lovely display case BTW. Thanks Rob, case from Peter Jones at DSC Showcases in Newbury. Great guy, has made all my cases, I can thoroughly recommend him 👍 And to you and the others who may have learned something from my mistakes, that's what this is all about. Encouraging scratch building to (hopefully) a high standard finish makes so many more subjects and scales available for modelling than the kit providers offer Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socjo1 Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Really masterpiece of modelling! Beauty! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 Outstanding! Superb! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 Quite superb Steve, both of them but more especially Grey Fox. 👍 Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishbed Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 simply stunning. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Outstanding 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 "STUNNING " well done sir 👏 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 A replica to be proud of @Steve D - definitely a contendender for the Britmodeller project of 2020. The product of craftsmanship of the very highest order coupled with a willingness to share and explain the wide range of techniques you used through your WIP thread. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 Thanks again for all the kind comments, I have to admit to being pleased with the result. If we ever see exhibitions again, I will enter it to see what people think of it in the flesh.. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 Outstanding work all round! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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