From the Vosper drawings and the few photos I've seen of them, they're usually alongside the cockpit. They are simple cylinders with a hinged top.

Al

Always wondered what those were! Damn! Another thing to scratch together. By the time I finish my boat, I'll be too old to see it!
F

Oh that's brilliant, i too was wondering where they put them.
Is it something like spring loaded,so that when you take 1 out the rest comes up?
Or is there a handle on top to lift them out?
I have just the right pipe from evergreen to fit the vickers drum in.
Pipes are ready on lenght and the bottom is there to.,just the lid.
I'll put mine behind the airpipe as the oerlikon A- lockers go in front.

The drum magazine had a leather or canvas handle on top so I guess its a case of reach in and pull out the next one... Here is a nice pic of a restored twin VGO setup.



HTH.

Here's a blow-up of the .303 magazine locker on MTB358. The item marked "hinge?" faces directly forward.



Al Ross

Well this is my view on the bins,just saw the latest photo and it looks like my lid is not excactly right .But i think it will do.

C[ ] Tom

anyway thanks for the info gentlemen.

Hi Tom,

Nice work. Lots of good info and tips starting to appear too.

Alan

Here is my latest from the backwall of the wheelhouse.
THis is how i'll leave it.

Now i'm working on the motors for the windows and that will be the last part i'll make for the WH.

Started painting ,but not much to show yet.

Excellent Tom.

Great build.

Al

On the subject of info, in my research of MTB ops I came across these pictures of MTB 250 in use during training of the Small Scale Raiding Force...







The SSRF story is fascinating enough and the page I found the pictures on is a mine of info, but the interesting thing about the images are that they are the only ones of this type of MTB I've seen wearing the Admiralty Dark Scheme.

MTB250 was one of the Whites built boats, all but identical to the Italeri kit, note the windscreen on the bridge, ballistic padding around the wheelhouse and the pintle-mounted VGO guns, the pintles are mounted to the deck just inboard of the torpedo tubes, they aren't mounted on the torpedo tubes themselves.

There look to be some changes in the configuration of the mast but I can't make out the exact details.

Might make for an interesting paint-job and potential diorama!

One tip in the building process, I assembled the depth-charges in the kit and found the outer halves to be very poorly moulded, flash, mis-alignment and sink-marks aplenty, so I replaced them with 1/2" K&S brass tubing cut to 21mm lengths, the wall of the tubing is a little thin so a shim of thin plastic strip needs to be wrapped around each end piece to stop them dropping straight through but even so the result looks a lot better than the kit parts and a lot less work I think.

I'll post a few pics of my progress soon but I do plan to take my time with this kit so don't expect updates all that often.

Tom,
Where did you get the chart?
I believe I've read in this thread that your building your kit as a Dutch crewed boat.
Where were they based (flotilla #) and did they operate in the channel?
It looks good but I'd think a larger scale chart would be better.
Tom

Les,
I think I can discern 3 colours in 250's camo.
Any ideas as to colours?
Tom

(I think I might start signing TomR to differentiate on this thread )

The Admiralty Dark Scheme is a bit of a rarity but the colours should be White, Warm Light Grey (G.45) and Dark Blue Grey (B.15).

Its difficult to make out the leading section of grey but it is there.

Al Ross has already posted this profile on page 7 of this thread.



HTH.

Thanks Les. I missed that somehow.

TomR

Hi Tom,
i found the chart on this site:
http://www.marinechandlery.com/products/593/668/admiralty-folio-1-england-s-coast-and-scillies/admiralty-chart-2675-english-channel.aspx
A detailed chart would have been better but when i closeup the wheelhouse you won't see much of it anyhow.
No:9flot. was a mixed British/Dutch one to start and became completly Dutch later.
At the moment i 'm going for the this camo scheme:

If seen several pics of the 204 in this scheme but i'm not sure the dutch used it .
The same goes for my vickers .303 rig i have found a pic on IWM but couldn't tell on what kind of Vosper it was.

TDK (Tom)

Thanks Tom,
The pic you've posted of your .303 mount does remind me of the Airfix 1/72 Vosper's TT mounts with the sleeve over the tube, these would be 18" torpedo tubes.
If I find anything in my travels I'll post a link.
TomR

Tom,
If you look at this image



The two boats in the front trot without 20mm have posts mounted port and starboard just inboard of the TT 's forward edge.
Could they be the .303 mounts? I initially thought they might be something to do with torpedo reloading. But that was accomplished from the rear of the tube and the 20mm equipped boat would have them too.
TomR
Edit: There's a pic of #376 a way down in Google images.

Tom, your chartroom is magnificent but I am pretty sure that the blue/yellow BA charts didn't come into use until the 1970's or 80's. Your build, but this is definitely an anachronism.
cheers,
Julian

Hi Tom,
here is the pic i used for my idea,

I thought that i could see a vickers .5" in the background,if not then i might use it to put a rocketlauncher on it .
I've seen some pics where there is one on the front of the TT.
There is also somewhere a pic with a tripod on the TT halfway .
Julian,Thanks.
i thought as much that it was the wrong colour,maybe i should set the printer to B&W to get a better product.
TDK

Minor niggles Tom, that is a fantastic build you have going there.
Julian

This is a crop from a pic of the 204 where the rocketlauncher is on the front part of the tt and halfway you can see a twin .303 on a thin frame.
One other thing i noticed is that it looks like a big star on the foredeck
I know that some of the elco's had them .I'm also building one of those.,ron 34/35.
TDK

Tom,
In your posted pic there's a twin Vickers mounted on the boat behind the rocket launcher.
If you compare my posted pic with your reference, the tubes are different so maybe as the war progressed the mounts were changed (or maybe just different production runs/boat builders).
Anyway, an excellent build I'll be sure to refer to when(if) I ever manage to purchase this beastie.
Your pic of 204 shows a lot of aerials and such.
TomR

Edit: A little OT. But, according to the IWM the rating on the right of you pic of the rocket mount comes from where I grew up.

Hi folks,

I picked this up over on the News on Armorama, a Long Dock from Italeri to set you're boats against.

http://www.italeri.com/scheda.asp?idProdotto=2043&idCategoria=5&idSottocategoria=55

Al

"The same goes for my vickers .303 rig i have found a pic on IWM but couldn't tell on what kind of Vosper it was." TDK

Hello Tom, in the Osprey book, I found a photo of MTB 358, which is identified as a 72'6'' boat. It has the 21" Torpedo Tubes and you can see two mounts like yours on the starboard tube. There is a flare launcher on the more forward one, but you can't see what's on the after one. However, the port side tube also has a flare launcher and you can see the barrels of a .303 mount sticking out from behind the wheelhouse. Also, there is a 20mm ammo stowage box next to the starboard TT and to the right of it is a clearly visible .303 drum storage cylinder. Al

Okay Al,

I knew a had seen it somewhere,so now i have to make to more units.
And make the flare launchers.That will make it a bit more interesting.
Thanks for the wakeup call,sometimes my memory span is that of a goldfish.

TDK