Lindberg LSD ?

Well, did you manage to get one now that they are readily available?

I'm curious as I'd like to see one made as I understand it is a fairly accurate portrayal of this rather odd vessel with a flooding after deck. The only other one I've seen is an RC version on youtube which looks nice.

Thanks.

Is it a re-release of an older Lindberg kit?  I built one, when I was a kid, and I'm pretty sure it was by Lindberg, but I could be misremembering.  But it was around 1/100 scale or so, and it came with a complement of Higgins boats for the hold.  I think it was also engineered in such a way that it could be motorized (as were so many kits back then).

Best regards,

Brad

it is same 1.

Yes, Brad.  My brother built the kit was we were kids.  That copy is gone, but I still have the instructions.  The re-release has all the plastic parts (battery mounts, etc.) to motorize it, but the metal hardware is not included.  It looks really easy to fabricate new hardware.  If anyone is interested, I can scan the original instructions and email them.

Does anyone make PE railings that would fit this kit?  It would look good in my bathtub!  *Brubb Brubb Brubb*

m@

According to rajen's kit list http://www.quuxuum.org/rajens_list/shiprevs.html#LindLSD it is 1:288 scale.

That is an obscure box scale.   Too small for 1:200,   too large for 1:350.   No 1:300 scale PE or other AM stuff.  Wish there were because the Lindberg DE is a sweet kit that cries out for some 1:300 TLC

Can't be any worse than the Japanese sub fiasco...

No, most of the older Lindberg USN ships are much better than their recent IJN sub. and they are all coming up on 50 years old or more... The Minesweeper, LSD, LST, DE, LCT... At least with those you know you are starting out with an old beast and dont have new tooled high expectations.

I'm embarrassed to say that I have one of the last Lindberg re-issues (thinking about 1992) still waiting for me to get around to building it.

There are some 1:256 frets around that could be used on the kit (I think GMM has some) and HR products has some 1:256 detailing items.  GHQ (www.ghqmodels.com) has a selection of 1:285 vehicles that could be used to fill the LCVP's as well as LSM's etc. if you want to have some variety.

The plastic seems a bit thin to me, but otherwise the kit seems to be pretty good.  One major compliant is that the 40mm quads are really poorly done and since they are very prominent on other either side of the 01 deck level, suggest that you would want to use HR fittings or scratch build replacements.  Missing parts in the kit include the gun directors for the 40mm mounts and the open 5"/38 (the 5" mount is fairly decent for a kit of this vintage). 

You can build the kit as a late war  / post war Casa Grande class ship or easily back date it to an Ashland class ship with single 20mm mounts in place of the 20mm twins in the kit. 

All things considered, Lindberg did a pretty good job on this kit for the time and it looks like it can build up into a really nice model with some extra work and PE.

Mike

I recall building up Lindberg's LSD with a couple of buddies back in '68 when I was assigned as an RM-2 to the USS Belle Grove (LSD-2) as a retirement present to the Captain. We did quite a bit of work on it and depicted it as the old Belle Grove. Since we were aboard the actual bucket, we were able to really detail it. We worked on it down in the machine shop when we were off watch and a mechanist down there was responsible for building up the 40mm mounts which he machined out of aluninum and brass. I recall he was quite an artist and those four mounts (two twin, two quad) really made the model stand out. We worked on it for around 3-4 months and mounted it on a real nice plank of walnut - the machinsts appropiated the base (I didn't want to want to know from where) and put down a beautiful finish on it. They also contributed a brass plaque and engraved it with the name of the bucket, the Captain's name, and dates of his tour of duty. We decided to present it to him during the change of command ceremonies when he reliquinished command and turned the Belle Grove over to the new Captain. The big day arrived and my buddy and I marched up to Captain in front of the entire crew which had fallen in on the bow while we were tied up to the pier in Long Beach. My buddy had one end of the base and I had the other as we presented it to the Captain. You guessed it: As we handed it to the idot (he was a real winner) he fumbled it and it crashed to the deck and it smashed to crap. I recall that about all that was worth saving was the brass plaque and the 40mm mounts. Four months of work down the drain. I didn't bother picking up any of the bits and pieces, I was that ticked. But the machinist mate salvaged his 40mm mounts and someone pulled the plaque off the base and gave it to the Captain. What a wasted effort. 

*** McC

*** McC2

I recall building up Lindberg's LSD with a couple of buddies back in '68 when I was assigned as an RM-2 to the USS Belle Grove (LSD-2) as a retirement present to the Captain. We did quite a bit of work on it and depicted it as the old Belle Grove. Since we were aboard the actual bucket, we were able to really detail it. We worked on it down in the machine shop when we were off watch and a mechanist down there was responsible for building up the 40mm mounts which he machined out of aluninum and brass. I recall he was quite an artist and those four mounts (two twin, two quad) really made the model stand out. We worked on it for around 3-4 months and mounted it on a real nice plank of walnut - the machinsts appropiated the base (I didn't want to want to know from where) and put down a beautiful finish on it. They also contributed a brass plaque and engraved it with the name of the bucket, the Captain's name, and dates of his tour of duty. We decided to present it to him during the change of command ceremonies when he reliquinished command and turned the Belle Grove over to the new Captain. The big day arrived and my buddy and I marched up to Captain in front of the entire crew which had fallen in on the bow while we were tied up to the pier in Long Beach. My buddy had one end of the base and I had the other as we presented it to the Captain. You guessed it: As we handed it to the idot (he was a real winner) he fumbled it and it crashed to the deck and it smashed to crap. I recall that about all that was worth saving was the brass plaque and the 40mm mounts. Four months of work down the drain. I didn't bother picking up any of the bits and pieces, I was that ticked. But the machinist mate salvaged his 40mm mounts and someone pulled the plaque off the base and gave it to the Captain. What a wasted effort. 

*** McC

***:

Sorry about that model - that must have been really tough to see it smashed.

We're seldom fortunate enought to have someone with first-hand knowledge of the ship available and have a couple of questions for you:

In some of the photos from www.navy.history.mil it looks as though there was a a set of gates about midway down the well deck that when closed would allow only the stern half of the well deck to be flooded.  These aren't included in the Lindberg kit and was wondering if you had them in LSD-2?

In '68 were the 40mm quads still equipped with shields or had those been removed by then?

Thanks.

Mike

Hah!!! Took two years for someone to answer this thread,and no I never did get one and I haven't seen that they ARE readily avilable. I even asked Hobbytown to order one and after several queries they said that the kit never went into production. I was gonna build it for a freind who served on the Ashland. Might even be a different class of LSD. Oh well Maybe next year. Some good stries here though. BILL

reklein:

There is sone good news.  The Landing Ship Dock was part of the original production run last year and if you search on the internet there are a number of shops that have them in stock for about $34, so if you still want one, they're out there.  Don't know why Hobbytown couldn't find one for you.

I noticed that the LHS just got in a shipment of Lindberg kits including the Minesweeper, the CG Cutter, and the American President Liner, so some distributor has them sitting in a warehouse.

Good luck with the kit!

Mike

reklein

Hah!!! Took two years for someone to answer this thread...

For Carmike:

In 1968 I was a Radioman on the Belle Grove and didn't venture out into areas involving the deckforce or gunner's mates, but as I recall the well deck did not have any gates halfway down its length.  It was just one long area free of any obstructions. I only remember one time it was used during our "Nam cruise to take on some LCMS and LCUs off Da Nang. That particular day the deck force had difficulty draining the well deck after they had recovered the boats. At chow that evening we RMs overhead a group of boatswain's mates at an adjancent table grumbling that a couple of pumps had failed and the ballast tanks were full of holes. They said it was a wonder we didn't sink. That bit of info didn't instill much confidence in we RMs.

As to the 40mm mounts, I don't believe they had any shields. The quads were right outside the radio/electronic shack, port and starboard, on the O-3 level. We radiomen, elecronic techs, radarmen, and quartermaster, had to climb ladders right beside them every day to get to/from the O-3 level. FYI: At no one time were all four mounts fully fuctioning; either one, two, three, and more than once, all four were inoperable. The Belle Grove was the only active duty ship to have that particular model of 40mms, which were circa 1943. (During my 13 months on board, she was the oldest ship in active service in the USN). Prior to our 'Nam cruise the Navy flew out an old guy from the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard to work on the 40mms since no one Long Beach had a clue how to fix them. Supposedly he was the last individual anywhere in CONUS who knew anything about that early model. He spent about 2 weeks on board with the original manuals and finally threw up his hands in utter disgust and stated that the parts required to properly repair them were no long available and he'd done the best he could.  A week or so after his departure we went down for gunnery trials off Clemente Island before we left for WestPac. I recall that all four mounts did fire, but the gunner's mates didn't hit a single target. The starboard quad DID succeed in blowing up the spotter's jeep which was 350 yards to the left of the target they were supposed to be firing on. The spotter, who was in a bunker on the beach, was sort of upset. I was on the bridge that day running UHF voice comms between the ship and the spotter. My headset almost melted when he saw his jeep being blown to bits and started screaming.  Of course, I thought it was funny and had difficulty not cracking up.  Looking back at that '68 WestPac cruise, I consider myself extremely lucky to have survived. Someone up there loved us. I believe I have some pics of the 40mms somewhere. I'll take a look and see what I can come up with. (I uncovered the pics - easier to find than I thought it was going to be - boy, am I organized or what? The pics I took were mainly of the RM gang, but two or three have the quads on the O-3 level in the background and they didn't have shields.) Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info Mike!  I'm interested in getting some of those HR fittings.

I contacted Mr. Perry of GMM.  Here's what he had to say about railings...

Hello, Matthew -

The only 1/300 scale ship fittings we offer are in a dedicated set for Revell's classic olastic kits of USCG cutters and icebreakers. The rails in theis set are all custom fitted to the kits' parts so they can't be used on a 1/300 LST, sorry.

Best wishes -

Loren Perry/GMM

The search for railings continues.

m@

Gratified to see the responses that developed from this inquiry. I still see these kits available as it was apparently re-released and some appear to be sitting on hobby store shelves, at least of the internet type--I haven't seen any in a brick and mortar store yet. I made it a point to get most of the reissues I was interested in, namely the 1/125 USN Minesweeper, Coast Guard Patrol Boat, Shrimp Boat etc., but couldn't decide on getting the LSD. I thought it was kind of ugly but now the 19" hull, 3" beam beckons it to be converted to RC and therefore it is desirable.

Is 1/250 photo etch too big for this model?

I think you should be fine with 1:250 PE, I ordered 1:256 fittings from HSR to replace the 5" mount, the quad 40's, and the twin 20mm mounts (using singles instead of twins to backdate the kit to 1944) and all of the fittings are dead-on for size. You could use the kit-supplied 40mm quads but they are going to need a lot of work - especially since they are very visible on either side of the bridge.

My only thought about conversion to RC is that the hull sides seem much thinner than other Lindberg kits, not sure how you would reinforce it.

Good luck!

Thank you for mentioning HR Products. It is easy to forget they have many more scales than I easily remember. I am not familiar with the kit but I am certain the thin plastic you mention can be dealt with and that it will not adversely effect the model; it was, after all, designed for motorization, no?

The thing that baffles me at present is what exact class of vessel it represents; Casa Grande or Ashland. I don't see a difference. When one such as I gets involved with kits, invariably the build gets sidetracked by the quest for reference materials just to answer that question and the many that follow...

From what I have seen, the differences between the Ashland Class (LSD's 1-8) and the Casa Grande Class LSD's (13-22, 25-27) are mostly internal.  According to Appendix J, Dock Landing Ships, in the "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" (Vol 4), the earlier ships were built by Moore Drydock Co in Oakland and were equipped with reciprocating engines while the later ships were equipped with turbines but the designed SHP was the same (7,400).

BTW - LSD's 9-12 were also Casa Grande class ships but were turned over to the Royal Navy as BAPM 1-4.  "D-Day Ships" by Yves Buffetaut, has several pictures of HMS Eastway (BAPM-1) with her well deck flooded with an LCT in it.  The Eastway does not seem to have the 40mm guns mounted in the tubs at the aft end of the ship.

There appear to be some differences in the position of the cranes between the two classes with the earlier ships having both cranes mounted just aft of the superstructure and the later ships having the staggered positioning of the cranes as shown in the kit directions.

Harquebus, did you find a set of PE railings that would fit the LSD?

matt

1/250 scale PE railings are available from Tom's Model Works the set number is 250-01 HMS Bligh it's made for the box scale Revell Buckley class DE's and it is still available on thier website.

Here's the link http://www.tomsmodelworks.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23_39&products_id=163

David

(COChef)