Okay, well let me start by saying that I know this is the armor forum, and if this doesnt belong, then I will gladly remove/move it to another forum. I would put it in the ships category, but a 1/35 scale landing craft shares a lot more in common (specifically in painting tequniques) than those huse 1/600 battleship models, so I decided to put it here. Once again if you strongly disagree with this I will move it. Anyways, Its the trumpeter 1/35 LCM-3 model. I added my own stowage and made a tarp, probably wont use it in the end but I thought it looke good. The guns have been removed for painting since they have such small parts. The crew is also the trumpteter set and have just been placed so you can see for now. The chains are from the dollar store jewelry department :). So far I have only done a base color, which I realize now is too dark, applied decals which I may touch up with white to make them stand out a little. Also i did a pretty heavy wash and began some paint chipping. Ive still got tons to do, but its a start. Any ideas would be great.
Not only do I think it belongs, but that you’re doing a great job on the kit. Are you planning to have any additonal cargo/personnel/equipment inside the finished model? Keep at it and please, keep us posted.
I think it looks great. Nice paint job and the chains look fantastic. God bless the Dollar Store. The only reason that I never cared for the Trumpeter crew for the LCM is because, for an Omaha scene, they don’t seem too concerned with the bullets and mortars supposedly whizzing by their heads. I think that could detract from a good beach scene. I had to scratch some guys who looked like they weren’t just firing, they were firing BACK. I wish a model company would make a crew bobbi’n and weavin’. I would oust that one guy standing there nonchalantly, maybe even reposition him as a casualty. Just my opinion. SteveM
Thanks! your coments are encouraging, I might have some more pictures of new progress tonight or tomorow as well. By the way to answer your question, yes it will be used with other figures. Its going in an Omaha diorama which I already have about 40+ figures ready to paint to go with it, plus lots more unbuilt, even 2 LCVP’s if Im feeling really ambitious.
Picture of someo fthe figures: By the way, these are not final, many will not be used and others changed positions, modified, finished, and all need to be painted, dont pay attention to the already started painted stuff. This also isnt final positioning. I just threw them down on a slab of cardboard with some hedgehog barriers to show the idea. Plus there are LOTS more unbuilt.
how could u put that rusty thing on your bed?!!! but yea, i think it looks great and nicely weathered.
if it’s still possible, i’d say you might want to consider using thin nylon strings to hold onto the gates. that fuzz coming out the cotton string is kinda extreme if you think about in a scale sense. definitely not a major issue or anything like that though.
I am going to dissent on the opinion that the rust looks good. It is overdone and the hull number is too faded. While I agree that the processes of weathering a ship model are similar to those for weathering armor, there comes a point when even armor models are overdone.
These craft were carried into action onboard ships (attack transports ¶ or attack cargo (KA)). The sailors on the ships, having nothing else to do, lavished attention on the “main battery” of their ships, their boat group. In the Pacific the transit time was measured in weeks. The invasion of North African was mounted from the east coast of the US and Great Britain and also took weeks to get there. The transit to the invasions of Sicily/Salerno/Anzio/ and Southern France were measured in days. While the transit to Normandy was overnight, there was always an extended ‘down time’ prior to the assault that gave the boat group the opportunity to maintain their boats. They would have been painted and maintained well. Their crews relied on them. If they were allowed to get that rusty the boat group division officer would have been chewing some major butt. The hull humber was the means that an individual boat would be identified. It needed to be easily read at a distance. The hulls of the boats were likely not painted with anti-fouling paint. They were regularly hauled out of the water and fouling marine growth was not allowed to accumulate.
Perhaps if this was a boat assigned to a backwater logistics operation it might get rusty and ratty looking but not on a front-line attack group conducting an assault.
This LCM returning to its mother ship with wounded from the beach at Normandy looks nowhere as grotty as yours.
The basic color isn’t too bad - it looks to be similar to 5-O Ocean Gray. LCMs and LCVPs were camouflaged in accordance with their assigned davit position. LCMs were stowed athartships as deck cargo. Ocean Gray would not be totally inappropriate, although 5-H Haze Gray or 5-N Navy Blue may be more common in the European theatre. Dazzled ships would have dazzled landing craft. In the Pacific, the camouflage also included greens and browns. Don’t rust a LCVP. They were made of plywood.
This is a photo from the US Army Signal Corps showing a combat-loaded LCT prior to the Invasion of Normandy. Most of the color photos I’ve seen show a similar color to this, which is 5-N Navy Blue. Well maintained - with very little rust showing (there is that ding in the front)
My father was on an attack cargo (AKA-14) from North Aftrica through Southern France. The photos which I have show the boats to be well maintained, even when the paint on the hull of the ship was relatively battered and weathered (you can’t paint over the side when underway)
Its your model and you may finish however pleases you, but in my opinion you have crossed into an overdone and unrealistic presentation
Just a suggestion to the LCM-3 but maybe you could add a few machine gun holes or something to the hull. I dont think any LCM would have been untouched by machine gun, or mortar fire.But otherwise good job on the model.
It looks pretty good, but I have to agree with Ed. It is way too severely weathered. I would definitely be chewing a$$ on a few Bosun Mates, Chief Petty Officers, and the Division Officer.
Thanks for the photos. I think it fits right in here, wouldn’t none of these British or American tanks have done anything without the Navy to get them there!
I worked on a bunch of landing craft in Vietnam, at first glance this model reminded me of those. I have to agree with the others that during WWII the landing craft would have been in prefect condition; right out of the boatyards and hardly used, probably less than six months old. Any landing craft carried aboard ship would be in good condition, at least until they got trashed on the landing beaches and left for junk. Small craft based ashore like in the Pacific with McArthur would probably get used, and beat up alot more like in Vietnam (plus being over 20 years old at that point).
The cargo and troops might appear pretty confused and packed tight. It usually would have been all personnel aboard the first couple of landings like it appears you are setting up, no supply type cargo.
Thanks for the comments and constructive criticism, both were helpful, and thanks especially for your long description of why it is unrelaistically weathered and the photographs. Now for a couple of answers. First I am going to touch up the decals making them stand out much better. Second, this is only the begining, and therefore represents the finished model only a little, and it may change lots in the end. Lastly I understand perfectly why you are saying that it is unrelistically weathered. However, personally, although I strive for historical accuracy to a degree, do like to finish my models a little more to how I like, maybe historical accuracy will become more of a factor once I am more experienced. But so far this is only my third model, and Im kind of just hoping to make it look pretty good. That said, Im not going to go off and make a diorama showing a helicopter shot down by panzergrenaders, just becaus i think it looks good. But when it comes to little details (this I consider to be a fairly small detail) I just go with my preference. From what little Ive learned about modelling I can tell people have vastly different opinions about weathering, and ive seen overdone ones look amzaing, and spotless vehicles that looked great. Anyways, ill stop ranting about now, but as I said its just my opinions, I know that compared to people on this site like HeavyArty and Ajlafleche, I know very little. So thanks again for the comments, I hope you like it so far, realistic or not! Ill try to have some more pictures tomorow of progress.
–EDIT-- To answer tankluver’s question, I would have liked to also show the german cliffs, but I read a stastic that in 1/72 scale, from water to clifss was something like 2 meters! thats about 4 meters in 1/35! My room is hardly that big lol. I thought it would have been kind of cool to recreate though.
Did more weathering and stuff like that, I guess its almost finished. Also I added the crew by trumpeter, and took SteveM’s suggestion making the guy just standing around into a casualty. I also changed the left gunners arm around so he didnt look like a clone of the other one. Ill have some better pictures later or tomorow. Sorry if this weathering is unrealistic, I guess I got carried away. I know they were only 6 months old at the time and mine looks like its about 60 years old, but overall I like it so far. I still have to add some small things especially the barrel wich now that I look at it need to be repainted, plus some soldiers who didn’t make it out of the ship dead in the hull. Someone on these forums even gave me a tip on how to make puke, [xx(] but Im not sure if Im going to go into THAT much detail…!!! Anyways, Now that this is almost done I can do some more work on the rest of the figures and the diorama itself. Hope you like this picture, and Like I said I’ll have more soon. Criticism or comments would be great!
By the way any tips on hair? The dead guys “blonde” “hair” looks pretty terible.
the poor guy is dead and you are worrying about his hairdo!?—[swg]— i have read the posts and criticisms to this build-- but you know what?-- sometimes art is better than reality— you have put alot into this build and it shows–nice job man[tup]–treadwell[:D][:P]
