This is the 2nd part of a tribute build I did for my wife’s family. Her uncle who in WWII was a Motor Machinist Mate, 2nd Class, on LCVP boat no. 4 assigned to this ship. Unfortunately did not live long enough to see these projects completed. The Geneva was a Gilliam class attack transport built late in WWII. After launching she sailed to New Orleans to collect her Higgins boats and then started her war cruise from San Diego, eventually returning home to San Francisco.
The kit is a 1/700 resin mixed media gem of a Gilliam class attack transport (same as the Geneva) from Loose Cannon Productions. By chance I met its creator, Hugh Letterly, at Caboose Hobbies where I live. This is my first 1/700 ship and the build was pretty straight forward. I couldn’t leave well enough alone so I added the following:
From Lion Roar photo etch 20mm Oerlikons, twin 40mm Bofors, and a 5" open mount deck gun. From Paper Lab search lights and gun directors. From Gold Medal Models the flag. From Archer Fine Transfer the hull numbers. Finally from Eduard the pre painted crew figures.
The ship was painted with White Ensign Models paints (thank you John) and finished with Right Step acrylic matte finish. The base was finished using some artists textured paper painted with acrylic colors and top coated with Liquitex gloss gel. Photo etch rigging is provided but I decided to rig her with 8x fly fishing tippet.
This boat is painted a dark Navy Gray 5-N so it’s difficult to photograph well. The following are the actual ship, some dark photos that indicate what it really looks like, and then some lightened photos so you can pick out some detail. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed building this project. I received help from several people on this board and I want to thank you for helping me make this a satisfying project.
The actual ship
Photos indicating her actual appearance…
