Soviet D3 MTBs for Cruel Seas

Back to Cruel Seas and following on from the G5 let's look at the  "other" Soviet WW2 MTB available in Cruel Seas, the TKA D3.

Unlike the G5, which frankly should be put in the box marked "Good in theory but maybe a bit ahead of it's time....", the D3 is much more recognisably a Motor Torpedo Boat, in fact it sits pretty neatly alongside the Italian MAS boat in size and capability. Similar to the MAS boat the gun armament was not particularly heavy - a couple of DshK heavy machine guns. Judging from the stat card the model in Cruel Seas is the Series 1, of which 26 were made. These had Soviet engines and managed 32 knots. The later Series 2 versions benefited from Lend \ Lease Packard engines and that boosted their top speed up to 45 knots. 47 of the latter were built, and some carried slightly heavier gun armament including a 20 or 25mm autocannon, an improvement but still not capable of standing up to an S Boat.

As far as I am aware there are two D3 models available, one from Warlord, the other from Heroics and Ros. Both are in metal. I can't confirm this, but I suspect the H&R may be based on a Type 2, however the gun mount, like many H&R models is quite small. The arrangement of the guns and the bridge also seems unlike anything I can find in pics of the real boats. Actually it looks a bit like the OD200 Anti Sub cutter??

I know Warlord exaggerate the size of their guns to make them more identifiable, and I think H&R would have been wise to have followed this example. I'm going to bang a new gun mount on the H&R model and claim it as a variant.

The H&R model comes in 2 parts, hull and a gun mount, the Warlord version has 5 parts, hull, 2 torpedoes, 2 guns \ gunners and a mast. The detail on the Warlord version is very much better than the H&R, with scribed deck planking and just more detail in general. Assembly of the Warlord model is pretty easy, the only problem being the torpedoes which will need to be held in place til your glue sets as they tend to fall off. In fact I think I would leave them off until the model is painted as they tend to get in the way a bit.

Here are a pair of Warlord D3s with a H&R one at the front - with a Warlord gun on the central position.

On the whole I think the Warlord version is a much nicer model. The H&R version is available for £4 each, Warlord are selling their D3 in packs of four for £15. Given that, it really is a "no brainer" for me and I would go for the Warlord model on just about all counts.

There is also the option of messing about with the Warlord model to make some different versions. You could add a single 20mm amidships as a late model, or if you feel like a challenge there were a couple of D3s that were converted into SKA patrol gunboats with the torps replaced by a 37mm at the rear and the DshKs raised on pedestal mounts - all of which should be doable using the Warlord weapons sets for the DshKs and some plasticard and bits for the 37mm.