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HMS Gnat- Insect class Gunboat

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raflaunches:
Hello Everybody

From the lack of replies from everyone I can safely say that no-one knows what a WW2 HMS Gnat looks like and I am going to have to use my imagination or as we say in the forces, service by comparison!!! %%

The model is built to 1/32 scale making it 7ft 3inches loa (including the rudders), beam 14inches, and only 1.5inches draught.
It is powered by two 12v car heater motors each driving an in-turning 45mm propeller from Prop Shop.  Due to the large size of the model I wanted to have smoke/steam pouring out from the funnels, this is achieved by two MMB big foggy units.  We used two Electronize 30amp speed controllers, controlled by a Robbe F-14 twin stick Tx.




Here is the story so far...

September 2010- whilst I am busy surviving the Leuchar's Air show (for Queen & Country) my Dad, Steve, lays down the keel and builds the entire hull, tunnels and motor brackets, etc... in less than two months :o :o

November 2010- A big tapering wooden box (I mean hull) appears at the Warwick Show on the Wicksteed Park MBC stand.

December 2010- Dad hands over the hull to me and in a typical forces way tells me 'to get on with it or else!'  <*<

May 2011- At the mayhem meet HMS Gnat's maiden voyage



We recreated the original steering system of push rods and chains around pulleys, and it actually works  :o.
We thought that the steering gear would be the weakest link on the model but it was human stupidity when both prop shafts disconnected themselves from the motors (someone forgot to tighten the nuts, I'm not mentioning names, Dad).

Currently I am trying to finish off the deck fittings ready for the Warwick show (only two weeks to go!!!)
Any questions I will try to answer asap between swearing and cursing at the amount of junk the Royal Navy fitted to their boats.

Nick B

p.s thanks to Paul Millers for the pictures so far.

John R Haynes:
There are photos of HMS MANTIS in my Portfolio section on my site www.johnrhaynes.com

TailUK:
I've got the 1:48th scale drawings, somewhere but they are of Gnat in her original config. Two stuffing great guns, a load of Maxims and the O/R Latrines hanging off the stern.

raflaunches:
Hi Everyone

Thanks to John Haynes for the extra info and the interest so far. 

As with most models the detail is every thing, and the lack of this detail really stopped us building this version of HMS Gnat until recently.  After reading 'Armed with Stings' by A.Cecil Hampshire, whilst there are no pictures in the book the info described by the author gives some exceptional details of the vessel.  For example, HMS Gnat lost her 2pdr pom-pom on May 19th 1941 when she was attacked by a German field gun outside Tobruk but the author does not elaborate whether the gun was replaced!!
Another piece of mis-information in the book states that HMS Ladybird (sister ship to Gnat) was sunk (sitting in 10ft of water) in Tobruk harbour after sustaining heavy damage, which included her 2pdr pom-pom gun being ripped to shreds with its gun crew. But pictures in Paul Kemp's Gunboat book, and on the internet (see British Pathe film), clearly shows the gun in place being used by the Aussies as an AA gun. >>:-(
 


However, on a high note A.Cecil Hampshire did give plenty of confirmed info with the camouflage (or dazzle paint work, I haven't decided what it would considered to be yet {:-{) being black splinters over light Mediterranean grey.
 


Does any one know where the 3 inch ammo lockers would be located in relation to the 3 inch/12pdr gun, because whilst the NMM plans show the old system from 1915 of a hoist from a davit being lowered into the superstructure to retrieve the shells, 'Armed with stings' states that when Gnat was torpedoed in October 21st 1941 the 3 inch ammo lockers on the battery deck were on fire caused by the calcium flares inside them igniting.  This in turn invited the U-boat captain thinking he was attacking a much bigger target to fire two more torpedos at the already crippled Gnat!

Any way this is the picture I am working from, the last possible time HMS Gnat was photographed whilst she was serving on the Yangtze in 1937.



If any one has any later shot of her I would be very grateful, many of the other pictures from WW2 are of her sister ships HMS's Aphis, Ladybird, Cockchafer and Scarab.

Nick B

unbuiltnautilus:
Nice model, have always wanted one of these in their WWII guise, all AA guns and ugliness :-))

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