A pair of Vosper 73ft Motor Torpedo Boats

The 73 ft Vosper Motor Torpedo Boat was a pre-war design that was soon discovered to be woefully outclassed by the German S-boats.  With Torpedoes are the main armament they were not really intended to mix it with the heavier and faster diesel powered German craft, yet in reality they performed well.  This was mainly due to the different operational emphasis between the two forces.  The Royal Navy, as always, emphasised aggressive tactics, whilst for the Germans success was in the mission, and they were not in the business of fighting for fighting's sake.   

My Vosper 73ft MTBs with
the hull of an S-boat lurking
in the background.

My Vospers were built separately, and it shows.  I am very much still learning my craft in terms of scratch building these Coastal forces vessels.  For all that however they closely resemble each other and have the look I was going for.

I began with the hull in 1:300 (or more accurately at 1mm to 1 ft) cut from balsa strip, shaped and sanded.  The hull was scorched to give it a smoother look, and the cutaways for the torpedo recesses moulded.  I then began the bow section, with a second layer added.  The bow of the Vosper is higher than the stern, and the extra layer gives it the correct appearance.  Not that there are any weapons on the bow section.  The Vosper has an issue with forward firing!

The Superstructure was then added, in pieces, with a clear plastic window section that is painted silver behind it.  It just looks right.  The open bridge goes above this.   

Boat 27, with the tiny life raft on the fore-deck. 

The torpedo tubes are plastic cylinders cut with a sharp angle at the torpedoes business end.  I will fess up and admit that these are the plastic rod that holds an earbud together.  Thin slivers of these, cut crosswise form the lifebelts hung on the outside of the bridge superstructure.  In addition to this I used the same plastic rod to form the depth charge throwers, cut lengthwise, with a bamboo "barrel" shape painted in gunmetal to form the depth charge itself.

British Coastal Forces specialised in depth charge attacks.  Thrown accurately under the bows of the enemy they represented a devastating weapon.  Peter Scott's account of using this attack is one of the most exciting pieces of non fiction I`ve ever read.  It reads like a boys-own story of derring-do.#

The Vospers were given a pale cream deck colouring and a darker grey hull, representing an earlier war paint scheme.   The metallic fittings were finished in gun metal and the whole vessel varnished in satin.  

These models are for wargaming.  I added the dice frame to the transom intending that this should show the remaining flotation points for the vessel.  It does occur to me however that this may be better as a speed indicator.    

I have yet to add the Ensigns and some rigging, but essentially that's it.  The Vosper's are done.   
I`m quite proud of them.