The ‘Dog Boats’ - the D class Fairmile MTBs and MGBs - formed one of the classes of wooden boat produced by the Fairmile Marine Company. The history of that company is a tribute to one man’s vision and drive and to the positive and speedy decision-making that resulted from the existence of an urgent requirement: exactly the conditions that existed in 1939. It is remarkable that such decisions had to be taken with so little long-term planning to make rapid expansion possible, and that the man, Noel Macklin, should be there ready to take risks and invest money, even before the slow response and reactionary thinking of the Admiralty had taken only faltering steps.

The type D was produced to combat the known advantages of the German S-boat [from Schnellboot, but always called E-boats by the Allies]. Their low silhouette and excellent sea-keeping qualities were much sought after, and they were more heavily armed that the British ‘short boats’.
The lines of the D were developed at the Admiralty by William John Holt, then head of the boat section of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors. The distinctive hull form was developed, figuratively speaking, by splicing a destroyer type bow on to a fast motor boat stern. The hull form was tested in the Admiralty Experimental Tank at Haslar towards the end of 1939, though with the testing of variations it was not to take its final shape until March 1941. It was then linked with the powerful American Packard petrol engine, again provided under Lend-Lease, with four engines, and four propeller shafts fitted into the wide after hull.
Fairmile construction techniques had proved themselves, and the D type was built in some thirty small shipyards in the UK, being supplied in kit form, as for the previous designs.
The prototype D, MGB601, was constructed by Tough Brothers at Teddington on the Thames, and not far from Cobham. She was laid down on 1 June 1941, lauched on 4 October, and after trials, handed over on 20 February 1942.

Details of the kit

Scale 1/24 Length 1.46m Beam 2580mm Sailing weight 5.4kgs

Our Representation Model
MTB605 in November 1944, armed with one 6-pounder gun on a Mark VII mounting, two twin .5-in machine guns on Mark V [power] mountings, two twin .303-in Vickers machine-guns (not shown), one twin 20-mm Oerlikon on a Mark IX mounting, one 6-pounder gun on a Mark VI mounting, two 18-in torpedo tubes, two depth charges, a single 2-in rocket flare launcher and provision for mines.
Glass fibre detailed hull, 1.5mm Plastic deck and superstructure, 1mm Printed plastic details, Colour code printed superstructure, Vacformed details, liferafts, gun cabs etc, Moulded motor mounts, Pre-printed deck paneling, Full metal fittings set, Cast resine fittings
Stainless steel Propshafts, propellers, & skegs
Full size full colour plan WITH EMBEDDED HI RESOLUTION COLOUR PHOTOS and full colour detailing of metal, plastic and resine parts, Digital instructions, Pre- cut waterproof vinyl Decals set.