1/350 LCI (L) Type 351 Black Cat Models

[robgizlu]

This was presented to me for a recent notable birthday by my oldest friend (49yrs) - Von Grumsig the Alchemy Professeur.

Thanks Chris

 

I've been looking forwards to it for a while.  It's the first in a series from Ben Druel, with the earlier "Low bridge" Royal Navy" version and the later integral front door versions due soon

 

 

References

 

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/15/15idx.htm

 

https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com/ww2/uk/british-amphibious-ships-and-landing-crafts/

 

http://www.navypedia.org/ships/uk/brit_aws_lcil.htm

 

http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/d-day-landing-craft-markings.33486/

 

The Navsource site is just such a fabulous resource, I wish there was something similar for Royal Navy vessels in their entirety.  This iteration of the Landing Craft Infantry (Large) was largely used in US colours but 18 vessels from 374 to 391 were painted in Royal Navy colours and presumably wholly manned by RN crews.

 

 

They featured at all of the Allies amphibious assaults but particularly at D-day.  I've quite fallen in love with their functional and no-nonsense appearance.

I have presumed that the colours used were White and B30 as was standard for many RN landing craft.  The "Castle" (Bridge) band was red as were the pennant numbers.

 

These vessels had side ramps only that slid forwards for troops to land, like so ...

 

 

 

I've decided to model "375" as photographed above (I think )

 

One potential issue is with the pennant numbers.  It's difficult sourcing red letters and numbers at this size and masks dont go this small so a compromise will have to be RAF Dull red offerings that are somewhat darker than the red likely originally used (there- you wouldn't have known if I hadn't said)

 

 

It's possible Ben will print some red numbers in the future releases (hope so Ben!!!)

 

Delivery from Nantes, France was under 7/7.

 

 

It's very well packaged

 

 

And for once it's great to get a whole model in a single box with state of the art 3D printed itmes with no need for aftermarket items 

 

Instructions are colour pictorial and there is a suggested scheme of a US vessel in US Navy 5N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Calcutta nearing completion, it seemed rude not to start this on a rainy Saturday morning.

 

The hull and superstructure were freed from the moulding raft with a scalpel blade and the attachment points filed

A nice touch was a "plug" to sit in the bow 20mm Oerlikon gun tub so as to protect it (Neat )

 

 

It took a reasonable amount of sanding to get the uperstructure flush with the hull part.  All parts are 3D printed versus resin moulded.

 

It took approximately 45 mins of careful sanding to get the "Castle"  to sit flush on the deck

 

 

The Castle itself is a one piece print and is Luverly in it's detail.

 

 

"375" is likely to feature "beached" with ramps lowered.

More soon 

Thanks for looking

Rob

[beefy66]

Interesting subject will look forward to following along.   when your ready then.

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Richard E]

52 minutes ago, robgizlu said:

One potential issue is with the pennant numbers.  It's difficult sourcing red letters and numbers at this size and masks dont go this small so a compromise will have to be RAF Dull red offerings that are somewhat darker than the red likely originally used (there- you wouldn't have known if I hadn't said)

 

Conscious that it is 1/76th scale, would you be able to source the markings from Dan Taylor's British Minor Landing Craft sheet Rob ?

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Rob, I don't know much about this type of vessel, or 3D printing but it looks a nice kit. What type of glue would you use for this - does styrene glue work or something else? Regards, Jeff.

[dnl42]

Ooh, nice! 

[longshanks]

Nice bit of quality there. Looking forward to watching it develop

 

Stay safe

 

Kev

[Iceman 29]

Woah! I'm sitting on the sofa! 

[JohnWS]

 

I like the smooth surface finish ... easy to clean.

 

I'll be following along as well, Rob.  

 

John

[robgizlu]

Thanks Argonauts

16 hours ago, Richard E said:

 

Conscious that it is 1/76th scale, would you be able to source the markings from Dan Taylor's British Minor Landing Craft sheet Rob ?

 

Hi Richard - I have the set - sadly they are way too large for 1/350 use.  Good thoought though

 

15 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Rob, I don't know much about this type of vessel, or 3D printing but it looks a nice kit. What type of glue would you use for this - does styrene glue work or something else? Regards, Jeff.

 

Hi Jeff - Styrene glue definitely won't work - I'll be using CA (super) and Gator's Grip (sadly no longer available) PVA

 

9 hours ago, JohnWS said:

 

I like the smooth surface finish ... easy to clean.

 

I'll be following along as well, Rob.  

 

John

 

Jury's out at the moment John as to how smooth the surface actually is.  Like all 3D printing I 've seen to date, there are subtle "Flow" lines which were very noticeable on hull and superstructre sides.  I've sanded themwith a fine sanding stick as I was slightly concerned that a layer of paint would have highlighted them even further.

Rob

[RGL]

Try a tiny bit of Tamiya lacquer thinner on the flat surfaces to get rid of the flow lines.it works . 

[robgizlu]

24 minutes ago, RGL said:

Try a tiny bit of Tamiya lacquer thinner on the flat surfaces to get rid of the flow lines.it works . 

 

Thanks Greg - Spray on?  And it's safe with the resin?

Rob

[RGL]

No, put a little bit on a cue tip, rub it on the ‘wVy area’ then with super fine sand paper smoothly rub it. It works quite well on a big surface. I needed to do it on the big guns on my Strasbourg. 

[socjo1]

To remove all these "stairs" I sprayed Surfacer on the Black Cat details then sanded and it worked well.

Or just gently scribing by scalpel's blade.

Edited May 17, 2021 by socjo1

[Danny L]

Hi  Rob,

If  you  are  going  to  model  “375”  then  the  bridge  band  colour  should  be  green.  She  was  part  of  Force “S”.

 

Look  forward  to  watching  your  build.

 

Below  is  a  bit  of  information  on  some  of  the  markings  used  in  Operation  Neptune.

 

Bridge  Band  Colours

Force "S"  -  Green

Force "J"  -  Red

Force "G"  -  Blue

Force "L"  -  Yellow 

 

 

LTIN

White  on  a  black  background.

 

From the naval orders issued for Operation Neptune (a document about three inches thick, for each force/beach):

"Allocation of numbers to landing ships and landing craft 

3. To reduce the numbers to be remembered by the troops embarking in landing ships and landing craft, it has also been decided that one code number only will be used for each landing ship and craft, which will cover both ship and craft number and Landing Table Index Number. This system will apply only in the assault and not in the build-up. 

4. Blocks of numbers are allocated as follows: 

Force "S" - 100 - 999 
Force "J" - 1000 - 1999 
Force "G" - 2000 - 2999 
Force "L" - 3000 - 3999 

5. These numbers will be the Landing Table Index Numbers allocated to individual ships and craft as the result of detailed planning. For embarking purposes, these will be the only numbers with which the Army will be concerned. Each ship and craft taking part in the initial loading will be required to provide a suitable board showing its number, to be displayed on or near the bridge." 

 

If  you  want  to  delve  into  what  Force  individual  landing  craft  were  in  there  is  a  copy  of  the  Green  List  dated   the  5th  June  1944  online.

 

http://www.convoycu49-1944.com/files/ADM_210-8_RC1817359_GREEN_LIST_Landing_ships_craft_barges_-_Corrected_to_5th_June_1944_-_MASTER_BINDER.pdf

 

Force “S”  starts  Page  21

Force “J”  starts  Page  27

Force “G”  starts  Page  38

Force “L”  starts  Page  43A

 

Index  to  Landing  Craft  starts  at  page  94.

 

Regards

 

Danny

Edited May 16, 2021 by Danny L

[robgizlu]

Hi Danny 

Thank you vey much for dropping by and for that fabulous advice.  How nice to hear from you again.  You were such a help on the Fairmile B build!

I hadn't had the chance to read through in detail some of the small print from http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/d-day-landing-craft-markings.33486/ which covers the topic though not so concisely.

 

There was a mention there of a green invasion band which didn't register with me, as ALL of the colour pics I've seen of LCIs, LCT 5s and LCT7s etc have all had red bands

I'm conscious that the pic I've shown of "375" likely shows her at Operation Fabius as she doesn't carry the 3rd Infantry division symbol that she does at D-day as is evidenced...

 

 

A red circle with black triangles as I understand.  I've sourced some Warlordgames that will cover that.

 

The other Navsourse pic shows her with a truncated pennant number of "5" either well before or after D-day, presumably.

 

 

Pleased to hear the LTIN number is white on a Black background as I was aiming to show that.

 

Thankyou once again - your knowledge is encyclopaedic 

 

I need to do it all justice now.

Best

Rob

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hi Rob,

 

I hope not to throw a spanner in the works but you're spot on about the standard colours being white and B30, vis

 

However, more than a few vessels at D-Day appear to have been painted with white and B15 also, so it really comes down to your interpretation of the tones you see across different photos of your chosen subject.

 

 

 

That last one you posted I'm sure must be a B15 example.

[robgizlu]

And let's not forget G10!!

 

 

Jamie - you are right and I've studied lots of photos of landing craft.

As usual - being definitive is iimpossible

 

The first pic of "375" in diffuse flat light suggests a lighter shade (B30), the others that are of much poorer quality are clearly less persuasive 

And then there are pics such as this that even hint at 2 different colours, though I really think this is highly unlikely

 

 

I rather think shadow is the culprit here and it's a reminder as to how deceptive lighting conditions can make colour interpretation.  Interesting colours on the vessel behind!

 

In the absence of any contrary evidence I'm going for B30

And as this will be a triptych, expect "LCI 125" next alongside "LCI 98" thereafter 

Rob

[JohnWS]

Hey Rob,

 

Have you seen the photos & video at the following links? 

 

http://helix2.nfb.ca/images//DB-25/RCN-400-CM-8-01/13582/DB-25_RCN-400-CM-8-01_13582_WebCopy.mov

 

http://silverhawkauthor.com/royal-canadian-navy-rcn-19391945-landing-craft_945.html

 

John

Edited May 18, 2021 by JohnWS

[socjo1]

15 hours ago, robgizlu said:

And let's not forget G10!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This scheme (125) is fabulous! I will follow with interesting. You build ship whitch is not big but seems to be spectacular. 

... and it can be kind of inspiration for me as I have in my stash LCI's bigger sister (brother?) - AFV LST-1.  

Regards, 

Michał

[robgizlu]

20 hours ago, JohnWS said:

Hey Rob,

 

Have you seen the photos & video at the following links? 

 

http://helix2.nfb.ca/images//DB-25/RCN-400-CM-8-01/13582/DB-25_RCN-400-CM-8-01_13582_WebCopy.mov

 

http://silverhawkauthor.com/royal-canadian-navy-rcn-19391945-landing-craft_945.html

 

John

 

John - Boy - do you deliver the goods.  I was well aware of Harold Skarrup's fantastic collection of photos but the Video - NO!

How Brilliant.  One of the best quality WW2 colour sequences I've ever seen, the colours are so vibrant, and somehow the ships all look so modern and contemporary - startling really.  The LCI detail is invaluable.  Michal - take note - did you catch the smoke generator on the first pictured  

And weren't they just gloriously grubby 

And if I'm not mistaken the first LCAs pictured do NOT seem to be in B30 Camouflage.  I think they feature a grey ?G20 which is not quite what one has been lead to expect.  Further boats are most definitely blue (B30)  I often feel we are guilty of casting homogeniety on the subject of colours when I suspect given the mild chaos of war,  there was far more "make do" and departure from official directions than we always credit.

 

John - I'm further in your debt.  The beer (wine, Moscow mules etc- other beverages are available) tally is mounting up at the bar!!

 

So onwards.  I now try to plan builds with bases from the start, so it was out to the garage to cut some more styrofoam.

 

I was very taken by this gents seascape and method which builds on the "pressing" technique that I highlighted from another modeller on You Tube in the Calcutta blog

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/misc/patrol/Molniya-400-ms/index.htm  A Fabuolous result in my opinion.

 

So time to give it a go.  I definitely go for and prefer less dramatic seascapes for my ships.  My Calcutta effort yet to be shared is more dynamic and  is not an entire success to my eyes - my old tag line on "Model Armour" was "Modelling the mundane" and I'll return to this.

 

Using the hasp of a padlock was tested on this test piece of Syrofoam

 

 

 

I think it works.  The swell was previously acheived using a cigarette lighter and gebtly heating up so the padlock produces the "surface treatment" as Chris Flodebrg describes it.

 

So having traced the requisite waterline profile and cut it out from card - I transferred this to 2 separate bases, reflecting that there are 2 more LCIs in the pipeline

 

 

 

 

 

The card profile was quite accurate with virtually no gap at waterlien which is what I was aiming for, as the water will be "calm" meaning the gap can't be filled with "foam"

 

 

 

The aim was to get a minimum of surface ripples

 

 

 

To mimic this photo...

 

 

 

We'll see how it turns out

The second base will feature in this build with "375" beached

 

 

So of course in the middle of all this base pratting about, I managed to drop the superstructure onto the wood floor in my room and "ding" the forward Oerlikon gun tub  

 

 

 

 

I emailed Ben at Black Cat models to ask if I could buy a replacement.  Very graciously the answer was a a Yes but with the prospect of a time delay due to post I had a go at repair.  The first insticnt was putty ...

 

 

The godsend was the protective "plug" supplied to prevent damage such as this to the bow tub.  However the "filling" fell out on gentle sanding, so I tried Green Stuff with altogether more success ..

 

 

So once again - Merci Ben  

In the exchange I mentioned I was blogging the build here and he's put a link on his FB page (so the pressure's on !! )

 

Back to the build then.  The real issue is the order of painting as I prefer to aibrush spray wherever I can.  I've decided to fix the superstructure to hull and leave all trappings off witht the exception of deck ladders.  Painting the deck is the real issue.

I have choices of G10, Dark Grey non slip or use US Navy "Deck Blue" 20B which is likely what the vessel would have been delivered painted in.  I've followed the recent debates about whether US yards would have used Brit paints (I think unlikely).  The conceit with this build is that she'll have US Deck blue with Brit White/B30 hull/superstructure and fittings.  

To that end the deck ladders were fitted.  The photo-etch is High quality and not too thick.  I've found it forgiving to work with

 

 

 

As can be seen, I couldn;'t resist drilling the portholes out some more and fitting scuttles that don't come with the kit etch.  The object on the rear quarter is a draped hosepipe...Niiiice 

 

Ben has designed the kit so that the etch fits into "grooves" rather than sitting in flush - really thoughtful

 

 

and there's that repair again 

 

 

 

 

Given the vessel's size the deck parts are very small but are incredibly finely detailed and nicely printed.  There really are a lot of them!

 

This is the first tranche for priming and painting - there at least as many again.  Most of the major deck pieces have locating lugs to fit accurately - a small amount of filing is needed to locate them flushly with the deck

 

 

It was tempting to fit the mast and supports to the "castle" bridge but this would have further added to the difficult of painting the (green) invasion band.

I also drilled out the bow locating hole for the anchor which is beautifully reproduced but very fragile.  There is a hole already moulded but it needed drilling out with a 1.3mm bit to enable the anchor shank to pass throughthe topside deck.

All the parts need careful handling and I've had to improve my desk "hygiene" (no bad thing)

 

Priming next and more soon!

Thanks for looking

Rob

 

[longshanks]

Wow look at you go 👍

[AntPhillips]

On 5/16/2021 at 6:57 AM, robgizlu said:

 

Hi Jeff - Styrene glue definitely won't work - I'll be using CA (super) and Gator's Grip (sadly no longer available) PVA

 

 

Hi Rob,

 

Apparently Gator's Grip is back by popular demand:

 

https://gatorloup.wixsite.com/gators-model-studio/gator-s-grip-hobby-glue

 

 

[JohnWS]

Nice work, Rob.

 

Thanks for the kind compliments.  I've been lucky to find a number of hidden gems like that video in Canadian photo & film archives.

 

Regarding the gun tub repair, in the past I've applied a thin coat of CA glue over the surface of the dried putty (after sanding to shape) & then sanded the glue smooth after it dries.  The glue gives the putty a little more rigidity & after sanding can give a smooth transition where the edge of the putty meets the base material.

 

 

John

 

[dnl42]

This is all looking grand! 

 

I love the base--I'll need to find those videos. Good save on the tub!

FWIW, my approach is to find the resin shards if I can, if not then plastic sheet. I then use medium CA as adhesive and filler. Some file work, say 2-, 4-, and then 6-cut, will get a perfectly smooth and quite robust finish.

[socjo1]

7 hours ago, robgizlu said:

 Michal - take note - did you catch the smoke generator on the first pictured  

And weren't they just gloriously grubby 

 

 

John,

fantastic, informative inspirational and atmospheric film, thank you too!

 

Rob,

never mind boring smoke generators - let's go to something more exciting 😉 :

 

The question is...

Have you a factory producing bicycles? At first it seemd absurd idea and only pure joke - even for me. 

But let's think: How many tanks, trucks, DUKWs and so on have we all seen on sea dioramas? I think - a lot of.

But... bicycles?

It is really very very eyecatching, original and interesting detail!

Today's motto:make bikes, not tanks 😉

If you aren't bicycle-factory owner you can use this:

http://www.larsenal.com/1-350-bicycles-x-4-c2x15951825

 

What did the Katie sing?

 

"There are nine million bicycles in Beijing
That's a fact
And a few dozens are in LCI"

 

Regards,

Michał

 

PS. Can anybody tell me what the hellish mashinery is this?

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by socjo1