VOSPER 70ft MTB 66
Builders:
Vospers Ltd ~ Portsmouth 1940/41
Machinery: 3 x V12 Packard – @3600/4050hp , high-octane petrol engines
Maximum speed: 38/40 knots
Length: 70 ft
Beam: 19ft 3in
Draft: 2ft 9in ~ 5tf 6ins
Crew: 12, 2 Officers and 10 ratings
Armament: 2 x 21inch torpedo, two .500 Vickers MG’s in a
power turret, four depth-charges or
four 18in x 9 - 1/4 ft type "A" mines
Displacement: 47 tons
Admiralty No’s:
57-66
MTB 66 was one of ten built between 1940 and 1942, she was the only boat of the ten that never went to war or left the UK waters. She was commissioned in early 1942 and taken from her builders in Portsmouth to join the training flotilla at Fort William on the west coast of Scotland.
MTB 66 was taken to Fort William under the command of CO. Robert Eburah. DSC., MID. From a letter I received form Mr. Eburah in early September 2002, recalling that it took three months to make the journey around the west coast of England and arriving at Fort William in September of 1942. She was to remain at Fort William throughout the war and used as a training MTB till the end of the war. MTB 66 was sold after the war and was most lightly turned into a house boat, again from Mr. Eburah's letter whilst on holiday in the mid 1960s he was to see MTB 66 sitting on a mud bank still showing a faint 66 on her bows.
If anyone's knows more or if you have photos of MTB66, I would be most grateful to here from you.
This is our latest project for the manufacture of fittings. This model was started some 18 months ago and left on the shelf to build our 72ft HDML 1302. As PBM will be releasing a VOSPER 70ft "slim" hull in early 2003, it was time to finish MTB 66 and produce a range of fittings. Most of the fittings are standard on most Vosper's apart from the odd few, which will be made for both types of hulls .
We will keep you informed on the developments on the new hull from PBM.
The hull and plan we are using for our model of MTB 66 is sold by KINGSTON MOULDINGS, additional drawings and information from John Lambert's book "Allied Coastal Forces of WW2 vol 2" and Warship Profile #7 Vosper MTB's
For more information and prices on this hull click on the
web address below.
"Click" on each photo to get a full size image!
The pictures below were taken during August, the model
MTB 66 is now finished and all fittings are available for sale.
Again we had to purchase some fittings from Precision Controls, the main item being the Vickers .500 mg in power turret and the odd brass and whitemetal fittings.
Over the last few weeks we have tried several motor and battery combinations for this model, the ideal and the motor that gives the best scale speed and running time is a "Graupner 600 ECO" rated between 7.2 - 9.6 volt. The best result came from the 9.6 volt 3000amp Ni-cad battery pack. Running time flat out was around 25 minuets and the 8.4 volt 2000 amp pack gave around 20 minuets. The prop was 35mm standard a plastic 2 blade available from most model boat shops.
If you would like more help or information on the model please get in contact with us.
23rd May 2005
