Scale: 1:24. Noel Macklin founded the Fairmile Marine Company shortly before the outbreak of the Second World war. He was convinced that war with Germany was inevitable and that Britain would require large numbers of small craft to protect inshore waters against submarines and even invasion. He used his own money to design and develop a small motor boat that could be built as a disassembled wooden kit by his company and delivered to local boatyards for assembly. It became known as the ‘Fairmile A Type’ motor launch and, while the principle impressed greatly the Royal Navy, the vessel itself was unsatisfactory. In fact the Admiralty itself already had a design for a similar vessel and awarded the contract for its manufacture to Fairmile.

The model shows this variant – the ‘Fairmile B Type’ motor launch. These launches were 112 feet in length overall, with a displacement of sixty-five tons. Their armament consisted of twin pom-poms located forward, a three pounder aft, two 0.303 machine guns twelve depth charges in chutes, and a two inch Y-gun thrower. At a speed of twelve knots they had a range of 1500 nautical miles, but could operate at twenty knots. In all around 650 were built. The kits for making up the ‘Fairmile B Type’ consisted of six packages, with each package being designed to fit in a standard fifteen ton lorry. The Fairmile yard staggered the delivery of these packages to local boatyards to ensure that production was not interrupted and also that a backlog of parts did not build up. The kits were sent to boatyards large and small around the UK and, eventually, around the world.

These vessels were commonly known as the ‘Maid of all work’ being deployed as minelayers and sweepers, and escort vessels, transporting troops and patrolling waters both at home and overseas. There were a number of variants as the basic design could be easily reconfigured using steel strips with tapped holes mounted into the decks. Armament was bolted to these strips and, to change roles, unwanted armament was simply unbolted and new armament fitted. Thus the ‘Fairmile B Type’ was adapted to carry torpedo tubes, mines, depth charges and even additional fuel tanks which greatly extended their range.

We don’t know much about the specific vessel depicted by the model, No.112. She was removed from the Navy List in April 1946 and her ultimate fate is not known, though there are still a small number of surviving examples of the type around today.