French L.C.V.P. 1:35

I did a little googling and found this link through Wikipedia's page:

http://www.ussrankin.org/id41.htm

It shows a drawing at the middle of the page that the boat do have rivets. And if you look at the boxart of Fonderie Miniature's or Italeri's LCVP 1:35 you'll see that they both claerly show rivets. 

If I remember correctly, the standard LCVP had a couple of sheets of (not very thick) steel fastened to the sides as a form of (not terribly effective) armor.  It seems likely that it was fastened in place with bolts rather than rivets, but I'm not sure about that.  At any rate, photos and plans do show - well, rows of dots around the edges of those plates.

I'm not at all sure that all LCVPs had those plates; I suspect many of them didn't.  And the plates were so thin that they're often difficult, if not impossible, to see in photos.  But at least some LCVPs definitely did have those rows of rivets (or bolts, or whatever).

The North Carolina Maritime Museum, where our model club meets, recently completed the restoration of an LCVP:  http://www.ncmaritimemuseum.org/special%20events/LCVP_lecture.htm .  The boat is now back in the hands of her owners, the First Division Museum in Wheaton, Illinois:    http://www.dday65.org/lcvp.html .  I could kick myself for not having gotten down to Beaufort while the boat shop guys were working on her.  The LCVP has a special status in my family; my father was an assistant boat group officer on board an attack transport (U.S.S. Bollinger, APA-234) in the Pacific, and spent a great deal of time bobbing around in Higgins boats.

Definite kudos for including the tow rope; LCVP have only the one engine, if they suck flotsam or kelp or weed into the cooling intakes, of foul the scre, they have to get under tow, and quickly.  Otherwise they run the risk of floating into the middle of the landing wave and broaching either in front of or among other landing craft, which is a very bad day.

Now, the fenders all ought to be on only the one side, since the LC are assigned to specific stations along side the ship they are assigned to, and to those stations they return with each wave.

There out to be a fold down look-out step along side the starbord side of the ramp--but no kit yet has ever included that.

The illustration with the heavy rivets has been in various pubs including Knight's since the mid-30's.  The plates, when installed, are under 1/8" thick and installed with flush screws rather than rivets (you have to be able to remove the plate to repair the plywood and framing behind it.

Painting is good, other than the rust; hard to get that wooden deck to rust.  Swirled with sandy-silt and/or mud, yes; rust not so much.  The rust along the well deck is a bit out of place.  Upper works of LCVP always accessible, even when nested on other Landing Ships. 

Landing craft really don't ever get quite this dirty, either.  There's "down' time in between phases of landing operations, even afloat, there's time to hose the LC down.  A certain percentage of LC are always tasked out for medical evac in their retractrion from the beach in each landing wave.  Those LC are washed out. 

And, those are truly exquisie MG's, painted superbly, too.  Tiny quibble though, the box covers are only open when manned (salt water in among the links not good), really, only ever loaded when inbound to the beach; and really the entire MG ought to be under an oilskin cover when mounted.

Model Maniac wrote:

And if you look at the boxart of Fonderie Miniature's or Italeri's LCVP 1:35 you'll see that they both claerly show rivets.

And we all know that model manufacturers are the ultimate authority in things, don't we?

No rivets. Read "Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War II" by Jerry E. Strahan if you want to actually learn about the boats.

Some, at least, of the WWII LCVPs quite definitely did have those metal plates fastened to their sides.  (The drawings and photos I've encountered don't show the "armor" stretching all the way to the bow, as it does in the model.  Just two sheets per side, in line with the "engine room" and most of the troop compartment.  But that sort of thing could well have varied from boat to boat.  It seems logical, for that matter, that additional plates could have been added by the repair crews of the "mother ships."  That drawing to which Model Maniac kindly linked us does show three sheets per side - with the forward one reaching all the way to the bow.) 

I'm inclined to agree that either wood screws or bolts/nuts would be more likely than rivets per se - but in modeling terms that's getting pretty finicky, even on 1/35 scale.  (I believe the aftermarket for armor modelers does offer some slotted "screw heads" in that scale, though.)

One other point I remember my father mentioning.  He said none of the LCVPs carried by his ship had machine guns.  The gun "tubs" were covered up with circular sheets of plywood.  How typical that was I have no idea - and I suppose it's possible that the guns in question were stowed someplace on board the APA where Dad never happened to see them.  But LCVP modelers working in small scales certainly have an excuse to leave the guns off. 

How does the original poster get "French LCVP" for this landing craft?  The only thing French about it is the manufacturer, Fonderie.  

The markings 'PA-33' are for the USS Bayfield (APA-33), which remained in US service until she was decommissioned for scrapping in 1968.   The diamond recognition mark was applied to allied landing craft during the middle period of the war in Europe.   I've seen photos of LCVPs wearing the diamond during HUSKY - the invasion of Sicily, and during OVERLORD.    I can't remember seeing photos of the recognition mark during DRAGOON - the invasion of Southern France.  They may have remained. 

The French may have gotten some PAs following the war.   I know that they received some LCVPs and believe that they may have build some of their own under license for use in VietNam, but they would not have retained the wartime markings for the USS Bayfield's boat group.

The use of red-lead antifouling paint on the hull is also incorrect.   Boats assigned to transports were regularly hauled out of the water washed and allowed to dry.    There was no opportunity for algae & barnacles to form.   The red antifouling paint was not necessary.   The Bayfield was in Ms22 during her time in the ETO,  so the Haze Gray is correct.    It should have been overall, bottom included.   The Bayfield also served in the PTO where she was in Ms3x dazzle.   The boat group would have been camouflaged to match the pattern at the assigned davit location.  There are transport & theater-specific differences in the use of deck blue on the upper surfaces.  For that you need to check specific references.

It is a generally know fact on this website that 'Model Maniac' doesn't build any of the models he displays.  He is a collector of other's works

Here are some photos one of our model club members took while the NC Maritime Museum was restoring the LCVP for the museum in Illinois:  http://picasaweb.google.com/jhdulaney/WWIIHigginsBoatRestoration# .

Several of the shots show the "armor plates" - which do extend all the way to the bow. The fasteners do appear to have round, unslotted heads, but they're mighty small.

mfsob, many modelers in Thailand also build 1:700 scale ships and they tend to use PE upgrade for their kits. Your dockyard looks good but pictures are too small, I hardly see the LCVPs you mentioned. Have you seen the new shipyard building and equipment sets offered by Verlinden? If not, you might want to check this thread:

http://www.thaimsot.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8658