Tamiya PBR (x2), not really armor, but close enough for the Navy

My latest project is a boat (or 2). I am building 2 Tamiya (sort of) PBRs that will eventually go with a Masterpeice Models ATC(H) and probably a Huey and a couple smaller craft (zodiac and Vietnamese junks) in a Mobile Riverine Force diorama.

Here is how they started.

You may ask why one is white. Here's the story. I recently bought a PBR kit off of eBay. When it arrived, it was in a cardbord box, not the Tamiya box. Upon further inspection, it contained about 1 1/2+ kits (2 of the main sprue, 3 of the secondary sprue, and 3 of the figure sprue, but only one hull, cabin, and rear/middle deck section). I started thinking about it and didn't want to waste the other partial kit. I had the idea of vac-forming the missing parts for the second boat from the kit parts for the first boat. So I took out my trusty vac-former and some sheet plastic and got to work.



I ended up copying the cabin, hull, and center and rear deck sections. I then scratched the forward and rear gunwales and side plate armor on the cabin from sheet styrene. So far it looks good to me. The rest of the parts will come from the duplicate kit pieces.

Here they are after some more work.  All that is left is the supports for the canvas cover and the painting and detailing begins.

I decided to put an engine in one since Tamiya makes one side engine cover removable.  I looked at references of the big Detroit Diesel marine engines used in them.  I found some great pics at Brownwater Enterprises in their PBR restoration section.  A great resource for anyone building a PBR.

Here are the actual engines:

I made my rendition of the engine using an M113 block as a start and then added pieces from there.  Here is the end result.


Along with the exhaust cross over.

I also added the exhaust outlets that Tamiya missed. 

The pipes are 3/32 tubing and the bolted rings around them are Archer surface details decals.

Lastly, I added bulkheads and details to the engine compartment.

That's how they are as of now.  I hope to finish the details and get some paint on them soon.  Let me know what you think.