Thank you Al,

I very much appreciate you taking the time to look. I may still mount a couple of MG’s ahead of the wheelhouse (per my response to Alan), or just content myself with the machine gun aft of the bridge. I like the look of the Lewis guns on the bows of the 70- and 77-foot ELCO PT’s and was thinking of something similar. I have multiples of at least three types of 1:35th WW II Italian machine gun replicas in the spares box. I may make up pedestal mounts for a couple of these, and install them on each side of the wheelhouse of the M.A.S. boat. I’ll tack the mounts in place with white glue. If I’m overcome by a bad case of ‘Historical Fidelity Syndrome”, I can always remove ‘em with one accuracy-restoring flick of the finger. And (new thought) possibly add a Brixia mortar on the bow as well. Lacking any reference the actual installation of additional armament (aside from the Breda 30 on the bridge), all these would simply be tacked in place.

Thanks,
Paul

Mornign folks.

Some progress on the engines.





There is a lot of pipe work top go into this area and an extension to the main engine which I'll have to cobble together.

It's Murphy's Law that a nice set of pics for the engine room will appear after I get these build lol, lol

Al

Hi folks,

Added a small set of ladder rungs to the rear engine room bulkhead, Laid out some fuel lines and made 3 central deck boards (need scribed yet).

Some additional fittings are needed on the forward bulkhead and piping from the lower rear of the engine into fuel supply arrangement, plus pipes to the top of the engine. Lots of footery stuff to test fit before anything can get glued down.

Once I've got all the piping from the forward bulkhead more or less ready to fit I can glue down front and rear bulkheads and add the bracing to the sides. Once that is done I can hopefully fit the main engine blocks and then work on the reducton gear thingi so lots to do yet.





It's hard to tell from what info I have if the engines sat at any kind of angle, I'll just fit them for what feels right.

Al

Hello Alan, You have done an impressive amount of work there. The engines look great, I particularly like the exhaust manifolds. I am still waiting for my kit, so I have been following your build closely looking for inspiration. Like you, I was planning on a nice, simple OOTB build, but now I feel the onset of an attack of scratch-building fever. Keep going, I can't wait to see where you'll finish. I'm sure it will be impressive.
Al

Hi Al,

I should have saved this amount of work for the Vosper when it comes as it has side portholes .

It's starting to have the feel of an angine room, just a lot more work yet.

I use cable for the pipes, so I've attached it and secured it to some I beam Glued in the rear bulkhead and will finish the plumbing fittings on the forward bulkhead so I can fix it in,

I ran out of side braces when I was putting in the frame so will have to add a couple of missing ones before I out the cross braces on.

Cheers

Alan

Greetings folks,

This is the sum of the days labours.

Fitted both bulkheads, did some work on the frame, fitted the fuel lines, test fitted the engines and piping.

The round things on the ends of the engines are sheman wheels, I haven't figured out yet how to link the reduction gear, or what I'll use to make it.









Any thoughts?

Al

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, ye scurvy landlubber - plans on page 3. Motors are at the same angle as the prop shafts. As for the gearboxes, have you looked at any armor or truck transmissions?

Al

Hi Al,

Ah yes, the invisible plan. Unfortunately when I printed this one it is almost invisible, slightly better on line, but still difficult to see any clear detail, at least for my old tired eyes.

Some slight adjustments needed then.

Alan

Absolutely fantastic build Alan, magnificent scratching
Cheers,
Julian

Right slight re-alingment of the engines, this meant getting rid of the nodes which got in the way and takes me back to where I originally stated, alignment wise.



Al

Edit: Thanks Julian, it's a bit hit and miss but getting there.

Hi folks,

A bit more work to the engine room layout - starting to look a bit more business like.

Al

Hi folks,

Throught about the reduction unit and I'll use left over bits form my Sherman & Carrier builds to try and create these.

The thought of taking somehting form a good truck ot tank kit is just to bitter to contemplate

This is progress so far.



Alan

Excellent work Al

Still following with much interest

Si

Thanks Simon,

Work continues.


Al

Hi folks,

Having got a basic structure together for the reduction units, I though it might be better to join them up. It would have been good to do this earlier but as I had no idea what I was going to build them from that was not possible.

This gives a good mate between the parts and a straight alignment. It will mean altering the base to lower the uits a bit but you live and learn.

Al would you by any change have a clearer image of the rear of the engine room? This would be very helpful as I can barely make out the details there. (Thanks)

Anyway, here's the update:





The starboard unit is slightly more advanced than the port one.

Hi Al,

At the back of the engine room there are two circular tanks on either side of the hull. Do you know what these are? Also there appears to be a box type structure up on the rear engine room bulkhead, was this some kind of locker?

Last question for now, well almost ; at the end of the reduction units is that a box type structure over the propeller shaft and finally the piping on the reduction unit do you know where it went to I can't figure that out but can see the 3 pipes on the unit. Well perhaps one or all three go to the tank?



Some more work on the engine, added some levers, a control panel, 3rd pipe, strengthened up the suppost structure and put some handle wheels on and added an oil tank and guage.





Thanks

Alan

Hi Alan,

After looking at the plans for awhile and revisiting I MAS, I think I havethe answer. These boats were fitted with two Alfa Romeo auxiliary engines which were in tandem with the main engines. The two cylinders are probably mufflers and they are attached to what looks like the exhaust manifold on each auxiliary engine.

Not sure what structure you mean on the aft bulkhead. The three cylinders that look like scuba tanks are probably the compressed air supply for the torpedo launchers. This is one of the launchers eventually used on the restoration of the Finnish T3. It is the same as on the MAS 500 boats.
On the Finnish boats, the air flasks were on the launcher itself.

Al

Thanks Al,

For some reason the diagram is slightly clearer on line, Right that gives me somewhere to run the pipes, althouigh there is not a lot of space. If I use small cylinders to represent the tanks things should fit.

Cheers

Al

Sweet scratchbuild Alan - are you turning full time shipbuilder ?

Cheers/Jan

Thanks Jan,

Variety and something for a challenge.

Al

PS: Any thoughts on engine colour?

Hi Guys,

Well the build of the starboard engine is nearly done, some piping to add to the main engine and also the reduction unit but probably time for some paint. Got a basecoat on last night, there is a lot of detail on the main engine so it should look good when finished.

Only disappointment is that the alignment with the exhaust port will not be that close, but given all the variables and difference in size it should still look the part when installed and it will be fun painting it up.







Al

... some OOB project Alan!
What will happen, if you go all-out?
Seriously, this is a great blog keep on going!
Cheers,
Guido

Hi Guido,

Thanks for looking in. Yes, not as simple as I first planned, tooo many open hatches

Ok folks, some more test fitting, Cut the planks for the deck, just two to go and then score some woodgrain on them. Filled in some of the empty holes with pipe and did some weathering on the starboard engine. I'm surprised but so far everything is just about fitting in.

Another question for Al. Any pipes or cabling running down the sides of the hull?

I don't have a lot of room for the cylinders and I haven't yet sources what I might use for them, but I'm thinking on that. Also wanted to put in a Bilge pump so I'll try and attach that somewhere near the aft end of the enging room with the pipe running up and out near the exhaust port. A small box and sledge hammer on the rear wall might fill it up a bit too, with a few tools around!







Al

Sorry for the late reply - light, white, light blue/green to show any oil or cooling leaks. If the crew is worth anyting, it will be so clean that you can eat from it!

Theres a reason a engine-room operator allways is seen with a cloth in his hand

Thanks Jan,

Any thoughts on the interior decking? I was going to go for a wooden effect rather than white flooring.

Al