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stuzzar

Progress of my build will be placed here

Cheers

Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Thu 20 Dec 2007 19:00 pm Post subject:

Made a start at last. As explained elsewhere, I am going to be making an LCMIII as used by the US Navy Combat Demolition Unit on Dog Red section of Omaha Beach during Operation Overlord, otherwise known as D-Day, 6th June 1944.

The US NCDU were transported in LCMIIIs which were towed over to Normandy from Poole and Portland. The NCDU were tasked with assisting Army engineers in the clearance of beach obstacles and mines. Dog Red section had LCM No. 5 & 6 carrying the NCDU as the part of the initial assault wave with LCM No. 19 carrying Army engineers in support and LCM No. 30 in reserve. The subject of my build will be LCM No.5.

US LCMIIIs were slightly different to the British craft. Therefore a few minor alterations will be required to the standard kit. These will become evident as the build progresses.

Here are the sprue shots, not very clear

Cheers

Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Thu 20 Dec 2007 19:46 pm Post subject:

I plan to use this in the future for wargaming purposes so will be making a sea type base to surround the craft, I therefore wanted to get this as close to water line as I could. This is of course quite difficult as the inner 'hold' deck section sits on or below the waterline. I decided to simply trim off the parts on the base through which the prop shafts would run.

This gives a fairly reasonable waterline look and the rest will be covered when the sea is put around it.

The configuration of the US LCMIII is, as metioned before, a little different to the British craft, the raised section of the upper deck is extended to run beneath the Pilot House, there are 4 vents, and the ladder to the hold is made up of steps built into the rear bulkhead. The next step for me was to remove all of the moulded on detail on the upper deck.

The engine access hatch was then opened up

Work then began on extending the raised deck section by building up sides and supports from plastic card. The rear section of this was quite difficult to get right as it has to curve to follow the slight camber of the deck.

New deck surfaces were then added and the hatchway cut through once again. I would like to have added some etched brass sheeting here featuring some type of tread plate pattern but haven't any to hand so settled with plain plastic card

.

Next up was the Pilot House, this is also of different design on US craft, being a bit shorter than the one included in the Airfix kit and also longer. There is no roof and the door is on the side. I did some measuring up and cut some new sections from plastic card.

These were put together to form the new Pilot House

I have since added the lip that runs around the top of the structure and the corner strengthening pieces.

More later

Cheers

Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Thu 20 Dec 2007 20:19 pm Post subject:

A jig was made to assist in drilling the holes for the ladder rungs in the rear bulkhead as it is quite awkward getting the drill in to this area.

I added a step inside the engine access hatch

Here is a picture of the new Pilot House on the rear deck. The reinforcing corners and lip can be seen in this picture.

Work continues

Cheers

Stu

Ratch · Posted: Thu 20 Dec 2007 20:25 pm Post subject:

Is this the configuration of the Trumpeter LCM3 I built earlier this year

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stuzzar · Posted: Thu 20 Dec 2007 20:37 pm Post subject:

It could well be Ratch, certainly the Dragon LCMIII is similar to this.

Cheers

Stu

Ratch · Posted: Thu 20 Dec 2007 20:53 pm Post subject:

This is the one

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and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
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stuzzar · Posted: Fri 21 Dec 2007 13:53 pm Post subject:

That is indeed the same design. I am not looking forward to making the supports for the two machine guns though Nailbiting

Cheers

Stu

Heinkel51 · Posted: Thu 27 Dec 2007 22:34 pm Post subject:

Nice work there Stu.

stuzzar · Posted: Wed 09 Jan 2008 19:26 pm Post subject:

14 days away at Christmas and no modelling done so back to work on this one now.

As one of my Christmas gifts from my Father I was lucky enough to receive the Italeri 1/35th scale LCMIII. This has allowed me to study the various changes more closely and I have noticed that I have extended the new raised deck section a little too far

consequently this also means that the new pilot house is a little too long

so tonight I shall be trimming back the deck section and making a new pilot house. This time I will try to keep the vision slots more in scale

I shall post some updated pictures later

Cheers

Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Wed 09 Jan 2008 23:37 pm Post subject:

As promised, some pictures of the above mentioned revisions

The shaded area shows the portion of deck to be removed

Here is the job done, a little bit of filling and sanding will be necessary

Here is the new pilot house alongside the original, the difference is quite clear. In this picture the new pilot house is yet to be sanded down

This shows the new pilot house, once again alongside the original, here the rim and reinforcing corners have now been added. I think this one is a better job than the earlier one

Next up I plan to do a bit of detail work within the pilot house and get some steps made for the rear bulkhead

Cheers

Stu

Ratch · Posted: Thu 10 Jan 2008 00:15 am Post subject:

Nice work Stu

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

Heinkel51 · Posted: Fri 11 Jan 2008 01:10 am Post subject:

Looking good Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Fri 11 Jan 2008 13:14 pm Post subject:

Thanks chaps

I did a little bit more last night. Aided by the presence of the Italeri kit, I have managed (I think

) to suss out the operating mechanism for the ramp. I therefore made a new winch pulley and inset this in a small casing on the port side almost at the leading edge of the raised deck section, this position is further forward than that of the British craft.

One length of thin cord was run through a channel on the rear of the bulk head.

Small holes were drilled through each side of the forward raised deck section and the cord was fed through these. This will form the main cable for raising the ramp.

The deck section was then stuck down onto the lower hull, there was a little bit of warpage here but nothing a goodlashing with Mek couldn't handle.

At close of play last night the pulley wheel was working, although it may have set solid by now as a bit of errant adhesive seeped along the spindle.

Cheers

Stu

Edited by stuzzar 18:06 11/01/08, pictures added

stuzzar · Posted: Thu 17 Jan 2008 20:41 pm Post subject:

Just a small update.

Rungs for the ladder at the rear of the cargo section have been added from thin plastic rod.

The internal sides and floor have been cemented in place and a piece of plastic has been added at the front of the hull/floor to fill the huge gap that is there, this LCM would not get very far if left in that condition. This also meant trimming off the sockets that hold the ramp, these will have to be replaced later.

The rollers for the ramp cable have been fixed in place, two on the starboard side and three on the port. The following picture shows the starboard rollers under construction, they are basically pieces of plastic tubes slotted over thin plastic rod, a piece of plastic card is then drilled and slotted over the rod to hold the rollers in place and the ends of the rod trimmed off. I would have had more pictures of this process but the camera battery ran out of juice shortly after taking this one

Back to work

Cheers

Stu

stuzzar · Posted: Wed 23 Jan 2008 20:58 pm Post subject:

The rollers for the ramp cable have now been installed on either side of the craft and the cable run through, this was pinched from an Airfix LCVP kit but I perhaps wish that I had used a slightly heavier gauge.

Not the clearest of pictures but you can make out the three rollers on the port side, there are only two on starboard side. The piece of extra plastic added at the front of the cargo deck is also shown here

I taped the ramp in place to mark the position of the new 'hinges'

The base discs for the MGs were cut from plastic card and drilled with four holes a piece, small slithers of plastic rod were then cut and added to represent the bolts which secure them to the deck. These have yet to be sanded down

Holes were drilled in the side of the hull to represent the various bilges/scuppers

etc (apologies to any nautical types for incorrect terminology

). Weld seams were also added, these still require a little work

I proped the pilot house onto the deck to see how it was coming together, you will note a small panel has been added to the front of the pilot house, I believe this was an access panel to the workings of the steering gear.

Back to work

Cheers

Stu

Ratch · Posted: Wed 23 Jan 2008 21:31 pm Post subject:

Nice touches Stu

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

Heinkel51 · Posted: Thu 24 Jan 2008 01:15 am Post subject:

Nice work Stu

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Thu 24 Jan 2008 02:33 am Post subject:

Very nice work there Stu, attention to details like that really makes a difference to this kind of model.....Top stuff!

All the best

feanor · Posted: Thu 24 Jan 2008 07:01 am Post subject:

Ayup STU...

Top stuff indeed ! thanks for a really good article mate.

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