Kris Haskins

Thanks, I’m following the “Ship Happens” blog closely.

I believe they were, I have 1 working copy which I am making notes all over and a good copy of the David Metcalf drawing. Due to the strong family connection with Medusa I was given a copy of the original ship yard plans for HDML 1387 many years ago. As there are quite a few differences between the David Metcalf plans and the originals, my plan is to work as closely to the original as I can. The styrene hull came from Sarik Hobbies, although there is someone now producing a very good fibreglass hull in the UK.

Progress has been a bit slow of late what with work commitments and I’m still waiting for some balsa blocks to mount the stern tubes. To keep the project moving on I decided to take the plunge and start the superstructure. This is being made from mainly 1.5mm styrene sheet and is the first time I’ve worked in this product, so it will be a bit of trial and error. I did add some bracing pieces as it is long. The steering gear turned up a last, the picture below shows the gear as delivered and after some modification to match the original design. Cheers Kris

Thankyou, I knew I had missed something out, please excuse the new boy! So just a little bit of progress, as I am still waiting on the stern gear and prop shafts to land. I’ve now got all of the stringers in place, and decided while I was at it although this is planned as a display only piece, I would create some room for any motors and radio gear in the event I change my mind in the future. The superstructure will be removable just in case. Everything is only dry fitted at the moment as well Before After Kris

This is my first scratch build so will be quite a learning curve. Having been involved with model planes, cars and boat for many years it has been a very long time since I last built anything, let alone a scratch build of this size, because of this I built a Billing Andrea Gail in 1:60 scale as a refresher first. I have actually had a set of plans for this vessel for the last 20 years but life somehow got in the way slightly. Harbour Defence Motor Launch (HDML) 1387 was built in 1943 by R.A Newman & Sons of Poole, Dorset in the United Kingdom one of 486 built during the years of WW2. She left Portland Harbour at 05:00hrs on June 5th 1944 and was one of the first vessels off Omaha Beach acting as a navigational leader to the assault forces. Later in the war she had her armaments removed and was redesignated a Fast Dispatch Boat. After the the war she acted as as a Survey Motor Launch before being offered up for sale by the MOD in 1968. This is where my uncle bought her along with some friends with a complete refit starting in 1972 and taking 14 years to restore her to operational condition. She is now under the care of the HMS Gannet Society and on the Historic Ship Register. My build will be starting with a vacuum formed hull from Sarik Hobbies, using 2 different plans. The first being the David Metcalf drawings matched to the hull but also using a copy of the original as built drawing from R.A Newman & Sons given to me by my uncle. Along the way I will be also using the Hmsmedusa.org.uk site as a reference as there are a lot of pictures during the restoration of Medusa, as most of these vessels had subtle differences depending on which ship yard built them. The first picture shows the hull as delivered. After making templates all 11 bulkheads were cut from 6mm birch plywood and finished to final size with a great little disc sander purchased from a certain German Super Market chain. For what it cost this machine has been an absolute god send and provides a really good result. Just to make life easier with locating everything inside the hull I made a keel from 1.5mm ply which slots into the moulding. This shows 1 - 4 dry fitted into the hull with the first of the deck stringers cut and fitted. You will notice that for the time being I have left the flash from the vacuum forming in place as this retains a bit of stability in the hull until I am ready to trim back to deck level. Kris

Hello there, I’m Kris from Portland, UK. I’m just getting back into model boats after a break of some 35 years. In past years I have also spent time on RC cars and planes as well, so not totally green, but need to catch up with advances in tools, adhesives added the like. I am just completing a Billing Boat Andrea Gail 1/60 scale just to refresh my mind, which has been a really helpful de-stressing tool in these strange times where I’ve been working from home for nearly a year now. My next build is just about to get going and will be a 1/24 scale HDML based on a Sarik vacuum formed hull, using David Metcalf plans as well as a copy of the original shipyard plans for HDML 1387 Medusa, which was purchased in 1968 by my uncle and then restored to it’s original operational condition when it sat off Omaha Beach on D-Day