The Ship Model Forum

Hope you enjoy the build!

I did get a short bit of time today.. enough to have some airbrush problems and get maybe a coat of paint down on the navigating house level. Two things worth mentioning. The tolerances on this kit are extremely high and there's a couple of places where they apparently didn't consider paint or people building differently than they laid out in the instructions. The pilot house has two 20mm ready service ammunition lockers just forward of it, which you can see in the photo below:

[attachment=1]AFV_73515_LST_24.jpg[/attachment]

The gap underneath forward is 'cause id don't fit no mo.' I had originally wanted to paint the two levels separately so that the ready service locker would look like a completely separate piece and not one attached to the piltohouse bulkhead with tape wrapped around it. I can scrape the paint down, but obviously there's the possibility of messing that up, so I think that for the second kit I have I'll just glue the navigation house down.

Second - the open box on the top was a fly bridge for piloting. There was a door that swung open at the rear for entry and a couple of details inside that super detailers can add fairly easily. The door can be cut with a razor saw, and some of the various fiddley bits are available [url=https://blackcatmodels.eu/en/deck-accessories/87-pelorus-x10-and-torpedo-director-x4.html]from third-party companies[/url].

[attachment=0]LSTDeckHouseTop.jpg[/attachment]

Tracy, I'll be following your review with extra care now, apparently the Lifecolor special prize for the "best ship model" that the USS Princeton has earned me at IPMS The Netherlands contains the next items:

[img]https://www.modelbrouwers.nl/media/cache/89/58/89586c7c3a9634b64b8310782477f65e.jpg[/img]

They had apparently overlooked the pack at the event, so at that moment they told me that they would have to send something else home to me. I didn't suspect that it would be anything but a Lifecolor paint set. I just got this picture today, with the message that they found it again... Anyway, I will also look for some photo-etch that can be thrown in.

almost.. aaaalllllmost got to it today.
Hoping to tomorrow.

Great build, I would love to see more!

Sorry - work's been busy (new owners of the company and they like me and have been tossing projects me way... sorta flattering at first but now I just wanna catch up) and a cold off and on has kept me off the work bench for the last 3-4 weeks.

Those new [url=https://blackcatmodels.eu/en/home/139-20mm-oerlikon-gun-crew-x52.html]Black Cat Models sailors[/url] look tempting.... might have to pick up a set to sprinkle around. Maybe some [url=https://blackcatmodels.eu/en/home/140-wwii-us-soldiers-x55.html]soldiers[/url] if I do her beached.

Status is that I need another coat or two of 5-H on the superstructure and then I can mask and paint the decks.

:puppy_eyes: Okay Tracy...had to poke.
You slipped to page 2...lol

Hey Rob - I had a big model day on Saturday and brought it along (group gathering to hang out and build) but didn't quite get to it. It's actually going to get SOME attention tomorrow or Wednesday because I want to have an update for the D-Day 75th anniversary on Thursday.

Hi Tracy!
Any progress on your LST?
I just ordered the photo-etch set today.
Will save my rant for another time.
Just wanted to see if you've pushed forward!

The last month or so have not been kind to those of us who have to paint in the (unheated) garage. The bow opening has been waiting for the right combination of temperature and time and I'm happy to report that less than a square inch of modelling was completed on Saturday:

[attachment=1]AFV_73515_LST_22.jpg[/attachment]

I decided to build [url=https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160262.htm]LST-262[/url] (I'm a fan of the Me-262, plus she was at Normandy, which is also an interest, etc.) and there's not really a ton of good detail information on her paint. We can tell she was in Measure 22, but the actual inside of the bow doors varies quite a bit. The only photo showing this area shows it to be pretty dark:

[attachment=0]AFV_73515_LST_23.jpg[/attachment]

Not that the LST beyond her has door inners that look a touch lighter. I've seen Haze gray, green, Navy Blue, Ocean Gray, and a Measure 22-like graded with different heights of the Navy Blue on each side. I decided to go with 5-O Ocean gray just to keep the bow area from being a bit of a black hole. The "deck" under the ramp will be better painted in hull red next, along with some weathering, and we should be largely done with the hull at that point - I'll just need to do the doors and ramp themselves.

I do have the AFV Club Photo etch for the kit as well and will be taking a look at that soon.

That is some very work you are doing on a very interesting Kit Tracy.....Cheers Mark

Some notes based on watching [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2pSpiPeGY]this 1944 LST training / familiarization film[/url].

The tank deck could hold 10 Shermans (weight limitation), or up to 33 CCKW 2.5 ton trucks - clearly the 11 I have is insufficient if I want to stack the space full.

There are some details of the elevator [url=https://youtu.be/CD2pSpiPeGY?t=226]starting here[/url] that show if I want to show mine in action I need to scratch build some pulleys and cables from the winch forward. This is visible in operation [url=https://youtu.be/CD2pSpiPeGY?t=486]here[/url]. This also shows that the flat plate AFV Club shows you should install in one of the first steps should be left off unless the builder is depicting the elevator as down. My plan to have trucks driving over it is technically inaccurate and I should be showing some of the lighter vehicles that were stored on the main deck being offloaded.

Brief bit of fun from right to left - the CCKW I forgot to wash & prime, the one I stuck to the [url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BsUVwlrnuwX/]tape upside down[/url] and forgot to flip, and one of the ones that has it's first coat of olive drab.

[attachment=0]AFV_73515_LST_21.jpg[/attachment]

Plan is / was to paint the tarped area a faded OD, but I have also been experimenting with pre-shading a bit on armor and after I saw the one I had upside down it occurred to me that I should have left all of them like this so the top of the cab and canvas have a lighter tone. The trucks were painted black afte rthe white Tamiya primer to better bring out shadows, etc. I'm going to paint the one truck in the middle in OD this weekend and I'll post a comparison photo to show if it was a good idea or waste of time.

Proper thanks go to Sean Hert. If I get a review copy I'll post about it here.

I think I just had an accident. Must have that photo etch set!! Thanks for finding that Tracy.

A nice surprise 36-hour power outage earlier this week put a crimp in my plans so I'm not as far as long as I'd like to be. Waiting for acrylic paint to cure lead me to hit the main deck structures a bit more. The bracing for the aft platform worked out pretty well with rectangles on both the main deck and platform overhead. I did one at a time, placed in the overhead holes, hit with Tamiya extra thin cement, fit to the deck, and set aside to dry. The single 40mm tub that sits above was a bit more fiddly. I wound up gluing both "legs" to the tub bottom, fitting it to the deck and pushing the tub around a bit until it looked level by eye and then letting it sit. It's not completely level but that might be a difference in leg height brought on by inadequate/unequal cleanup of the tops and bottoms. Something I'll check out this weekend and will hopefully be able to true with some sanding stick work. It's not really noticeable unless you're directly aft of it, and there's a 20mm bandstand behind that will prevent this, so I'm not all that worried:

[attachment=2]AFV_73515_LST_19.jpg[/attachment]

Here's the stack as it is now:

[attachment=1]AFV_73515_LST_20.jpg[/attachment]

The supports are a bit thick but not too bad and should be workable for those that don't want to deal with a lot of really fragile parts. AFV has announced / released a photo-etch set for it though that includes new trusses:

[attachment=0]AFV_73515_PE.jpg[/attachment]

Lacking instructions it's hard to write a 100% quick review, but I can see lots of things that a company like Pontos might release in a supplemental set.

Two of the LSTs I want to build were aircraft carriers - I find them fascinating for some reason. More so the Brodie Rigs of LSTs [url=https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160393.htm]393[/url] and [url=https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160776.htm]776[/url] but
[url=https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160906.htm]LST-906's[/url] flight deck ([url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAR8aRTdxGI]video[/url]) would probably be fairly easy to scratch build as well.

Aside from one-each of those I'd like a LST with a barrage balloon on the deck, a later model with an LCT on deck and some Rhino barges or causeways on the sides, and [url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160821.htm]LST-821 Harnett County[/url] with the Seawolves in Vietnam. Not sure how many, if any, I'll pull off.

A quick update. I pulled out some old [url=http://www.larsenal.com/1-350-gmc-trucks-x-10-c2x15950682]L'Arsenal GMC trucks[/url] I had (my set was all covered) as the AFV set, while nice, is essentially two each of a wide variety, which was not the usual LST load out. They are too wide, however, to fit around the elevator (aft tires are resting on top in the picture below):

[attachment=3]AFV_73515_LST_16.jpg[/attachment]

The AFV club trucks are thinner and do fit, but Not with a clearance that I feel many drivers would feel comfortable with. I honestly don't know if this is L'Arsenal's fault or if the vehicles drove around or over the elevator and their dimensions are bang on. The plans show portable ramps at either end whereas the kit only has one, more permanent looking ramp. It looks like the deck to either side of the elevator platform might be too narrow for the larger trucks even in real life, but I don't have any good photos of a tank deck loaded up to know how this generally looked or how they unloaded.

[attachment=2]LST-1-491 Elevator.jpg[/attachment]

Being familiar with the Washington State Ferries and how they load and unload, I had planned on having one truck on either side of the elevator platform driving around it, but now I'm leaning towards having a "wall" of trucks aft of the elevator to represent the unloaded vehicles waiting with a line of 2-3 between, one at the door and maybe one driving down off the elevator platform like below:

[attachment=1]AFV_73515_LST_17.jpg[/attachment]

Not that much will be visible with the deck on - it at least appears it will fit without causing issues:

[attachment=0]AFV_73515_LST_18.jpg[/attachment]

Looks very good, Tracy

The CVLST configuration has definite potential. :smallsmile:

I've been making what I consider decent progress. Lots of test fitting. Two items to watch for affect the main deck fit. One is the joint between the two deck pieces. There are tabs on each piece to help line them up, but I found they pushed the bow piece up at an angle with enough force to resist being pushed down slightly:

[attachment=3]AFV_73515_LST_12.jpg[/attachment]

It won't fight too hard, but if you simply cut the tabs off the front piece it lays down nice and trouble free with almost no gap:

[attachment=2]AFV_73515_LST_13.jpg[/attachment]

Note that this is just laying in place and the gap should be non-existent when glued in place. The second item is the main deck - note the gap on the starboard side in my photo. This gap is not present when test-fitting without the tank deck, indicating that this assembly is (was) causing problems. I found the tolerances to be very precise and the fit very tight - but this pushes the hull shell outwards a touch and spreads it wider, causing the gap. Sanding down the shelf the tank deck assembly fits into on it's vertical surfaces effectively widened them and fixed the problem. Since there is a horizontal strip this assembly mates using, you can go at it with a coarse sanding stick, have it fixed in a minute, and not worry about any appearance or problems keeping the tank deck mounted properly.

[attachment=0]AFV_73515_LST_14.jpg[/attachment]

I decided to do my first as LST-262, which was one of the 100+ LSTs at D-Day. She was in Measure 22, and the first coat of hull red and Haze Gray are on the hull:

[attachment=1]AFV_73515_LST_15.jpg[/attachment]

Need to get some trucks painted and placed before I get the main deck on, but I hope to have that done by the end of the weekend.

Not a lot of progress lately due to a week-long vacation out of town and the lead up and wrap up at home and work.

I did get the propeller/rudder skegs attached though, just to have some movement:

[attachment=0]AFV_73515_LST_11.jpg[/attachment]

Fit is really well but one item of note I haven't really had a chance to think through for my next one. There's a [url=http://www.assakkaf.com/doubler_plates_of_ship_structures.htm]doubler plate[/url] of sorts on the skegs - visible in a couple of photos [url=http://www.insidelst.com/design.htm]here[/url]. Only the outboard side on the kt has them molded in, but anyone who gets close enough to figure this out is either going to be a contest judge or having their hand slapped for getting too close, so it's really not a big deal.

However, the doubler can give the impression of a gap at the joint that is not properly filled. I tried to show that with my photo, but it's cell-phone quality and perhaps a bit unclear. Fill it and smooth it anyway? Install the skegs on opposite sides with the plate on the inside so the step creates an illusion of a gap on the inside where no one will see it?

More soon, hopefully!

Not a lot of visible progress this week due to work, but I did get the bow bulkhead glued in place on Monday:

[attachment=1]AFV_73515_LST_09.jpg[/attachment]
Note the two knocking pin marks on the bulkhead above the door. They won't be too visible but obviously I didn't want to leave them.

Instructions would have you glue this to the hold deck and bulkheads, but I wanted more control over the fit of this piece without having to fight alignment of the hold itself or main deck if I had it off center.

The hold is as painted as I'm going to do. It tests fit in very well against the forward bulkhead and the side pieces that hold it up off the hull bottom:

[attachment=0]AFV_73515_LST_10.jpg[/attachment]
Super detailers and photo-etch companies have the opportunity to add some platforms at the aft end of this space as per the plans i posted up top as well as some lateral girders on the overhead that are missing and visible through the bow doors if your viewing vantage point is low enough.

Hopefully some more modeling time on Sunday - I want to get the bow bulkhead primed and painted so I can glue in the hold and get on to the two deck pieces.