1/35th Scale LST Bow...?

[Havoc]

Okay, okay,

I know this is probably an insane suggestion and beyond a longshot, BUT, have you folks at Trakz/Hard Corps-Harper Industries ever considered making a 1/35th scale resin/vacuform/etc. kit of the bow portion of an LST...?

Man, I am so tired of seeing PTO & ETO photos of tanks and AFVs disembarking from LSTs and not being able to model anything like that...it made me think that it would be cool to have a model of the transport's bow to replicate such photos in diorama form...

Keep dreaming, right? Well, if ya don't ask, ya don't get, right, so I'm asking!!

Thanks!

Aloha,

Johnny B

PS. Dave H --- how close are we to getting your newest guide to modelling the LVT-4...? I know that it was scheduled for Oct/Nov. Thanks again!

[dharper]

http://www.harpercastings.com/images/image_posts/LP%20015%20CVR%20sm.jpg


Hello Johnny,

Never really considered the LST Bow idea, it never hurts to ask though.

As for "Project LVT's: Amtracs - LVT4", I have had quite a hold up with our pattern maker for the master patterns of the LVT4. We sent him tons and tons of great reference materials. Photos of a restored runner vehicle and lots of TM shots. He has really dropped the ball, it has been over two years since he took on the project and his delivery date was supposed to be in '03.

We have heard excuse after excuse from him, including the old, "I sent it to you and it got returned to me after several months of being lost, and it was really damaged by the darned post office". He was going to get it repaired and off to us in two weeks, That was almost a year ago.

If a party can't or doesn't want to do a project, just say so!! There is no harm in that. This particular pattermaker approached us with the project in the first place. Due to some health issues with the patternmaker, I have not pushed him too hard and I have offered to reassign the project to another patternmaker who can deliver. He insists that he is doing it and so there it hangs....

In my book, I was going to build several different LVT4's utilizing the various parts he was doing. I guess that I will have to sit down and do the patterns myself, in all honesty, I believe that I am much more familiar with the subject than he is and could do just as good of a job on it.

But the delay has pushed the book back until at least Feb/March of '05. I have completed all of the historical research and WWII photos section of my "Project AFV's: USMC Shermans" book. I am currently in the model building/painting/weathering stages. I have a few color plates to finish and it should be off to the printers in January '05. I cover the modeling of four different USMC Shermans in this book. I have planned a series of Magazine articles on modeling several more USMC Shermans.

I keep finding more and more USMC Sherman photos and Info. Too much for a single book!! You just have to draw the line somewhere and go to press with what you have at the time.

Much more to come....

David

[Havoc]

Well, Dave,

That's real bummer on the prolonged delays on the LVT-4 book --- hopefully we will see it sometime in '05. It's a real drag when your vendors make promises and don't come through again and again...

Was the LVT-4 with flame gun one of the vehicles you were doing for the book?

I'm starting in slowly on the Italeri LVT-4 kit --- right now the best reference I have is the excellent British publication Military Modelling (I think it is Vol 32 No 4 from 2002 --- it has a jumbo Sherman on the cover)... This gent did an AMAZING job accurizing and overhauling the Ital kit, including a fantastic job scratchbuilding the British Polsten cannon...definitely a prizewinner and quite an exhaustive article.

Definitely not going to go to his lengths, but I do want to insure that my build is accurate as a WWII Pacific vehicle --- many have speculated that Italeri did their research on a Post War LVT-4.

Glad to hear the Pacific Shermans book is getting closer to release -- that's another one that I am eagerly awaiting... Yeah, it must be tough discovering better and better reference photos, but you're right, ya gotta go ta press some time. Hey, you can always post the remainders here on the Internet or sell the photos on CD as references.

As always, thanks for the info and taking time ta respond, Dave! Keep those Pacific kits, figures, and references coming!! And hey, keep that 1/35th scale
LST bow kit in mind --- it would make for spectacular PTO, ETO, etc. dioramas!

Much Aloha,

Johnny B.

[dharper]

Yes, the LVT4 Peleliu "FlameThrower" version is one of the variants that I am building. And sadly, yes, the Italeri kit is based on a post war French version of the beast.

I am building the original un-armored cab, the up-armored mid model cab and the late production (WWII) armored cab versions. Many things on the Italeri kit need to be replaced or altered.

I will cover vehicles used on Iwo Jima, Peleliu, and Okinawa. I will not be modeling the front cab interiors of any of the LVT4s, since they are not visible unless the vehicle is blown apart or undergoing major repairs. I will cover the interiors in the reference section, for those wishing to model it.

I am working with CMK, providing them all of the information for their upcoming LVT interior set.

David

[jimbrae]

Accurate Armour have the bow section of their LST (1/35th) available seperately. When I visited them in April, they said that a lot of customers didn't have the space for the full 1/35th LST waterline model, so they were making the bow section available....Jim :)