by Michael Maynard
1/72 Royal Air Force Rescue Launch (Airfix)
Built by the British Power Boat Company the 63' Air Sea Rescue "Whaleback" boats was used by the RAF in WWII. The design of these rescue boats was an adaptation of a motor gun boat developed for the Royal Navy. After experience in the Channel these small vessels earned a great reputation amongst their crew members. Primarily seeing service around the coasts of Britain, some boats were sent to the Med and to the coasts of India. At 21.5 tons the boats carried a 9 man crew. Powered by 3 Napier Sea Lion(1500 HP) engines it's top speed was 36 knots. THE MODEL- I purchased this kit in 1980 as I wanted the 20mm gun for a Flower Class corvette. My model was pretty much "looted" for parts over the years, by 2007 the box and even the instruction sheet was long gone. Having only the hull, deck, and a portion of the cabin, it was on it's way to the "dust bin" when I came across a color photo of a larger version of the model (1:35 I think). I ended up scratchbuilding much of the model and added features like an interior, scramble net, ammo ready boxes, sand bags, radio antenna, datum buoys, star shell projectors, life raft and modifying the armament. Believe it or not the 27 year old kit decals were used, they were in better shape than some of the newer decals on the market.
