Скачать или смотреть HMS Gnat | Insect Class Gunboat

The model is 1/32 scale making the model 7ft 2 inch long and 14inches wide. Powered by two 12v car heater motors the model represents Gnat as she appeared in May 1941 after a surprise attack on her by enemy forces at Tobruk- the observant may see a missing ships boat and missing/damaged folding sections around the aft pompom gun. The crew are a mix of Airfix 8th Army figures and Dragon/Miniart Long Range Desert Group and British Army desert figures.
The hull was built by Steve Brown and Nick Brown built the upperworks and decks.

History
HMS Gnat, an Insect class gunboat originally built in 1915 to fight the Austrian-Hungarian Danube river force. They never reached the Danube but instead were deployed to Iraq. Armed with x2 6-inch guns, x1 3-inch gun, x1 2pdr Pom Pom, and six maxim machine guns, they were considered mini monitors! They were shallow draught for river work only having 4ft below the waterline. They were 237.5ft long and 36ft wide. After WW1 they spent 20 years patrolling the Yangtze River and China Station protecting British interests in the area. When WW2 broke out five of them were transferred to the Mediterranean for North African Shore bombardment duties. HMS Gnat had her upper masts cut down and her paint work camouflaged with black splinters. She was retrofitted with many 20mm Oerlikon cannons to increase her AA guns. She and her sister boats were hunted by Axis forces for a majority of 1941 with Cricket loosing her stern and Ladybird being sunk by German dive bombers. Gnat was eventually torpedoed by a U-boat on 21st October 1941 loosing her bow. She was towed to Alexandria to become a floating AA platform until 1945.