Hello guys
My name is Stavros, I am from Greece and have recently started building this kit



its an 1/35 resin kit , made by YS Masterpieces.
It depicts a 55 ft. CMB of the type that was made in late '20s by Thornycroft and was used by many Navies (Royal Navy, Hellenic, Italian, Yugoslavian, German etc.)

The kit is made up of a huge solid hull weighting 1,5kg (!), and some 150+ detailed resin parts of excellent quality.



similar to the weight of 2,5 modern plastic 1/35 kits (DML, AFV Club - see the pic below)



I will try to post as many in progress photos as possible.
If you have any kind of information on this particular type of Boats, please post it here and share it with me and everybody.

Thank you all
Stavros Soulis
Athens, Greece

Nice start Stavros.

Thanks Kenny
I forgot to show you that I am building this vessel. They carried no name but just the codes T-1 and T-2.



below you can see how it looked when it was captured and modified (lightly) and used by the German Navy in Aegean Sea in 1941. Then they were renamed G-09 and G-10.





also the manufacturer's site is this : http://www.ysmasterpieces.com/custom_series_thornycroft.htm

We will be in touch
Stavros

Interesting boat and an impressive hunk of resin. how is the quality of the castings ?

Cheers/Jan

The casting is very good in general.
There are some minor (normal) casting defects (tiny bubble holes that can be covered easily with Gunze's Mr Surfacer). Some putty was needed only in one spot underside the hull along the "centreline". This way the top of the hull is PERFECT and the only minor problems stay "hidden" at the bottom.
Stavros

Stavros,

Welcome to MSW!!

I do agree, that is a very unique and nice looking subject. Looking forward to seeing more progress.

Stavros,

Where did you get that kit and what scale is it?

Also, you are doing a very nice job on it.

Garth

Sorry,

Just went back over your post, it's 1:35. How long (in inches) is it?

Thank you.

Garth

Hello Garth
as you already mentioned, the scale is 1/35
and the hull alone is 47cm and has an extension of 6cm for the torpedo launcher rails, so the total length of the finished boat is 53cm (+).
You can see the link of the manufacturer's page in my previous post. He has a secure mail order system (Paypal)
Stavros

The construction goes on.
I replaced the shafts of the propellers with metal tube (2mm diameter) in order to be dead straight.
The propellers were treated with files and fine (1200gauge) wet-n-dry sandpaper.
The lower part of the hull was primed with Hycote grey primer for plastics and will be painted matt black. The details will receive their respective colors (steel for the shafts, brass-gold for the propellers and blackened metallic grey for the other "metal" details.
I apologize for not uploading photos at this stage because I have a small problem with my camera . I hope it will be fixed in a day or two.

Stavros

Its a interesting build, but way too pricy for my budget.

Do you have any referances on colors ? - and which version are you doing ?

Cheers/Jan

Hello Stavros, A very interesting subject and I can't wait to see more of it as you progress. I have always loved military small craft and wish the manufacturers would bring out more. Italeri has made a good start with their PT, Schnellboote, and the soon to be released MAS. I hope they would consider adding this Thornycroft to their line. I think it would sell. I for one can't afford a resin kit in 1/35 but would go for one in styrene. I'll keep my fingers crossed and who knows? Meanwhile, please post more pictures soon. Al

First, welcome to Modelshipwrights Stavros!

Very nice build, interesting and unique ship.. look forward to seeing more of her! thanks for sharing

some pics from the parts cleaning and preparation



the cockpit parts



the lewis guns I will use



test fit of the cockpit





propeller before and after cleaning

Stavros

the spare parts for other versions







the shafts





the torpedos

Enjoy - comments are welcomed

(to be continued)

More great progress.

The hull was primed with Haycote auto primer (grey / for plastics)
This primer is ideal because it shows all the details and most important any imperfections that need to be corrected.
Here we see the "cockpit tube". This excellent detail will not be seen at the end.



Priming, discovered some scratches (casting imperfections) in the torpedo "launcher" tube of the left hand side. It was easily corrected with some Mr Surfacer 500 and sanding.



Some casting imperfections (a small gap and some air bubbles) or anomalies on the hull's outer surface, were shown after priming and were easily corrected (filled) with fine automotive repair putty (yellow) and Gunze's Mr Surfacer 500/1000 and sanded with wet-n-dry sandpaper (800 and 1200 gauge).

Stavros

The only real ommition of the kit are the "twin tubes" that should run through the "cockpit" floor area. Those tubes house and protect the "ejecting pistons" that actually push the torpedos backwards during the launching procedure. (in this photo, the tubes are not glued in place).



They were made from plastic tube of 4,8mm diameter. The diameter was .... guessed by the size of the corresponding "cups" in the torpedos' launchers (it is the point on which the torpedos of the kit are attached on) .





The propeller shafts were replaced with alluminium tube ones with a diameter of 2mm.
The attachment "collars" of the resin shafts, were cut and drilled with a motor tool.



I hope you enjoy the wip photos as much as I enjoy the building
Stavros

(to be continued)

really good job and mini-tutorial on some good techniques, thanks for sharing!

Beautiful work Stavros!

Thank you all for the warm comments
I have some better images of the stages mentioned and shown above

The torpedo launchers "pistons" that were scratch made from plastic rod







the new metallic propeller shafts that replaced the resin ones of the kit





And something new. On the bottom, two 2mm holes were drilled on the keel line (the exact points where to drill is quite personal) in order to mount the two metallic pins for the brass pedestals that will hold the finished model on its wooden base



Enjoy
(to be continued)
Stavros

I apologize for the very delayed update but I had a major problem with my PC.
Soon I will post many pics of the progress on my CMB.
For the moment, please have a look at my "captain". He is based on Alpine's British Desert Tanker with a modified German (SS) hat (head and hat by Hornet/Wolf) and he will be lightly converted to a 1st Lt of the RHN as he might have looked circa 1941, before the German invasion.



(to be continued)
Stavros

So far I have even painted the basic colors on my CMB
I used Light Grey for all the "vertical" surfaces, Dark ("tank") Grey for the deck (the "horizontal" surfaces) and Matt Black for the anti-fooling hull.









Photos and details of the construction will follow.
I just could not resist to send the first "painted" images of this "beauty"
(to be continued)
Stavros

Hello Stavros, She is looking mighty sweet, can't wait to see more. Al

Back to construction details.

The assemply was straightforward in general. My main problem was the lack of information on the Hellenic Navy's CMBs' so I had to take some decisions based on ...educational guess. I will mention those guesses later on.

The main actions of the assemply were as follows:

1. I realized that the given propelers were identical (both were "clockwise" - right turning - but they shouldn't be so) so I had to convert one of them to "counter-clockwise" type (left turning). To do this I cut the blades, I added a small axle from copper wire and replaced any damage on them with gapfilling super glue, I cleaned with files the original axis of the propeler and drilled three holes with a pin vise with a 120degrees separation (approximatelly). Then the blades were glued in their new positions, taking care to have an identical (but "mirrored" of course) "angle of attack". Whean I was satisfied with the result, I primed both propelers with dark grey enamel and corrected any blemishes with Mr Surfacer.

2. I replaced the side "position" lights of the kit with new ones, slightly bigger, made of plastic sheet. The light "bulb" will be added later from clear sprue.

3. The instrument panel was glued in its place and two plastic supports were added on its back. I did not see this anywhere but its quite logical to have such a support so I ....just added it. Anyway at the end it will not be seen.

Those were the main steps and after thy were finished, the model (main hull assemply and details parts) was cleaned with detergent and water and was prepared for painting.

PS. the photos for this step will be added in the next posts.

Enjoy
Stavros