fairmileD

Here we have a large and magnificent hull moulding for a WW2 Fairmile D MTB/MGB. The D is probably the best known of all the Fairmile boats, and the chosen 1/24th scale does ensure that there are high quality ready-made fittings available from other specialist manufacturers for the guns, and nearly all other items like vents, scuttles and the dinghy. The detailed and accurate hull is moulded with full torpedo scallops and all the prominent rubbing strakes that are such a feature of the Fairmile D design, and with fairly minor mods it can be used as the basis for almost any example of this class of WW2 torpedo boats and gunboats, from the first prototype to the last boat constructed. The first photo shows a heavily armed D proceeding slowly somewhere on the south coast of England, possibly in Poole harbour during WW2, with a Sunderland flying boat behind. This particular Fairmile D, 5008 survived the war, not being scrapped until 1956. The next two photos give a good idea of the hull lines and the moulded-in detail.

As excellent John Lambert drawings for all the Fairmiles are available direct from JL himself at www.john-lambert-plans.com there wouldn’t be very much point in doing another version of my own, but supplied with each hull is a facsimile re-print of my own treasured copy of an original WW2 Fairmile D MTB factory blueprint, dated 1942 and marked ‘SECRET AND CONFIDENTIAL’, which contains a wealth of very useful information.