HMS Gnat
Built by Steve and Nick Brown
One of twelve Insect class river gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1915. Heavily armed with two 6inch guns and two 3inch HA guns and six 0.303in Maxim machine guns they were closer to being river monitors than gunboats. After fighting in WW1, HMS Gnat was sent to China to patrol the Yangtze River until the Second World War. Converted to carry minesweeping equipment she carried out bombardment duties along the North African coast and kept the sea lanes clear of mines. After the loss of two sister ships, Ladybird and Cricket, she was was modified to make it easier to disguise herself during daylight hours and she became a night raider.
After many successful raids on enemy held ports she was torpedoed by a U-boat on 21st October 1941. The explosion was very powerful ripping 15ft off the bows and tearing all the hull plating on the port side. The forward 6inch gun was pulled off its mounting and many fires started on deck. After drifting for a day she was towed back to Alexandria where she beached and eventually scrapped.The model is entirely scratch built to 1/32 scale producing a hull 7ft 3in long and 14in wide but only 4in deep. It is powered by two Bosch 12v car heater motors and has a working push rod/chain steering system which sits on the deck controlled by a 17kg metal geared servo. Internally there are two MMB 24v foggy units to produce the steam from the twin funnels to make it more realistic when sailing at the lake.
One of twelve Insect class river gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1915. Heavily armed with two 6inch guns and two 3inch HA guns and six 0.303in Maxim machine guns they were closer to being river monitors than gunboats. After fighting in WW1, HMS Gnat was sent to China to patrol the Yangtze River until the Second World War. Converted to carry minesweeping equipment she carried out bombardment duties along the North African coast and kept the sea lanes clear of mines. After the loss of two sister ships, Ladybird and Cricket, she was was modified to make it easier to disguise herself during daylight hours and she became a night raider.
After many successful raids on enemy held ports she was torpedoed by a U-boat on 21st October 1941. The explosion was very powerful ripping 15ft off the bows and tearing all the hull plating on the port side. The forward 6inch gun was pulled off its mounting and many fires started on deck. After drifting for a day she was towed back to Alexandria where she beached and eventually scrapped.The model is entirely scratch built to 1/32 scale producing a hull 7ft 3in long and 14in wide but only 4in deep. It is powered by two Bosch 12v car heater motors and has a working push rod/chain steering system which sits on the deck controlled by a 17kg metal geared servo. Internally there are two MMB 24v foggy units to produce the steam from the twin funnels to make it more realistic when sailing at the lake.
