I was there in 1958 /59 on HMS Birmingham. Then on HMS Shoulton in the 60s for 3 Years and the later on HMS Ashanti first of the Tribals doing helicopter training until we lost it!!! Small choppers don't float!!!
Cheers Chris

ChrisR, very likely, I am trying to remember 65 years ago and it is surprising how things can get blurred by the passage of time. The one thing I am sure of is that there was a corvette moored their wearing the RAF ensign. I spent several months swinging round a buoy there on the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable..

Cheers, Nerys

I have only seen those two Crash tenders based at the Sea Plane base on Southampton water. I was stationed in Portland on the 3rd MCM Squadron (HMS Shoulton).
I think you may be confused with the Gay boats (Gay Charger, Gay Cavalier etc) which were in Portland for a short while before they returned to Plymouth. The Gay boats were used for target towing.
Cheers, Chris

I may be an idiot to enter the arena of RAF crash tenders, but I recently acquired a part finished model from one of our members who was about to flee the country. I've looked at a lot of pictures on line and there appears to be a lot of variation in the colour they were painted, so, I'm not sure that I want to be too dogmatic about colours and how I will finish mine. I have vaque memories of Portland Harbour in the fifties, when the RAF maintained a base there complete with their very own corvette, grey hull, and seem to remember various high speed craft with hulls painted grey, RAF blue and I think white. Or, is my imagination running riot?
Cheers, Nerys

I be going on the 18th Feb but I met this chap last year and had a conversation at an open day. I hope I can remember him and indeed if he is there I will make some enquirers

Apropos contentious Mike,
I've often wondered why this particular boat, of which only two were ever built and before they were even completed the task they were intended for had evaporated, has come to be known as 'iconic'!
Iconic for what actually? Lesro kit designs? There are many others to choose from, the originals of which actually did, and still do in some cases, what they were designed for!
One of the mysteries of the universe!
Muse muse😁
G'night All, Doug 💤

Great Mike👍
I look forward to the report, esp. when and where he worked on 93!
This debate seems to have been going on for years🤔 That's why I started digging back then.
I thought we'd put it to bed a couple of years ago when the Vosper drawings turned up.
Someone on the site has a clearer copy than mine, which I was sent by Martin (Westquay).
I hope your 'informant' actually worked at Vosper and not some later repair yard.

If I were silly enough to try to compete with you, Ed, Graham and Rob & Co think I might go for all fire engine red with a blue LED light bar and red strobe on top😁 At least me old eyeballs would be able to see it on the horizon better than whatever shade of grey.

If I did one 'properly (🙄) I think I'd have to go for CERRUX grey all over for the cabins.
BUT I'd do the roofs non slip, not 'smooth', so the monitor operators don't slide overboard😮
A chaque un a son goût mes amis!
Cheers, Doug 😎

"seem to end up there quite a lot and mostly without a paddle😥"
Hang in there Marky,
I'll send you a few of my recently acquired 6mm balsa planks so you can make a paddle or two😉
😎

Great - gues I will wait to paint my cabin tops until we can get it from the horses mouth 🤞😊 When do you visit the York club? Peter

Hi Doug I didn't realise this was such a contentious subject, I am about to join the York model boat club soon where I have visited a few times. During my visits last year I was told that one of the members actually worked on No 93, so I am going to find this person and ask the question. I will let you know

That makes two of us then Marky.

Martin555.

seem to end up there quite a lot and mostly without a paddle😥.
Cheers Marky

BTW On a lighter note😁
Found this pic while browsing around the Ex RAF Boat Crew Members Association site.
Where we all end up from time to time when a project ain't going quite to plan🤔
Still, at least they still had their paddles😁
On that bum note 😮
G'night All 😴😴😴
😎

BTW Gents,
If you follow the Sovereign Hobbies link for the paints browse around.
They do a whole range of colours for all major Navies and Air Forces.
They are all referenced against the original service designation.😊
A while ago I found a German dealer (Sovereign can't post paints outside mainland UK😭) so I promptly bought up his entire stock of USN Pacific colours for the refit of my ELCO 80 PTB and conversion to PT109 (what else?🙄)
Check 'em out👍
ED; US dealer is White Ensign Models in sunny California ☀️ I think.
Last time I bought some WEM photo etch (for HMS Illustrious) that's where it came from.
Seems like WEM got fed up with rainy 🌧️ Wales a few years ago!
Happy building folks🚤🚤🚤⛵⛵⛵
Cheers, Doug 😎

Hi Ed,
"This is the picture I'm going by, for better or worse. In all pictures the cabin tops seem lighter than the cabin sides, although in some they are close to the same colour, but even then they seem lighter than the deck."
An optical delusion Ed! Big problem with B&W photos.
I can send you about a dozen of these B&W photos.
Some of which appear to show the main deck just as light as the cabin tops.
Or the whole deck and superstructure very light, or the cabin sides practically as dark as the hull .....
It all depends on the lighting; sunny, cloudy, angle of the sun, quality of the camera, ISO of the film used ...🤔
Look at six different photos of the same boat and you can draw six different conclusions.

Unfortunately colour photos of 93 & 94 are rarer than rocking horse droppings.
There are a few of other RAF boat types, which were built in greater numbers and were actually used in service, and they seem to have had variety of paint schemes depending on where they were stationed and what was available when repairs were needed.

Time to start fiddling with my stuff again😉
Don't think I'll risk a FIREBOAT/FIRE FLOAT/CRASH TENDER or whatever!
(Havin' enough trouble with my PTB refit🤔)
Cheers, Doug 😎

Odd! That pdf is one that I only just created having found that text on the German Marine Forum site. I converted the txt file to pdf for posting here as the site won't accept txt.
See previous post for the gist of it in English. You ain't doin nuttn wrong.
Seems to be some weird glitch on the site when several of us are posting virtually simultaneously.
I just deleted them from your posts.😉

Ed,
You are half right👍
That's what 93 & 94 were intended for, but the task never materialised as the SR45 flying boats were cancelled. So they tootled around doing not a lot for a few years and were then sold off. Can't find any reference to them on any ex crew association site.

I don't think we will ever really get to the bottom of this so in the end it's a case of 'Do what you believe'. And may your God go with you, whoever he is. (With thanks to Dave Allen RIP).
Cheers, Doug 😎

Evening Peter,
Here is source of probably the most accurate RAF and RN model paints you will ever find.
https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/collections/colourcoats-sea-british?page=1
They are mixed according to original paint chip samples.
At the top of page 1 you will find the good old BSC 637 and 638 Medium and Dark Sea Grey.
About half way down page 2 of this link you will also find the mysterious CERRUX grey mentioned in the Vosper drawing.
They only do enamel paint, hope that doesn't put you off.

Martin,
You've posted most of those docs before, and I was sceptical then.
That Air Publication is dated June 1960 and the FF93 & 94 Fire Floats were apparently only in build and service from 1952 to 1958.
The AP does not mention any specific boat type, much less 93 & 94, just general marine craft which seems to apply to various harbour tenders etc. I.e. RTTLs and STs do seem to have other paint schemes.
The text file has no indication of origin and looks like someone just typed up some info from the AP.
Like I said;
You pays yer money and you takes yer choice!😉

Interestingly I found the the attached background info on these two boats, on the German Marine Forum site! Must be an English source somewhere.
Gist of it is:-
1945 Ministry of Supply Issues an RFQ (Request For Tender) for long range Flying Boats,
1946 Saunders Roe won the tender and a contract to produce three large flying boats Type SR45 "Princess" for transatlantic service.
Due to problems with engine development causing ever rising costs the main potential customer BOAC backed out and the three SR45 aircraft were redesignated as Transports for the RAF. No more were contracted.
1952 MoD issues an RFQ for suitable Crash Tenders for the SR45.
Whereupon Vosper produced the two FF MkII 46 foot Fire Floats FF93 and FF94.

As only one prototype SR45 ever flew and the other two machines were never completed to airworthy state the raison d'etre of 93 and 94 never materialised.
The two boats had no future in the RAF and were quickly sold off.
(I also looked at RAF boats Crew Association pages, found lots of info and photos but not a peep about 93 and 94.)
The last paragraph reports on the Victory Industries model.
I had one as whipper snapper, left it behind on Camber Sands 😭😭😭

Cheers All, Doug 😎
PS While browsing around I found this pic of a Seaplane Base with a tender boat.
But somebody nicked the wet stuff!😮

1952 was well after WW2, so I'm not sure how camouflaged they needed to be. Weren't they mainly used to cover the trans Atlantic flying boats landings etc.?

And once again I have the pdf. What am I doing wrong?

This is the picture I'm going by, for better or worse. In all pictures the cabin tops seem lighter than the cabin sides, although in some they are close to the same color, but even then they seem lighter than the deck.

I used a textured spray paint from Rust-oleum which worked really well. It has a larger nozzle so comes out fast. Shake really well!

Once again I seem to have picked up another image (pdf) that I didn't post. Not sure why! Sorry

Cheers martin - still confused over cabin top colours...think Im going for the dark sea grey same as decks to give a more camoflagued appearance. Peter

Doug, many thanks for the specs....and perhaps slight confusion re the cabin tops colour white or the deck grey. Personally, considering these were built and operated near to "war-time" use - for operation in the channel amongst other places - I would suspect the cabin tops were the dark sea grey as camoflage from the enemy above......not sure I would want to be advertising my whereabouts with gleaming white cabin tops against a dark sea from aircraft above......although photos of the craft are black and white - I cannot see any white looking cabin tops in the actual craft pics. So I am going to go with the Dark Sea Grey for decks and cabin tops. BTW how are folks getting the "non-slip" into deck paint....just adding some form of modelling sand in a weak epoxy mix prior to overspray - or what ?
Peter

Hi Peter
I have been in contact with the RAF museum as I am in the process of painting my RAF crash Tender, they have been most helpful and provided a number of documents
Find attached some RAF specs for details and colour

Doug, I'm so glad you mention the cabin tops are not white, which I've always thought didn't look right. I've just done mine matte clam shell as an experiment (I'm not a gloss man but that's another story). I haven't attached the cabin tops so everything can be repainted. It's still white but with a slight grey accent. I realize it's still not authentic. I'll live with it for a couple of days, but so far I think it might be ok.

From past comments I didn't do the wood decks that I'd been looking forward to doing. Taping the non skid etc seemed to take just as long! I finished them in dark grey. I repainted the cabin sides, which involved taking the windows back out. They were a tight interference fit and not glued yet, but I still managed to crack one. I used a different brand of paint and the color didn't match the chart, drying almost as dark as the decks. It is what it is and the windows are all back in and glued!

PS Attached is a link to an RAF colour reference chart.
Go down to the 1945 page and you will find 637 and 638 with Tamiya, Gunze Sangyo and Federal Standard equivalents.
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_uk.htm
Happy choosing👍
Cheers, Doug 😎

Hi Peter,
Attached is a link to a source of RAF spec BS std paints.
https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/model-paints/paints-glues/xtracrylix-acrylic/bs-raf-paints/

Also a line drawing with Vosper's painting notes. About millionth generation copy I'm afraid☹️
But very faintly in the notes on the left I believe I can see 'BS637'.
Which indicates RAF Medium Sea grey, i.e. cabin sides.
I believe that the decks would then be non slip RAF Dark Sea grey, BS638.
In both cases the undercoat is specified as BS631 grey.
Incidentally, although the aft cockpit decks ('aft cockpit flat') on these models look great as varnished wood, actually they should apparently be the same non slip grey as the main deck.
Cabin tops, contrary to the popular choice of white, are specified as 'smooth deck paint, i.e. grey!
This topic has been debated here several times.
Some ex crew have chipped in with info on local variations and mods on other RAF boats.
But there were only two of these particular boats, 93 and 94, which only had a very short service life. So I doubt they had time to be altered much.

Trust this adds to the confusion!😉
Yer pays yer dosh an' takes yer choice!
Cheers, Doug 😎

Peter,

I used Halfords rattle cans for the hull. Black and Red primer, over coated with their clear lacquer. The deck was textured using Halfords texture rattle can and then finished with Humbrol enamel No 5 Dark Admiralty Grey. Having read that the superstructure sides should be lighter, I mixed some white into the Dark Admiralty Grey for that. Probably not enough as they don’t look much lighter. I don’t know how close it is to the original, but I’m happy with the final result.

Regards Graham93

Graham, many thanks for sharing your experience re sealing. BTW what colours have you done on your "93" - specifically the grey on superstructure sides and deck ( I have read that the decks were a darker grey. Any specs on the paint colours you used would be useful.
Cheers - Peter

Hi Peter,

I haven’t found it necessary to seal the hatches. I get very little water coming over the sides and into the cockpit, etc. Just a few splashes.

Regards Graham93