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The German S-Boats, or E-Boats as they were usually referred to by Allied Navies, were considered by most experts to be the best all round performers of WW2 coastal forces craft. Large enough to carry a heavy armament, they were powered by technically advanced high-speed diesel engines, which made them rather less susceptible to fire and battle damage than the smaller petrol-powered Allied torpedo and gunboats. All the British Vospers and many of the larger Fairmiles also had much less sea-kindly hard chine hulls, which unlike the rounded hull form of the S-Boats, tended to restrict their speed in rough weather. S-9 was one of the earlier schnellboot variants, which were built for the Kriegsmarine in the late 1930s, and this hull and plan were produced from some original German drawings and photos. The hull is moulded with the central keel and bow torpedo cutouts. These vessels had triple shafts, but a model could be built with either single or twin shafts to simplify construction. The first photo on the left shows one fine model, the second and third show what can be achieved with a little judicious wear and weathering, which greatly increases realism, and the fourth photo shows a model powered by twin Monoperm Supers, looking good on the water and running at near scale speed, but examples powered by a pair of cheap 385 type motors on 6 volts have performed equally well. The last photo is of the real thing in service during WW2.