Trumpeter LCAC

[Guest]

I suppose this is the best subforum to put this in, given there’s no dedicated one for hovercraft

Probably something like ten years ago, I bought and mostly built Trumpeter’s 1/144 scale LCAC, the US Navy’s Landing Craft Air Cushion:

[ATTACH]341086[/ATTACH]

Here’s how far I got with actually putting it together:

[ATTACH]341087[/ATTACH]

The main parts are built, I added two pilots into the cockpit (actually 1/150 scale model railway figures), and painted two of the propellers orange and a few other bits black. Now I intend to finish it, but I’ll first have to spend some time figuring out what still needs to be done, and then doing that

To give an idea of the size, the black rubber skirt is about 18.5 cm long and 10 cm wide.

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a hovercraft model built. Didn't know there were hovercraft landing craft. I reckon after 10years it's earned its place on your bench.
Jim

[stillp]

I remember building the Airfix kit of the SRN1 when it was new - mid-sixties?
edit: no, 1960! https://www.scalemates.com/kits/airf...-sr-n1--206575

Pete

[Guest]

Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a hovercraft model built.

This is the only one I’ve ever made, certainly. Though I do want to build a PACV in 1/35 at some point

Didn't know there were hovercraft landing craft.

This one is not even the largest of those around. Here’s a Russian Zubr-class:

[ATTACH]341690[/ATTACH]

These are about the size of the hovercraft that used to do Calais–Dover (which were not very comfortable when almost empty in bad weather, I can tell you) but with roughly twice the carrying capacity.

I reckon after 10years it's earned its place on your bench.

I’m not sure why I put it back into its box when it was mostly built … it looks like all I need to is paint it and add some miscellaneous parts.

[Steve Jones]

An interesting build Jakko. Looking forward to seeing it finished. Any plans to put any vehicles in it?

[minitnkr]

Very cool. PaulE

[Guest]

Looking forward to this.

[boatman]

Something different :thumb2:

[Guest]

Thanks all.

Any plans to put any vehicles in it?

Probably the M1A1 I have at hand (or is it an M1A2? Not sure — the model is in my hobby room and I can’t be bothered to go and check ). I also have a couple of different Trumpeter LVTP-7/AAV-7s, but these would be unlikely to be in an LCAC, I’d think.

[BattleshipBob]

Interesting build, watching with interest

bob

[Guest]

I put some paint on!

[ATTACH]341275[/ATTACH]

Trumpeter provides decals for the yellow stripes, but I thought painting them would look better, so I put two coats of yellow on, and used some GW Boltgun Metal on the metallic strips (tie-downs?) running the length of the deck as well. Some masking tape will obviously go on here before painting the rest.

The instructions say to paint the main parts of the model silver, but looking at photos of real LCACs, they seem grey to me, so I’ll be trying my too-dark-for-white GW primer as the start for the main colour.

[boatman]

Watching with instrest

[Guest]

By now I’ve worked out which parts I still needed to add, and put it all together (apart from a couple that I’ll add only after painting, anyway). I’ve dry-assembled the main parts for these photos:

[ATTACH]341623[/ATTACH]
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All the superstructure bits are actually still loose, making for six pieces per side: the cab at the front, then the machinery and engine rooms, the bars over the fans, the fan itself, and the fan shroud with steering vanes. (The fans aren’t in place here because they’d just fall down.) The cockpit interior is also still loose, as are all the windows and the windscreen wipers, which are provided as etched parts. I’ll add all those only after painting, to save trouble masking. Oh, and the skirt isn’t in the photos because obviously, it being black soft plastic I don’t want it on before painting either

You can also see I masked all the stripes on the deck, by putting Tamiya tape along it and then cutting that to the right width simply using the lines scribed in the deck.

Here are some detail shots:

[ATTACH]341627[/ATTACH]

This is the front left (forward port?) cab, with the little observation structure in place. This is two clear parts which are very poorly designed, because there will be a seam running through two of the windows. I already masked it and glued it in place.

[ATTACH]341628[/ATTACH]

The cockpit cab on the right front (starboard forward?) side, though as said, minus its windows and interior. There is quite a lot of stuff to fix to both these cabs, so it pays to take care that you don’t knock much of it off again. (Not that I have, but I’m constantly having to keep it in mind.)

[ATTACH]341629[/ATTACH]

One of the fan shrouds, showing how much filling you need to do inside them to get rid of ejector pin marks and other blemishes. The vanes are also quite fragile, as they attach only at the top and bottom with very little contact. They can even break off from picking up the shrouds without even touching the vanes at all. No points for guessing how I discovered that I also had to make some kind of cover on the left (port) engine housing, simply a punched-out plastic disc with some plastic rod underneath. However, I don’t remember why I needed to do this, because the kit part is there on the other side — chances are I managed to have it fly from my tweezers before I could glue it down and never found it again

[Guest]

That's coming along well. Looks fiddly though!

[boatman]

Jakko can you give a little idea of the size of this craft as I know its 1/144 ?