Future Projects
Future Projects
All boats in the future projects category are boats that i at least already have the hull for usually with some fittings and running gear and a plan.
Projects include: 58 inch patrol boat with daughter boat. This is a large hull from a thornycroft 75ft hulled patrol boat. The hull was made for me by the head moulder of the Tyler boat co based in my old hometown of Tonbridge in Kent. They made lots of fibreglass hulls for vosper's and the Nelson range of boats. I intend to semi freelance this one based loosely on a Nigerian navy patrol boat from the 70's but with the addition of a launching ramp in the stern for a working rib.
Landing Craft with Tank
For this one i have the fibreglass hull of the landing craft and the tank will at some point make it.
Fairmile D dog boat
For this project i have the fibreglass hull, plan and some of the weapons. The fairmile D or Dog boats were built from 1942 and designed to be a suitable opponent to the german eboat. They were built as both Motor Gun boats and Motor Torpedo boat and had four packard petrol engines with 4800hp each giving a top speed around 29 knots. They proved to be excellent boats.
US Navy PT Boat
The american Elco PT Boat was based on a british design. Powered by three petrol engines with a length of 80 feet these boats were capable of speeds around 40 knots. The armament was steadily increased during the war culminating in them being very heavily armed for there size. The most famous of these boats was pt109 which was commanded by to be president John F Kennedy. One night on patrol his boat while stopped was hit by a japanese destroyer and cut in half, he and his crew managed to get to an island and were later rescued. A film was made about this called PT109. The boats also featured in the film They Were Expendable starring John Wayne.
Below is a collection of research photos of Elco PT Boats which includes a picture of JFK on the bridge of pt109
Vosper Thornycroft 72ft MTB
The 72 foot Vosper MTB is the quintisential motor torpedo boat of world war 2. Fast and manoeuverable and eventually heavily armed they took on all german shipping. The model will be based on a late war type mtb 488 which had two torpedo tubes, a 6pdr forward and twin oerlikon 20mm cannon on the stern. These little boats were really motor gunboats with torpedoes.
