MTM Italian Explosive Boat

** Note: This is a VERY small boat at 1/300 scale - under 2cm in length. The real thing was only about 5.5 meters long. It's basically a motorboat with a bomb in it. **

The MTM Explosive Boat is sometimes called a "suicide boat", although the term is not completely accurate.

The MTM was designed to be carried by a larger ship, then dropped off near to its target. Its single operator would then arm its 330 kg explosive charge and head towards a large enemy ship - preferably one lying at anchor.

When the MTM was within 100 to 200 meters of the target, the operator was supposed to jam the rudder and then use a primitive ejection seat to escape. The boat would then hit the target and a small charge would go off, sinking the MTM. A depth trigger would then cause the main charge to explode.

In practice the triggering mechanism was not overly reliable, and the main charge was often set to detonate on hitting the enemy ship. Needless to say, the survival prospects of the operator were not good.

Other than the explosives themselves, the MTM was not armed. Presumably the operator would carry a sidearm, but he would also be busy operating the boat.

Only 1 file is included - the boat itself. I modeled it with the prow out of the water, moving at full speed, to make it look a bit more interesting.

I recommend putting a 6mm crew figure in the operator's position at the back, as otherwise it looks a bit weird.

** There is now a full hull version available in the files. **