Hobby Boss LCM3 Landing Craft?

      These vessels have been converted to so many things it's incredible .I remember while living in NORTHERN CALIFORNIA in the SACRAMENTO/SAN JOAQUIN delta  , several of different sizes converted to " Live-Aboard housboats" Now that makes for an interesting house . The beauty of it was , in that area of CALIFORNIA there was independence of thinking and of living .Not HIPPIES but NOT city folks either . Can you imagine for living , how roomy a LCM6 could be ? It's amazing what they were used for .I remember that one I saw was a large Planter for flowers in someone's yard .He burried it to the waterline , took off the deck and removed the engines and planted begonias or some such thing .Well you have to , admit it was different

       I have seen them converted to salvage boats , water taxis and yes  ,even tugs . This was indeed an incredibly versatile design and even today with LCM-8 boats folks are finding neat uses for them .Who would've thunk ? I have even seen one with windows in the bottom of the well deck and seats down the middle .How's that for a different use ? There is a saying  " the sky is the limit " These certainly fit that bill , right ?     Tanker-builder

...."Navy Yard. No pictures allowed there."....Subfixer, I too work at Navy shipyards and bases here in the greater Puget Sound area with a private contractor.  Although I have a camera pass, all photos taken are the property of my company.  It amazes me though, when the crew have an open house at the Naval base, the public show up and snap photos to their heart's content.  Obviously, not at the Naval Shipyard here, but it is ironic the seeming "double standard".  So if I want detail photos for my upcoming DDG and FFG builds, I'll just go to the open house!  Also, I have seen landing craft conversions both government and civilian, it seems the sky is the limit on how landing craft have been re-born in all kinds of ways.  I once had a summer job catching bait fish on a converted landing craft!

I have one in my stash

      .I have two in trim and detail right now that were scratch built at the scale of 1/24 . Why ? well both are going to be the models of oil spill boats I worked on in northern CALIFORNIA . I chose that scale , because that's what size the plans were .Oh , gotta mention this too , they're both LCM 6 units .

     I got interested when the COAST GUARD requested " AS BUILT and MODIFIED ,"  plans from the owner . He couldn't draw , but I could . They both have a generator room ahead of the engine room , head and cooking area on the main deck and sleeping and conning one deck above . The well deck is full of a stainless tank accompanied by oil spill cleaning gear . There are two booms for deploying the floating sweep gear and LORI boxes on the sides .

    I wish I could post photos of my beloved " SQUEEGEE " She even got a picture in the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE during the " CAPE MOHICAN oil spill  "years back .I have a glass desk light of her too . These are the kind of models I really like and at this scale there's not much that has to be left to the imagination . Just imagine , if you will .Looking in either the forward hatch or aft one and all the detail there .Then open the engine hatch and there's the GMC 671 diesels in place .

      This is why I build .You never know what will catch the eye . So when it does , photograph it (if you can ) and build at your leisure .       Tanker-builder

Hey, I did start this kit. Ive never built any kind of ship before so its different to me. With the little progress I've made the kit doesnt have any huge problems yet.

We had some the 50footers at the Navy Yard. No pictures allowed there. If I could, I would have had taken an encyclopedia's worth of them of all kinds of stuff I've worked on over the years.

Good luck with that conversion, It is a great idea.

I walked around and snapped pictures as she was being prepped for DRMO.  I am glad that I did as it seems near impossible to find much info or even photos on the web of these boats that can be found in various guises throughout US Naval bases.  I have not scanned and uploaded my pictures on the vessel from many years prior and also when I was aboard her for tests with the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle Water Test Rig in San Diego Harbor.

s10.photobucket.com/.../Work%20Boat

Good picks!

I managed to pick one of these up some time ago and it fits the bill for what I have planned.  Overall the shape looks good and the parts look well molded.  I plan to use mine as a base for a conversion to a USN 50’ utility work boat that I had the opportunity of working on while with the Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch.  I included pictures of the boat below.

Looking forward to your WIP so I can look for hints, pointers and potential quirks with this kit.

i10.photobucket.com/.../IMG_0938.jpg

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Sorry for the late reply, I got it on Thursday. After looking through it, it seems like a nice kit. It provides the options for a USN or a British version. Too bad it doesn't come with any figures for the drivers or gunners. I wont get to building it for awhile but I will try to remember to do a WIP for it.

From what I can see, it is pretty nice.

http://www.track48.com/shop/xnews.php?newsid=493

I suppose that since it is so new, you can be the first to provide us with a review.