Thought I'd share the initial progress on building the (ancient) Airfix 1/72 scale Vosper 73ft MTB.

I picked this up in my local model shop; it was an opened box and the hull had already been partly assembled. Well, sort of. It took an awful lot of filling and sanding to get it looking anywhere near right. Also, this is the first model-making I've done for well over 10 years, and the eyes aren't quite as sharp as they were, so I'm sure it will look far from perfect!

Anyway, this is planned as a warm-up exercise before I start building a Fairmile D in 1/72. So of course I will have to refresh my skills on assembling the weapons kits from David Parkins on this one!

Progress so far: the hull is together; I've added exhaust pipes (I'm cribbing shamelessly from Longshanks8's Vosper thread for this build); put some brass transom rungs on; and started removing the torpedo chocks so that I can replace them with PE items. There is one of the moulded chocks left on the deck in this photo, so you can see how 'blobby' they look. Mind you, the date stamp on the hull casting is 1971, to be fair!

And a couple of better photos:

Go Graham! I'd say you are starting this one just right.

Good start. Sometimes those old kits "force" us to be creative. Silk purse from a sow's ear as the old sying goes.
Keep up the good work.

Very nice.

Those handrails on the stern looking petty good, nice detail.

Mark

Thanks for the comments gents

Updates may be a bit thin for the next week or so as I have my daughters visiting; first time I have seen them since the end of Feb!

Back again

I've been trying to add some detail to the bridge. This has mostly just exposed how out of practice I am, and also how awful I am at scratch-building! The merciless eye of the macro lens makes things look even worse of course. But fortunately age is beginning to catch up with my eyes, and so in real life it all looks fine! Better than what Airfix provided anyway...





I'm sure a coat of primer will also hide many sins! (I hope).

Some more slow progress with this one. The bridge is now together, lots of Mr Surfacer needed to tidy up the front face of it (I should buy shares in that stuff...) No idea how some people here manage to scratch-build such minute details!





I drilled out the deck vents. The 20mm will be built using one of David Parkins' fantastic sets.

Graham,

Nice work.

Mark

Thanks Mark

I managed to "play with my toy boat" a bit more today. Really starting to take shape now I think. I'm doing this build mainly to refresh my model-making skills (such as they are) before tackling a project I've been wanting to do for years - a 1/72 Fairmile D MGB. And working on this old Airfix kit is certainly good practice; I'm learning some new tricks too!

For the first time I've tried using PVA for attaching particularly small pieces of PE, such as the clips on hatches and the ready use ammo lockers - wish I'd used it before when I was building my 1/72 corvette! It's much more forgiving than CA glue, and gives pretty good results I think.

I've also been getting a crash refresher course in putting PE together, courtesy of the GLS sets. And have found that cutting the pieces off the fret on a hard surface (like the back of a steel rule) is a good way of avoiding any burrs on the parts. So far I've just assembled one of the ready use lockers - three to go. Hopefully I will improve as I build the others. I wish my eyes were sharper though!

Next step will be to try to scratch build the wind deflectors around the bridge - wish me luck! And from some dry fitting I've seen that there are some huge gaps where the aft and of the superstructure fits (or doesn't fit) to the deck. Will need to get a bit creative there I think...








The macro lens is pretty unforgiving isn't it?

Graham,

The ammo locker looks great, I am sure those latches weren't the easiest to install. The gun platform being notch to the hatch could open, would that be standard on that ship? The gun crew would have to be aware of it when swinging the gun around.

Mark

The latches were entertaining, let's put it that way!

Yes, the gun installation was standard on these boats, weird design eh? I expect it might have led to a few broken ankles in the heat of the action!

Well here's a little more progress to show you! Getting the bridge to fit is proving to be an absolute ********* I've had to add several fillets of plastic strip, and of course resorted to the old faithful Mr Surfacer again. After a lot of testing, filing, and sanding, it's finally getting closer to being at least workable.



I've also been working on various other small bits and pieces. Added the mountings for the lifebelts on the side of the bridge, a grab handle to one of the cowlings...



And some (very) rudimentary lids and hinges to the grenade boxes.



Somehow doing those few things seems to have taken me pretty much the entire day!

Graham,

Thank god for Mr. Surfacer don't know what I would do without it.

Mark

Brilliant stuff isn't it? I've been using some more today! have managed to make the new wind deflectors around the bridge. They aren't brilliant, but have come out a bit better than I expected to be honest. I think with a little bit of cleaning up they should be ok.

Next step will be to add the navigation lights, and then some frames for the windscreens (?) to attach to, and then I think the bridge will just about be ready for a coat of paint.

Graham,

Nice job on the wind deflectors really does add to the bridge detail.

Mark

Thanks Mark

Here's today's sitrep. Made up and added the navigation lights...



Added a small shackle and fairlead to the bow...



Put on the stern light...



And finally the CQR anchor with some deck pads and lashings.

All those small details really bring the build together.

EJ

Thanks

I'm having a lot of fun doing this, and (re)learning a lot after a long break.

It feels as if I'm getting better at putting these ammunition lockers together - but I can't face building more than one of them without a break!



David Parkins makes amazing photo-etch, but I'm sure he must have a bit of a sadistic streak in him somewhere!!!

Some more progress, albeit slow, on the MTB 380 build

She carried a twin 20mm Oerlikon, so I've been building and modifying the single guns from David Parkins. A real exercise in patience and (un)steady hands!



And temporarily placed on its mounting:



I've also put the first coat of paint onto the hull, and am now in full head-scratching mode about what order to paint everything else in. I'm using the photo earlier in this thread as a reference; it looks to me as if most of the upperworks were the same dark grey as the camo marking on the hull and the deck. The only superstructure that definitely looks light grey is the Oerlikon, bridge, and companionway on the port side of the bridge...

Graham,

Nice work on those guns.

Mark

Thanks Mark. Here they are with the shield added - getting everything more or less square was difficult!

Now working on painting the hull and deck.

I've now got most of the work done on painting the hull. I had some trouble finding shades of greys that looked right, despite what the Airfix instruction sheet recommended. And of course I've spent ages on masking!



I'm going to put the hull number decals on as soon as I have finished the various bits of touching up that need doing. If I remember rightly, it's recommended to put on a coat of varnish, apply the decals, and then a coat of matt varnish?



Once again the camera does a merciless job of showing up my ham-fistedness!