Seems like I seen a pic somewhere of someone holding a PT boat in the palm of their hand... Wish I could remember where.....
That actually might have been my MTB that I built back in the early 90's in SCBG on a bet. As I remember it (20+ years ago) it was a real bitch to build and there was absolutely no room for a bilge pump or even a recovery line/float. The hull/deck line had to be water-tight as well as the super structure what little there was of it for even the smallest wave would swamp it and it'd be lost forever on the bottom of the pond. I also built a fully operational German WWI wet deck turtle bow torpedo destroyer the SMS B-110. It was armed with one each forward port and starboard torpedo tubes. It's hull/deck line was water-tight, had no bilge pump but did have a tiny recovery line/float. It was a one run - attack - and then run back to harbor to rearm, get tanks pumped back up, change out batteries and then back out again. It was nearly impossible to hit due to its low profile in the water and fast speed. It was essentially a FAST submarine on the surface and presented very little target to shoot at for a defending skipper. However a BB even above the waterline would have probably sunk it in seconds due to the bow wake that quite literally ran down the main deck. And in reality no skipper of such a ship in his right mind would take on a battlewagon or even a destroyer toe to toe. That would be sheer suicide. I'm sure today with all the micro electronics it could be built much better. I recently found the plans that I had drawn up back then and have seriously considering building it again. I also think I still have the MTB plans....mmmmm. But first I need to get back up to speed after this long break and build a capital fighting ship before indulging in the insanity building such small and limited boats.....though they were fun. Both the MTB and B-110 may still be floating around out there somewhere as well as my HMS Repulse...or sitting in a garage somewhere looking to come home someday.
Those had to be insanely difficult builds during that time period!!!!! Most impressive. It sounds like a near impossible build even now with the advances in electronics, but several years ago!? My hats off to you, excellent job.
THANK YOU...it was a challenge I can assure you of that! However....my thirty something son just handed me a box of four micro-quads and a mini-quad (that he broke) and I'm having some serious evil thoughts....BaWaaaHAAhaaHAA!!! I've got four micro-channels to play with and some stupidly SMALL motors and circuit boards the size of a quarter!! I have to finish my Greg McFadden Littorio build before I can start to really play with my seriously warped imagination!! Also this build is going to be interesting to see what the difference is between my HMS Repulse build from 1990 and my RM Littorio build today. Fun - FUN - FUN!!
I am itching to start on a v108... It is 30% smaller than my Uritski...... should be fairly doable with the lessons I learned there. The most difficult part in my simple mind is the sorta strange rudder hanging off the stern.....
