Swedish MTB T14

[Bengalensis]

Edit 26th June 2022. As you can see on the dates I started this build over a year ago, in the Group Build "Anything but injection moulded". It progressed fairly well, but as summer -21 approached other things got in the way and it stalled. But now I will try to finish the last details so it can move from the "shelf of shame" to the "shelf of fame".

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I'm going to tackle a resin boat kit here, a 1/72 scale Italian Baglietto MAS 500-class boat, or as most of us know the type; MTB, Motor Torpedo Boat. I'm going to build one of the four individuals built 1937 that were sold from Italy to Sweden in late 1939, arriving Sweden in March 1940.

 

They were MAS 506, 508, 511 and 524, which in Sweden became T11, T12, T13 and T14. In the trial runs hull 524 was the fastest and reached 51,6 knots in top speed. They were 17 meter long mahogany wood hulls, weighted 22 tons and were powered by two mighty Isotta Fraschini 57 litres W18 engines producing about 1000 hp each.

 

The kit is made by Choroszy Modelbud in Poland. It's been in my stash for a few years now. The kit is labelled as T11, but with the row of small port holes in the hull it seems closer to T13-T14 rather than T11-T12. The box art shows the camouflage applied later in the war, otherwise they were painted grey. The neutrality stripes should be white.

 

 

There is a lot of resin parts, many very small, some photo etched brass, decals and some instructions.

 

 

The larger parts looks well cast with only a few air bubbles. A good deal of clean up will be required. The rows of port holes seen on T13-T14 are there but with a wafer of resin closing them. They are of course easy to fill for T11-T12.

 

 

The smaller parts in their bags, and a lot of them. Some are just very thin round or square profiles, all needing a lot of cleaning up and will be very fragile. I plan to change some of this for Evergreen strips or metal wire, depending on what might be best suited.

 

 

A look into the bag containing the engines and accessories. A lot of internal parts in the whole hull is supplied in the kit. How much of this that will be visible in the end remains to be seen.

 

 

Photo etched brass and decals. The stripes should be white and the colours of the flags are not very good. I haven't decided what individual I will make yet, so I may end up drawing and printing my own decals.

 

 

The instructions, all in the hand drawn very basic style that adds character to many resin kits.

 

 

 

 

I have for various reasons an interest in the Swedish MTB history since a very long time. Here are two books I have read many times, especially the early blue paper back that contains some very interesting and colourful stories.

 

 

Some photos in the larger book of T11-T14. The decks where a varnished mahogany planking. This is a problem I haven't solved yet, and I need to find some wood grain decals with suitable plank width, that I can use over some basic painting.

 

 

We'll see how this goes. I have other WIP's on my bench and the timing of the GB is not ideal for me, as spring weather is arriving here, meaning a lot of other things will demand my attention and time, but hopefully I will make it.

[Mjwomack]

Our first marine contribution- welcome aboard captain!

That looks so crisp- lovely.

I like your comment about the quality of instructions being a feature, part of the charm of resin models!

[nimrod54]

You are lucky to have instructions Jorgen, my RAF pilot didn't have any. Then again I guess that there is only one way to fix his head in place, and fortunately I remembered that the pipe he is smoking should go at the bottom.

 

This kit looks a far more complex affair, I kook forward to watching it come together. Good luck with the build.

 

John

[JeroenS]

Fascinating subject indeed and the kit looks to be very detailed and of good quality. I will enjoy following another one of your builds Jörgen!

[trickyrich]

very nice, I like this one a lot!!!  

 

Looks like there's plenty of detail on her as well, I do like that camp scheme.

 

good luck with this build.

[Jinxman]

Mouth wide open at all that resin - 😵. Good luck with her.

[Bengalensis]

On 20/03/2021 at 18:08, Mjwomack said:

Our first marine contribution- welcome aboard captain!

That looks so crisp- lovely.

I like your comment about the quality of instructions being a feature, part of the charm of resin models!

Thanks a lot. With resin being my favourite modelling medium I had to chose something marine to get a bit away from my usual modelling core.

Even air bubbles and warped castings are almost a feature in my resin impregnated world...

 

22 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

You are lucky to have instructions Jorgen, my RAF pilot didn't have any. Then again I guess that there is only one way to fix his head in place, and fortunately I remembered that the pipe he is smoking should go at the bottom.

 

This kit looks a far more complex affair, I kook forward to watching it come together. Good luck with the build.

 

John

Yes, instructions is not something one can always expect in this world, and even four parts can be a challenge...

Thanks a lot, I'll need all the luck there is.

 

13 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Fascinating subject indeed and the kit looks to be very detailed and of good quality. I will enjoy following another one of your builds Jörgen!

Thanks a lot Jeroen, glad to have you along. It's a very fascinating subject, I mean 2000 hp, aviation petrol and open exhausts; it doesn't get much better. The quality of the kit we can call varying, but I'm not complaining.

 

6 hours ago, trickyrich said:

very nice, I like this one a lot!!!  

 

Looks like there's plenty of detail on her as well, I do like that camp scheme.

 

good luck with this build.

Thanks a lot. There is a quite lot of detail indeed, and I suspect most under deck won't be seen. We'll see about leaving a few hatches open perhaps.

I have been leaning towards the plain grey scheme, but nothing is decided.

 

2 hours ago, Jinxman said:

Mouth wide open at all that resin - 😵. Good luck with her.

Thanks a lot, I'll need all the luck there is, a lot of resin to clean up...

[Bengalensis]

First thing was a rough cleaning up of the two hull halves, opening the port holes, opening up some air bubbles and applying filler to offending spots. As usual I'm using quality 2K automotive filler. The two step hull says we're basically dealing with a racing boat design carrying two torpedoes...

 

 

When sanding the joint line, which carried a lot of excess resin, I used one of the long boards I have for 1/1 scale car body preparation and a strip of 80-grit. The work bench is quickly back to the usual state of being filled with resin dust. Life is good.

 

 

The deck and the stern piece were also roughly cleaned up and some more filler applied and sanded. I have already cleaned the work area two times now

 

 

Two internal horizontal lines of strips are to be applied on each side, 28 pieces in total.

 

 

The strips are supplied as individual resin castings of 0,75x1 mm strips, complete with casting blocks, a few air bubbles and the usual cleaning up required.

 

 

It's easier to use Evergreen 0,75x1 mm strips, so that was my choice.

 

 

After some cutting and gluing I had this result. I don't like spray painting down into holes, so I think what I will do next is to spray the inside of these two pieces with the base colour, then glue the halves together, deal with the joint and spray the mid section again, followed by some washing.

 

 

I don't know the internal colour. Wooden hulls, but where they painted and if so what colour. I'm leaning towards a dark brownish. Again, very little will ever be seen...

[TonyW]

That's a very impressive looking kit. The internal hull detailing looks fantastic and you have only just started.  I think we are in for another treat here.

[Bengalensis]

22 hours ago, TonyW said:

That's a very impressive looking kit. The internal hull detailing looks fantastic and you have only just started.  I think we are in for another treat here.

Thanks a lot Tony. The kit is quite ambitious, perhaps over ambitious in some aspects, but should be an interesting build. I hope I can do it justice.

[Bengalensis]

I started my Monday morning spraying the inside of the hull sections. Then I had to sit in my office and do some real work for a few hours. With that done and paint drying I realized a second spraying was necessary, this is after that.

 

 

My plan now is to glue the hull sections and stern, sort the joints and repaint inside, get all internal parts for the hull ready and painted, then assemble all of that. I started with the fuel tanks, boxes and other parts for the two aft compartments.

 

 

The tiny resin parts for the ladder didn't look very promising, but I thought I'd give them a chance before scratching. To my surprise I managed to clean them up and glue them together, and even clean up the finished piece without too much trouble.

 

 

You have to like fiddling with small resin parts to enjoy this kit. The first batch of parts is ready.

 

 

The larger forward tank built up from nine parts. I missed a photo of the raw parts.

 

 

Next was the floor sections and equipment under the bridge. A second ladder was built. There are several problems with the floor sections. It seems two different sets are provided and none of them corresponds exactly to the somewhat unclear instructions.

 

 

I cleaned up all of the parts, but I will have to deal with the floor parts after the hull sections are joined. I expect I will have to scratch one or two floor panels to replace the kit parts, to end up with something that works. We'll see.

 

 

Next will be the parts for the engine compartment, a lot of clean up to do. The main engines are not very convincing representations of the mighty Isotta Fraschini's, they look more like some simple V-engines rather than the crowded Isotta W-engines. Also I'm not quite convinced how the two four cylinder low speed engines are connected to the main engines. But again, the parts may do the job considering how little that can probably be seen in the end.

 

[Bengalensis]

I sprayed a coat of gloss clear inside the hull sections before unmasking to make adding washes working better. Also there will be a good deal of sanding dust involved which will also be easier to deal with this way.

                          

 

A few hours of preparing made the parts for the engine room ready for the first paint coats. To my surprise there were no parts supplied for a ladder here, so I scratched one from 0,5 mm Evergreen rod.

 

 

The hull has also come together, a first major milestone. It was a quite involved affair, but I had expected far worse. First I will clean up the inside joints and extend some of the bulkheads to better match the deck, then there is quite a bit of work to get the outside sanded nice and smooth and some filling and shaping of the bow. I think I want a good coat of 2K surfacer sprayed and sanded outside before I finish painting the inside.

 

 

 

I also have to think of a display base so I can make preparations for fixing points before it's too late.

[JeroenS]

Nice work Jörgen, your cleanup routine must work very well, the parts always looks so nice when you're done with them... 

[Bengalensis]

13 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Nice work Jörgen, your cleanup routine must work very well, the parts always looks so nice when you're done with them... 

 

Thanks Jeroen. I'm just cleaning them up and fixing what's needed, but maybe +30 years of playing with resin helps.

[Bengalensis]

In the morning the bulkheads were extended and shaped to better match the deck, and the joint lines sanded. I have also realized I'm constantly thinking of the boat as T14, so that's the individual it will become.

 

 

The bottom of the hull needed filler both at the bow and after the first step. Sanding a straight centre line is interesting. I used a pencil to draw and redraw the line while sanding. Other times I use a fine black marking powder for full scale car body work. You can also grind down a pencil tip on fine sand paper to get a marking powder showing how you sand. Ready for a spraying session of surfacer.

 

 

Or not quite ready... I have thought that the exhaust outlets were on the small side, but suddenly I realized they are placed too far aft, almost at the last porthole. On the boats that ended up in Sweden they are placed further forward, just in front of the second last porthole. This wouldn't do.

 

 

The instructions show the exhaust outlets to be glued as separate parts, but I haven't given it much thought as they were moulded in. I did go through all the parts when I bought the kit to make sure nothing was missing, which was a good thing (always inspect all your kits at once when you get them to make sure nothing is missing, especially when it's low volume productions) and as I had made no note there had to be some resin parts in the bags. There was.

 

So I cut off the moulded in pieces, filled and sanded, fitted the new outlets and opened the holes. This matches my references much better. I can understand why Choroszy placed them further aft, as that is where they are drawn on drawings of the 500 MAS I can easily find, but not true for these boats. I will later place small cooling water outlets just aft of the last portholes, missing in the kit.

 

 

With the exhausts sorted the hull could be sprayed with a few good coats. Tomorrow this will get a thorough sanding and hopefully I can then finish painting the inside. There will also be some detailing of the exterior of the hull, but I want the shape and most sanding sorted first.

 

 

The deck also needs work. Several markings for parts placement are not needed for this version, and the precision in the thin raised edge, marking the line between paint and the mahogany deck planking, lacks any precision in alignment, even more so as I need to adjust the shape of the deck slightly to match the hull. It will be sanded off and a new line made from thin Evergreen strips later. I had to take some measurements of the two openings for the torpedo catapults to remember them.

 

Another problem is that the openings doesn't match some of the bulkheads in the hull, and neither of those exactly match any drawings I can find, and neither drawings nor kit parts seems to exactly match references photos of this boat, none of which are very good... I have to invent and adjust a bit. Here the small forward hatch still needs to move some 5 mm towards the bow.

 

[nimrod54]

Really nice progress Jorgen, you have made a great job of getting the hull together.

[Bengalensis]

21 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

Really nice progress Jorgen, you have made a great job of getting the hull together.

 

Thanks a lot.

The pieces needs a bit of work and fix to go together, but it could be worse.

[Bengalensis]

The outside of the hull was sanded smooth in the morning and then the paint inside could be completed. It now needs a new gloss coat tomorrow, then work can start on the two deck levels under the bridge.

 

 

Painting of all the finished interior parts have started.

 

 

I realized some sort of walkway was needed between the engines; the engineer can't be left to trip over all the formers while doing his important work at +45 knots... I made something simple from Evergreen strips to be painted some wood colour.

 

 

I also finished moving the forward hatch and shaving off the irregular deck edge strips.

 

[Bengalensis]

Some more painting done and then I sorted the bridge decks. The large part from the kit could be cut down and modified to fit. A new floor hatch had to be made from left over pieces as the supplied hatch was too small. The lower section was scratched from sheet styrene as none of kit parts would fit. Choroszy has several versions of the 500-MAS boat available, so perhaps parts for different versions were mixed up in my sample.

 

 

The hull is now ready to receive internal parts.

 

 

And parts are painted and ready to be installed. The exhaust pipes will have to be modified or scratched when the engines are permanently fitted.

 

[JeroenS]

That's a nice green for the engines, and that wooden deck looks fiiine!

 

Man, I so want to start building! My stash will get liberated from storage on Tuesday so that's something at least!

[Bengalensis]

On 26/03/2021 at 20:09, JeroenS said:

That's a nice green for the engines, and that wooden deck looks fiiine!

 

Man, I so want to start building! My stash will get liberated from storage on Tuesday so that's something at least!

 

Thanks a lot Jeroen. I hope you can get back to the workbench at your new place soon.

[Bengalensis]

I have today drawn and printed a new set of decals for my T14 version. And that's all progress there has been. I need to sort the display base before working more on the hull, but I keep finding other things to do...

 

[trickyrich]

Gosh that's lovely work Jörgen and quick as well!! 

 

I do remember some of your other stuff you've built and you are a bit of a master with resin!

 

I do like the idea of using 2K automotive filler, I'll have to remember that for some of my larger resin builds as well.

 

She's coming together superbly and I'm looking forward to seeing the completed build.

[Bengalensis]

10 hours ago, trickyrich said:

Gosh that's lovely work Jörgen and quick as well!! 

 

I do remember some of your other stuff you've built and you are a bit of a master with resin!

 

I do like the idea of using 2K automotive filler, I'll have to remember that for some of my larger resin builds as well.

 

She's coming together superbly and I'm looking forward to seeing the completed build.

 

Thanks a lot Rich, the preference for resin runs very deep as you know.

 

2K automotive filler is superb for this, really worth any extra trouble.

[Bengalensis]

 

At last I have managed a base, just a simple piece of varnished wood and two polished brass tubes, but it will do, I think.