¹⁄72

1:72 Airfix RAF ASRL to Royal Navy MGB

Starting the project entailed removing quite a bit of canvas protection from the cabin & deck as the M.G.B did not have any. The main change was in the rear gun area and the main cabin. The deck area entailed removing the flat sections in the aft gun area and installing the round base and eight depth charge racks.

Four on each side. The cabin gun turrets had to be removed and covered over because the twin Vickers were installed on either side at the forward side of the c cabin area. These had to be scratch built. I am not sure if 1: 72 scale kits of these guns exist.

These turrets were completed thanks to Mr. Connelly getting set of line drawings from John Lambert (www.lambertplans.com). These drawings were very helpful to me in that I had little knowledge of the Mark V mount.

The turrets were constructed from a small test tube, around which I wrapped some canvas. I decided to use canvas because the photos that I had as references seemed to indicate a fabric material was around the turrets. The guns, supports, and sights I made from wire, wood and styrene plastic. I fashioned the gun-sights from photo-etched ones from another model.

Other location changes were necessary for the mast, life rings, ready service lockers, lines, canvas containers and the Carley float was located on the foredeck.



The Carley float life-raft is located on the foredeck. (Stan Pienkowski photo)

The rear mast attachment area was also adjusted for upfront protection of the rear gun. The biggest difference in the looks of the boat are the lack of canvas protection and the Vickers gun turrets which are along side of the main cabin.



The model, nearing completion. (Stan Pienkowski photo)




Details of the depth charges, the 20mm and the depression rails. The mufflers come from a Revell PT-109 kit. (Stan Pienkowski photo)



The color scheme was created by using White Ensign Models’ Colour Coats RNO3, Admiralty Light Grey, and RNO1 Admiralty Dark Grey. The black was model master flat black and the others are as listed by Mr. Connelly. The black base was used to match the bottom of the boat. I am pretty happy with the outcome of this project since I have not built too many British boats.

I considered this project to be what one might call a semi-scratch-built model. That is because of all of the changes made to the basic kit. I want to thank Mr. Connelly for the opportunity to work on this type of project.

In conclusion, I would like to thank, one, my brother for giving me this built-up model as my 2009 Christmas gift and two, I would like to like Stan Pienkowski for building it. This project turned out to be poof-positive of my long-held theory of this result could be achieved with this kit without major work on the hull. I am very pleased with the outcome.




The finished model. The two twin Vickers gun turrets were scratch-built by Stan Pienkowski and the flag in these accompanying photos was replaced by a correct "White Ensign". (Stan Pienkowski photo)




Details of the scratch-built Mark V powered mount for the Vickers 0.5-inch guns. (Stan Pienkowski photo)