IJN Daihatsu Landing Craft

Since the post on the paper Daihatsu landig craft I did a bit of more googling and found some intresting information on the said vessel. A japanese page containing a number of photos from the use can be found here. Pacific Wrecks have a couple of photos of the real thing today, could be useful if scratching one.

The bow is said to be of a twin design in order to stabilize the craft while beached. Source of drawing is Taki's home page and there is plenty of Japanese amphibious things to find out about if you click Vessels under the IJA Weapons title, as well as a few amphibious tanks if you click AFV.

Related goods; IJN Paper Landing Craft

Found this nice Daihatsu landing craft of WW 2 vintage at the Paperkraft page. Just print out, a bit of fancy scissor work, glue it together and sit back and enjoy. Well, that is the theory at least, I think I have to try this one myself. Photo from the Paperkraft page.

A Photo: GMC in North Africa 1942 (edited)

As I'm putting all together for my Operation Torch LCM 3, I thought an original photo of a GMC truck could be nice to see. The photo is showing some american soldiers of the 82 Airborne preparing for a jump in North Africa, late 1942. The only visible structural difference from my Academy truck is the omission of an engine vent tube on the right hand side. Source: United States Army via WW2 Database.

Ed. Found this photo on the cover of US Special Forces of WW 2, published by Arms and armour press. The caption says photo is of paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne preparing themselves to jump at Salerno in September 1943. Our friend Google found some answer for us and it seems like this latter caption is right. 82nd did jump on Salerno from bases on Sicily, and Steven Zaloga's Osprey Vanguard No 39 says the yellow circle marking was common on Sicily. Or does some of you have any other explanation...? But it is easy to see why someone would believe that the photo was taken in North Africa as the yellow circle was also added to the insignia on American aircrafts during the Torch landings in 1942.

On the bench; LCM 3, Operation Torch 1942, part 8

I thought I was too tired to work on my Torch project tonight but I did well anyway. Put a coat of Vallejo olive drab all over the truck, inside and out. After that I picked all bags out in different shades of olive greens. Added a bit of tan and yellow sand as I went in order to break up the load's uniformity.

Of course I had to test the truck in the cargo hold to see how the colours went with the landing craft's white and dark grey. Just perfect! Now all is about wrapping the whole thing up. In this photo you can see the little handles I made yesterday.

On the bench; LCM 3, Operation Torch 1942, part 7

OK fellows, the load has dried and a few sacks got a tiny handle of paper although it can't be seen here. The US flag is printed on ordinary paper and will be attached to the right hand side window as a 'Don't shoot, we're the nice guys!' kind of mark. On the hood I'll put a white star on a dark blue background, I found a decal of the right size. Before I can paint the lot I'll have to paint the inside of the driver's compartment, add windows and a piece of canvas over the front grille. Now, where on earth are the little fire extinguisher i scratched before...

Newspaper Story; Civilian Amphibians

Those of you who read the Helsinki report Pt 2 might recall a Finnish newspaper featuring an article on amphibious cars. Well folks, here it is again, recycled a couple of weeks later but in one of Sweden's national papers. Just a bit different regarding illustrations but otherwise unaltered. Funnily there is no mention of the identity of the driver of the black Gibbs. Richard Branson, who? Somehow it seems fashionable to be a amph head these days and we're happy to be in the front line.

On the bench; LCM 3, Operation Torch 1942, part 6

Loaded my GMC truck tonight. Lots of small sacks are the reason for the 6x6 to hitch a ride to the beach. Rolled a long fat string of Milliput and made about 50 sacks. In order not to make a too heavy load I lined the insides of the cargo hold with Milliput and put a lid of plasticard before covering the whole lot with my little sacks. I'll let this dry a day or so and then start next painting session. Pressed the end of a brush handle to sculpt each end of the sacks to make them stand out a bit more. A bit of water was taking the finger prints away as Milliput tends to show such blemishes quite well.

A Film; Colour of War: D-Day

Sometimes it's hard to belive there was colour in the world before 1950 or so. This fantastic DVD puts things straight. All in colour it provides much useful information on what landing crafts looked like. No more doubt on how dark Navy Blue or how gaudy red hull bottoms were. The film begins with a short recapitulation on Stalingrad, Tunisia, the invasion of Sicily, the conference in Casablanca where the Germany first doctrine was cemented. Although the title of this DVD is D-Day one should not think it is entirely on June 6. Most of the material is focused on the build up and aftermath of the actual landing itself. One can imagine there was not much filming done during the actual fighting on D-Day and therefore there aren't much to show, at least not in colour. Maybe that is the reason for the few genuine landing sequences to be so much more touching and horrible. Starring landing craft wise there will be LCVP, LCM, LCT, LST.

Much recommended.

On the bench; LCM 3, Operation Torch 1942, part 5

Just have to show you all I'm not sleeping but doing my best to finish this LCM. A bit of filtering and rust staining were done this evening. About time I start on painting the GMC 6x6 truck.

By the way, I got a Trumpeter LCM 3 in a parcel from UK today. Now I got all parts for a new LCM project in 1/72. Eh, you say I'm busy doing something else? Yes, I got Trumpeter's LCM in 1/48 half built and waiting for the Torch tub to cross the finish line.

Walk Around: Alvis Stalwart

In the Swedish armed forces the Alvis Stalwart was called Amfibiebil 101 and was in use 1962-1985. 34 units were used by the coastal defence units for transport duty in the archipelago. This example is photographed at the Arsenalen museum collection in Strängnäs, Sweden. More about the Swedish coastal defence can be found here. If you want to know the fastest way to take a Stalwart to the water, just check out this video.

On the bench; LCM 3, Operation Torch 1942, part 4

I had set my mind on doing a red LCM code on the bow, just like the one in the head of this blog. The individual LCM in the photo is by the way same as Revell has included in its boxing of Italeri's LCM in 1/35. However, I changed my mind for two reasons: I will do another British LCM in the future with a red code and the one I finally choose is rather unusual. So, I did a bit of measuring on a photo copy and drew a small sketch in actual size on a piece of paper.

This sketch was pondered upon and decided to be of proper dimensions. A few pencil lines were drawn on the model.



A very fine brush, a bottle of Vallejo Model Air Black and some time later I had my code on the model.

This was repeated on the starboard side as well. Same size, same dimensions. There is a bit of retouching to do before totally done.

I have no idea if this code was placed on the stern or any other place but no other LCM from the Torch landings seems (as far as I can conclude from photos I have seen) to have had a code on any other place than on the sides.

Now, on to the fun part: weathering!

Helsinki; Model Expo 2012, pt 2

So how did it go? Well, my large scale LCVP ended up on 2:nd place. Besides that I got two 1:st, another 2:nd and a 3:d place. All in all I'm very happy, I might come back next year.



When going to a show one has to shop a bit. A set of Lifecolor's US Navy dedicated colours. There is a second set for late WW2 colours. A flask of Lifecolor's thinner to go with the set.

Found and bought four Osprey books for a decent price. Viking long ship? Yep, you just wait and see.

A Finnish modelling magazine had a nice rewiev of Italeri's LVT-2. Will have a friend translate the text. Squadron/Signal's book on Tank warfare on Iwo Jima happened to slip into my bag...

At last I have AFV Club's LVT-4 in my possession! OD and shark mouth or three-tone camou? We'll see how I'll finish it.

Now, this is weird if something: In the Finnish paper Hufvudstadsbladet there was a full spread of amphibious cars on the day we arrived in Helsinki. An extra god thing is that the paper is in Swedish, the second official language in Finland.

As you can see there was a veritable gold cup rain over the models. So, if you now feel like go there,just do it!

You can se more models here and a bit of the fair here

Helsinki; Model Expo 2012, pt 1

Together with some friends from my modelling club IPMS Stockholm I took the opportunity to visit Helsinki in Finland for a couple of days. Main reason was to participate in the Model Expo model competition arranged by IPMS Finland. As a show it is of medium in size but it is just a small part in a huge play/children/handicraft/hobby fair. Rather centrally situated in Helsinki it attracts thousands of people. Above is the Littorial Combat Ship LCS-2 competing in the general ship class. I brought eight models and ran them in six classes. The only amphibious models made by me were the two below.

Here are my two contributions in previously mentioned class: Italeri's LCVP in 1/35 and Trumpeter's LCM 3 in 1/144.

A dozen of judges did their job for a few hours. Myself judged three vehicle classes.

A great little dio of a LVT-4 splashing about. The water must have been of silicone or so.

A Schwimmwagen in 1/35, a popular model.

Hmm, maybe not considered a amphibious warfare craft but if you think about it a kayak is actually very much a tool for a man with a mission. Designed for hunting in a very hostile environment, guns and harpoons are carried and a stealthy tecnique is required. This one was a beauty and I wish I had done it.

This Schwimmwagen was a small part of a rather grand diorama containing quite a number of figures, a huge railway gun , rocks and vehicles.