Italeri have done a fine job in producing two great coastal warfare craft in the 80' Elco PT and the Kreigsmarine Schnellboot. Surely their next venture should be a Fairmile D. At 115' it is only slightly longer than the 34.94m (114') of the Schnellboote. It would also give us a British boat that was a fine fighting machine. There are a number of options that could be included in the design such as MGB / MTB variations, and variations of armament. Rather than a Vosper (done in 1/72) come on Italeri, give an honest gunboat. I know I would gladly pay £100+ for such a model in 1/35.

What's your opinion.......

Toby

Hi Toby,

I agree thoroughly. Reading through a couple of books I found out about the Fairmile boats and after building up WEMs' 1/350 scale version considered kit bashing one, but nothing comes close in hull shape.

There is a picture of an RC version that was built up by Phil Benoodt in the November December 2008 issue of Ships in Scale that just reinforces my opinion as well as desire for a large scale edition.

Hello Toby, the Fairmile "D" would be awesome in 1/35th. It would be one heck of a counterpoint to the Schnellboote (think bookends).Al

As one who have read "Dog Boats at War" by Leonard C. Reynolds and having a couple more volumes on this craft, having John Lambert Plans on the Fairmile D and being (also) a fan of these WWII small craft, and also considering that apart from WEM's 1/350 Fairmile models on their range, this is a overlooked subject in model form, Italeri really could bite the bullet and make one of these beauties!

Just my two cents, of course, but apparently there are many more modelers interested in this

Maybe, maybe 2011??

Rui

Toby....
sorry, but not a Fairmile, nor a Vosper..next are:
From http://forum.tantopergioco.it/discussion/1168/italeri-news-2009-mezzi-navali-e-terrestri

5608 MAS 500 Torpedo Boat (Motoscafo Armato Silurante)
5609 BIBER MIDGET SUBMARINE

But I like the Idea of the Fairmile....aargh!!! to put it with my 1/35 Flower Corvette.

Well, being Italeri an Italian company the MAS 500 makes sense
Also it is a very good addition to the lot

As for the Biber Midget sub... unless it is has a full interior detail, we can always keep in mind the "old" Verlinden resin model (that, with some work, it can be made with partial inner hull detail)






Thanks for the news Javier, Gracias
Saludos,


Rui

Frankly,

I'd like to see a Higgins PT boat put out in kit form, and NOT necessarily in 1:35, but in 1:72 and not a PT-631 Class boat that did not see action - like the 596 from Italeri - but maybe a PT-71 Class boat with parts included to either make a torpedo tube armed boat or an early war type late in the war. Also, I'd like to see an Elco 77 footer in 1:72 with parts included to make a boat from that class first series or second series ...

A FAIRMILE D is plain butt ugly ..............

Garth

Just how big of a model would a MAS-500 series boat be in 1:35?

Dear all,

Thanks for replying to my post. Its nice to see that I'm not the only advocate of a Dog Boat.

Garth, I can't deny that the US PT boats were a beautiful design, but the Dog Boats were aptly named. They look like your original rough tough fighting machines, built to go toe to toe with heavily armed German coastal ships. They might not have been pretty, but with 2x57mm guns (6pdr), 4x20mm Oerlikons, 4x0.50" MG's and 2x0.303" bridge MG's and up to 4 torpedoes they were certainly more heavily armed than the US PT boats, and able to operate in the heavy swell of the North Sea and the English Channel.

We need to start a campaign to persuade Italeri to make us a Dog Boat !!!

Regards

Toby

OK,

Granted.

But, at the same time, I'd like to see more USN PT boats ...

And - a smaller scale MAS-500 series boat - not 1:35. C'mon, for shelf space ..........

1:72 GATOs and U-Boats, ... 1:35 PT boats and S-boots, c'mon, you'd need a mansion to display those monsters.

Me thinks that you are a tiny bit biased........as am I !!! Having made a PT Boat and a totally different Schnellboote, it would be great to have a different third design........I could then justify the money spent on the numerous books !!!

Toby

Time to write more books Garth so you can open up some more shelf space.

Hmm, how about one on the Fairmiles? Long been a fan of your PT Boat one from Squadron and looking forward to your update on the new edition.

Who? Me? Biased? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Well, maybe, ...... just a little ............

Tread-head, write a book on the Dogboats? I rather doubt I could top the one on them by John Lambert in the ATOTS series ..........

The layout on the revision of the PT book is nearing its end .......

But, remember guys, from the time Squadron gets it, they have up until 18 months to get it out. They have my SC book now and my contract says they have up to 18 months to get an IN ACTION book to print.

Hey Garth, there is a really nice model of PT-41 over on Modelwarships, it is in 1/96 Al

Msr.Dallies-Labourdette book 'S-Boote' claims the Italian MAS 554 to be 18.7 meters in length.

Not very big.

18.7 meters = 736.22 inches

Which in1/35 scale would be about 21 inches.

Yes Suh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw that thar model over the weekend. Beautiful model. I am blown away that it's scratch built.

A kind gentleman just gave me the old 1:96 GULFSTREAM kit of the 77 footer in resin. I am going to have Alex Johnson build it for me after he does my Revell PT-109 kit as PT-174 in the Adaptor Scheme and the 40mm on the foredeck.

He will re-work the Gulfstream kit into a second series 77 footer and make it as the 68 boat in that field applied camouflage scheme in that photo we always see of her. Should be a very interesting looking model.

I'm told that it is an opinion that the Gulfstream kit began life as the Airfix 63 foot RAF ASRL kit which was cut down to make a 1:96 kit.

Thank you. Unfortunately, I don't have room for that sized model. If it was 1:72 - then, yes ...

Garth, I believe the announced Italeri release of the MAS is in 1/72nd Al

I agree that 1/72 is a nice scale for a big boat, but the detail that you can get at 1/35 is amazing. We will soon have a US, German and Italian boat, how about a good old British MGB/MTB.

Who else wants a Fairmile D in 1/35?

Toby

Sorry Al,

From that site .....

Navi 1/35

098-5608 MAS 500

Garth

Garth, there was a report posted on this site about the Nuremburg Toy Fair, when the Schnellboote was announced, and it said the MAS would be 1/72, sorry if I was wrong. Al

Why apologize sir? You did nothing wrong.

Well... you are both correct:

The MAS 500 series is this vessel and it is scheduled for release in 1/35 scale:


This was the MS 62 and was supposed to be released during 2008 in 1/72:


Hope this helps clarifying the situation
Rui

Yes, sir. It does .........

Thanks Rui, it does indeed. Al