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1/72 HMS Brave Borderer P1011


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History:

 

HMS Brave Borderer P1011 was one of two of Royal Navy Brave class fast patrol boats, designed for offensive operations in coastal waters.  She carried a complement of 3 officers & 17 ratings.

 

She was launched at the Hants yard of Vospers Limited, in Hampshire, on January 7, 1958, was accepted for service by the Royal Navy in January, 1960, and retired in 1970.  She was named by Lady Grantham, who was the wife of Admiral Sir Guy Grantham, Commander in Chief, Portsmouth. 

 

Brave Borderer was the first vessel to be powered entirely by Bristol Marine Proteus gas turbine engines.  No diesel or other reciprocating machinery was fitted. In addition to her main power plant of Marine Proteus engines, each developing 3,500 HP, Brave Borderer was fitted with Rover gas turbines that drove 40-kilowatt generators to provide electric power.  The Marine Proteus was basically the same as the Proteus engine that powered the Bristol Britannia airliner, but operating at a much lower rating to ensure the long life required in naval service.

 

During trials, HMS Brave Borderer achieved a top speed of over 50 knots.  She achieved recognition as the world’s fastest warship in 1959. 

 

She was designed to carry four 21” torpedoes, two Bofors 4 mm guns, two rocket flare projectors, two depth charges, or ten 21” mines.  

 

In addition to her armament, she could carry an additional 6 tons of fuel in four external deck tanks.  These tanks could be quickly jettisoned in the event of imminent action.  The presence of the auxiliary fuel tanks placed some restriction on the amount of armament carried.

 

Although Brave Borderer did not see combat action, she was damaged in September, 1965 , in Waterford Harbour, by IRA anti-tank rounds.

 

The build:

 

My in progress build thread can be seen here.

 

For this build, I decided configure Brave Borderer in an effort to show a number of the different weapons & auxiliary equipment she carried over her decade of service.  These include two Bofors 40mm guns, two depth charges, two 21” torpedoes, two rocket flare projectors and two external deck mounted fuel tanks.  I’ve also added a Zodiac inflatable boat on her forward deck as was used by Brave Borderer during her service with Fishery Protection.

 

As the basis for this build, I was able to use an old damaged 1/72 Tamiya Perkasa model I had in my parts bin.

 

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What I thought would be a relatively easy build converting the Perkasa model to Brave Borderer turned into 18 months of conducting research and scratch building the majority of the model.   3D printed torpedoes & Bofors guns in Mark lX mountings were added.  Unfortunately, for such a unique & special boat, there’s not a lot of detailed information available.  As a result, I’ve included a number of photos below, that I hope will help future modellers who want to attempt building Brave Borderer or her sister Brave Swordsman.

 

A walk around:

 

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Some Details:

 

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On display:

 

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Thanks to all the Britmodeller members who helped & encouraged me during this build.

 

And thanks to you for looking in.

 

John

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6 hours ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

John, are there any Brave Borderer models in any museums around the world? Do You have such information?

Hi Dmitriy,

 

The only museum I found with information about Brave Borderer was the Imperial War Museum.   No model, just a few photos.  There are a few privately owned models I found searching the Internet, but none with the detail I was looking for.  

 

John

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6 minutes ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

John, so now You are the world's most important expert on this ship! 😀

 

Dmitriy

 

I've always liked Laurence J. Peter's definition of an expert - 'a person who makes three correct guesses consecutively.' :rolleyes:  L.J. Peter was the author of the Peter Principle .

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1 hour ago, JohnWS said:

a person who makes three correct guesses consecutively.' :rolleyes:  L.J. Peter was the author of the Peter Principle .

So very true sounds just like where I work  :doh:

 

Said it time and time again stunning build and skills on show I will be picking your knowledge cells in the new year about Perkasa if you don't mind need to rest my eye's from 350 scale for a while  :hypnotised:

 

Stay Safe and Best Wishes

beefy

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29 minutes ago, beefy66 said:

I will be picking your knowledge cells in the new year about Perkasa if you don't mind need to rest my eye's from 350 scale for a while 

 

Anytime, beefy!

 

I might need help when I start my next 1/350 build.

 

John

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Hello John,

 

I ve been following your fantastic build.  I am very  impressed by the little scratch-build details, which have succeeded so cleanly!

Thanks for sharing.

Regards

Andreas

 

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Those of you who are familiar with my previous builds might remember that the last thing I've did on those builds was put the model in virtual water (since I don't know how to make seascapes :blush:).  This build is no different.

 

 So, here's Brave Borderer underway in virtual water.

 

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Stay safe!

 

John

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2 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

BTW, my first reaction to your virtual waterscape above was that you posted a photo of the prototype underway! 

Most of the colour photos of Brave Borderer were B&W photos colourized (most incorrectly).  That made it difficult to determine the correct colours for the build.  Now I've got a few 'real' colour photos of her, or at least of the model.  :winkgrin:

 

John

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