looking for a higgins

I've been looking for ANY Higgins boat models or plans for nearly 3 months so far with absolutely no luck. I'll be watching this post closely to see if you fair any better.

Good Luck,

I don't know of a 1/72 Higgins boat (aka LCVP). Regarding other scales, though, a partial answer is before you - though well-camouflaged. If you scroll down the "Ships" forum screen you'll find the topic "Trumpeter release of LCM(3)," which started a few days ago. It somehow morphed into a discussion of Higgins boats, including the kits in 1/32 - 1/35 scale by Lindberg and Fonderie Miniatures. The thread includes the website of a group in Louisiana that recently finished building a replica of an LCVP. That site includes some plans. The Floating Drydock also offers a set for sale.

It seems there's a modest surge of interest among modelers and manufacturers in WWII amphibious warfare. I'm happy about that. My father was an assistant boat group officer on board an attack transport (Bollinger, APA 234), and, though he never got close to getting into combat, terms like LCVP and LCM were literally household words while I was growing up. (I read Away All Boats twice before I was out of high school, and still think it's a terrific novel.)

There's no good-sized hobby shop in my town (Greenville, NC), but this weekend my wife and I are taking a trip to Raleigh. This forum has gotten me interested in this topic again. I'll see if I can lay hands on one of those old Lindberg LCVPs. I suspect it isn't nearly as accurate as Dad and I thought it was thirty-five years ago, but the nostalgia trip should be interesting.

Thanks, jtilley.

I've been to that site a few times and can't find any comprehensive "plans" anywhere. Appreciate the info on the models though. Thanks.

Mac Models makes a kit that includes markings for a D-Day US LCVP with a 4-person crew in 1/.72. there's also one in 1/35th scale from Fondarie Miniatures. Also, a 1/87th scale version is out there from Fine Cast Models. Hope this helps.

Squadron used to have an ad for an LCVP (higgins boat) and another landing craft in 1/72nd by a French company called Armagedon. It is in their 2004 catalog for $26.97, but not sure if they still have them.

I found the Armegedon kit on the Squadron Mail Order website; it costs $26.97, and the implication is that it's in stock. I haven't seen it, but Squadron says it has a "customer rating" of four stars. The boxtop picture suggests that whoever painted it knew what an LCVP looked like, all right; what that says about the kit contents is anybody's guess.

The Floating Drydock website (<www.floatingdrydock.com>) offers two sets of plans for an LCVP: TFW-LCVP/2 on 1/48 scale for $8.00 and TFW-LCVP/4 on 1/24 scale for $12.00. I imagine they're made from the same original. I have the 1/48 one. I haven't gotten it out to look at for some years (in fact I'm not sure I could find it), but my recollection is that it's a nice piece of work. As I remember it's a single sheet, with three or four views - all external. (There may be a longitudinal cross-section with some internal structural details; I don't recall.) You couldn't build a full-sized LCVP from that drawing. On the other hand, it probably would be more than satisfactory to serve as the basis of a 1/72 scale model, with help from photographs.

My trip to the Squadron site reminded me that Squadron has recently published a paperback book called U.S. Landing Craft in Action. The books in that series, despite the slightly sensationalized titles, are usually pretty good. They generally contain lots of well-chosen photographs, a few three-view drawings, and some really nice pen-and-ink renderings of perspective details done with the modeler in mind. I don't have a copy of that particular volume, but I'll look for it.

I have heard the French kits are a little rough but better than trying to scratchbuild.