bootneck Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I shall be building a Landing Ship Tank Mk.2 (LST) which supplied troops and vehicles to the beachhead and Mulberry harbour Not built one of these before, especially scratch build, so I shall be muddling learning as I go along. The model will be populated with various AFV's from L'Arsenal's range of vehicles and accessories. Mike Plans and styrene sheets ready for the start. Selection of representative vehicles - quite nice and detailed for 1:350 scale 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Watching with interest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 (edited) Ohhhhh,that is great. I will watch this one. And a welcome to the GB. Cheers, Edited June 1, 2014 by Arniec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish fairey Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 You do like your tiny vehicles don't you?..............Looks good Mike.......................Smudge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 I'm trying to build up the courage to go all the way and do the LST Pier for the LST2. As we discussed earlier Smudge, I may run out of time but do you think it would be worth the start? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish fairey Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Oh yes!.................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 nice.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_Harris Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I'm jealous, I've been waiting for L'Arsenal to produce the Mulberry Harbour parts in 1/700 for 2 years now. I have a fleet of LST's, an APA, a Rhino Ferry, and a couple of Liberty Ships all waiting in the stash for it. Hope you get yours built, would love to see it.... Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 I had better get started with this one, especially after watching yesterday's remembrance parades and services. I have cut out each deck and stuck them down onto 1mm styrene sheet. Fortunately they all fitted onto the one sheet. The next thing to do was to cut each deck section out, ready for the inter-deck walls to provide the height of each level. A slow start but I hope to catch up after the weekend. cheers Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 The strengthening for between decks has been started, with the deck at waterline level having the lengths and cross-braces added. Still not much to show yet, you'll have to bear with me until it starts to resemble a ship, as none of these inner pieces will be in view once the outer skin is added later. The middle deck will be next, following a similar process, and then the main deck. That is when I can start adding some externally recognised features. cheers Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Those 1/350 vehicles look really nice! Will be watching with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brews Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 That's an interesting way to scratch a ship. it should be nice and strong, at least. Are you going to be able to utilize the various decks for showing stowage etc? Good luck with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Hi Brews, Thanks for the good wishes, I appreciate it as this is a new venture for me. I don't feel there is any point in detailing the internal decks as there would be nothing to see. As the LST2 only had the narrow front opening visibility inside was extremely limited, and this would be especially so at 1:350 with the opening only being 10mm wide. It would be a totally different case if the vessel was an aircraft carrier, with side lift hangar openings etc.. The area of the bow ramps will be detailed, with tanks/trucks disembarking, however I shall be concentrating the detail on the upper deck and bridge area. Hopefully the model will start to give some shape soon Next level prepared ready for main deck to be added Main deck added Profile view It's also about time I started to prepare some of the vehicles. I am amazed at the detail of these L'Arsenal models, the detail is comparable with some 1:76 models. Into the ultra-sonic wash to remove any release agents and greasy finger marks etc. ready for a light coat of primer. I use Tamiya Light Surface Primer (grey) for this in order not to lose any of the exquisite detail That's it for now. The next stages will be to prepare the LST sides ready to have the hull skin fitted plus more work on the vehicles. Thanks for watching. Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 That is realy looking nice Mike. That scratch building is very good. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Right, I am back off my holidays so I need to do a bit of catching up! The next stage is to build the forward bulkhead, this is the part where the main exit doorway is situated and where the offloading ramp would be positioned up against when closed up. Behind the bulkhead is a humped ramp and both these items are shown rough-cut below. Here is a view of the tank deck area, with just the side walls in position, before the forward bulkhead is added. The odd shapes at the sides is masking tape where I have sprayed primer into the tank deck. Forward bulkhead fitted; it is currently oversize and I shall sand it down to match the hull sides. Note that the hull sides have not yet been fitted. Next is to shape the transom stern. As well as the plan I have found, there are some very good photo's on the web which give excellent details for reference. That will do for now. I'll do a bit more researching and post more photo's later. Thanks for looking Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar2 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 She's really coming on now mate. Very interesting thread too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 That is some great scratchbuilding. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 That is some great scratchbuilding. Keep up the good work. Wot Arnold said!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Thanks for the helpful comments, they give me hope that I may get this to look like an LST2 by the time I have finished! As you can see by the next image, the hull plating is now fitted and any undulations have been filled and sanded smooth. The LST2 type which I am building is an early type and one that was under Royal Navy control. The main difference between the early, type 1, and later type 2 vessels is the modified ramp. The early version had an elevator facility at the forward hatch and vehicles stowed on the upper deck had to be lowered down to the tank deck via this system. A typical full turn around of the elevator was just over 2 minutes per vehicle. The later system utilised a ramp which, once the vehicles in the tank deck had driven off, was lowered and the upper deck vehicles could then just drive down the ramp and straight off the LST and this reduced offloading time considerably. When checking my original plan (see the early images which shows the later ramp positioned forward on the foc'sle), I realised that I had the plans of a later type of LST2, in fact the diagrams showed a post-war Korean era vessel. That could have been a bit embarrassing further down the line when all the deck fittings had been applied! I have now sourced a correct deck plan of the early type and, having resized it to 1:350 and printed, have now stuck it into place on the model. The main point to note is the forward hatch (outlined in red) is further back on this version and not on the foc'sle as with the previous plan. I have started on the upperworks here. A cut out has been made and this will be used as the template for the first deck level. Although I thoroughly enjoy scratchbuilding, albeit much of it is an experiment as I go along, I do realise my limitations and so I shall need to resort to aftermarket; and spares box items, for those finer pieces which need adding. Ready made photo-etched doors and hatches are a real boon at this scale, especially as my 65 year old fingers just refuse to cut a straight line any more with the scalpel. I now need to transfer the details on the plan onto the model, in order that the paper can be peeled away ready for deck fittings to be added. The method I use is to make little, square, cuts at intersections of lines and then to re-draw those lines which will draw over the exposed plastic. Here is a close in view of an area that shows the exposed plastic underneath. The red lines show where I have continued the lines from two points on the paper and across the plastic. This now marks out the hatch on the model so that I can remove the paper covering to work on the deck. Here we can see that all the markings have been transferred to the model and the paper diagram has been removed. That's it for now. I need to start investigating a base layout for this and also to continue with all the vehicles; 57 so far to be painted and decalled! Cheers Mike 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Truly amazing work Mike! I don't know how you do it. I find it hard enough just making models by following instructions let alone making it up as you go along! Brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Thanks PlaStix. you are right though, I do make it up as I go along and sod's law is that I will find a detailed photograph of an essential part after I have made it and stuck it into the wrong place! cheers Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 That's looking fabulous Mike, it's beginning to take shape quite nicely, looking forward to seeing this one progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 One done................ Only 94 more to do........... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Just a thought, but maybe you should consider using a lighter colour to compensate for the tiny scale.....This will allow you to add some washes and the like without making them look too dark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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