Honduras riverine patrol/assault craft

[chrisonord]

The craft is a converted ww2 Higgins boat that was abandoned after ww2 and rebuilt by the Honduras navy 40 years after it was originally built. The craft has been repaired and upgraded several times since and is still in almost every day service.
The craft has been armoured and carries a .50 cal on the wheelhouse roof mount and can be fitted with .50 cal machine guns, grenade launchers or 7.62 weapons on the side openings. The craft is crewed by 6 men and also has a compliment of 10 Marines, sometimes with a vehicle for recce missions.


Cheers,
Chris.

[NARSES2]

It's nice to see something unusual like that Chris 

[Thorvic]

Wonder if we should mention the trumpeter JMSDF 1/72 LCAC is reduced in the Modelzone sale  .

Imagine what Chris could do with one of those as either a landing craft or possibly a gun boat !!!.

The Higgins looks rather tasty Chris, although it probably needs a suitable crew adding to make it look the part.

[chrisonord]

Cheers for the comments guys, I would love one of those LCAC's but I just can't get anywhere near a modelzone at the moment,as my bike is in bits  through choice this time though. I do have some suitable crew for this model, but they will be busy on my converted Arkona, but......
I could spare a few I suppose.
Cheers,
Chris.

[rickshaw]

The South Vietnamese Navy had quite a few similar craft in the Mekong Delta. Some were modified to have a helicopter pad on top!  The entire compliment plus their families, including children, chickens, ducks, pigs, what have you all lived on them!  A friend of mine who served in the SASR in SVN used to talk about a joint operation they mounted with the ARVN and NRVN.  He said it was bedlam onboard but the tucker was great!  

[Joe C-P]

Great work. The USN could have used some of these on the Tigris and Euphrates!

[Captain Canada]

Very nice, Chris ! Love the camo on her. I have to agree with the general consensus, tho, that adding crew would really bring her into the light. As for vehicles, the 'boys' could easily cram a dirtbike ( or even an ATV ) on board.

[chrisonord]

I do have some crew that would fit the bill, but I just hate painting figures, I really do. I will have to dig some out and do some though now, and photo them.
Chris.

[beowulf]

now that i like...something different 

that open section in the middle is crying out for a decent sized mortar tube.

[Captain Canada]

I feel your pain, Chris....I don't know how many dioramas I have partially finished because I don't want to paint the figures !

[Thorvic]

Millicast do some 1/72nd landing craft figures and gunners so i suppose some of those could be inter mixed with troops for a riverine force.

[chrisonord]

I have some crew from a Japanese PT-15 that should do the trick, and some old ESCI Vietnam era special forces plastic soldiers too,the ones with the bandanna's and boonie hats. I have a fair few of these, so sourcing some in the correct stance should be easy enough.
I have another higgins boat in the stash too, maybe that one can have a reshaped forward roof and a helipad put on it, or some heavier guns, sort of like a monitor. I like the idea of putting mortars in the gaps too of the L/C, I could put one in there, but the gaps have fittings for guns on them. I could make the other one into a fire support version with a mother load of weapons on it, I have a spare M-60 Turret that would do the job 
Chris. 

[Thorvic]

http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=290&cat=17&page=2
http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=301&cat=17&page=3
http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=302&cat=17&page=3
http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=621&cat=35&page=1
http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=633&cat=35&page=2
http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=1250&cat=35&page=2
http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=1251&cat=35&page=2

These are the Millicast crews Chris British & American some of which may do the trick.

I wouldn't bother with a helo deck on a PT boat, only the larger German Lifeboat would really be suitable for that job, the most you could do is a clear deck space marked up for Helicopters to drop loads/troops on to.

An interesting patrol boat to try would be the Revell German S-boat, some were used post war for a variety of roles and have three gun positions that could be utilised.

G

[Taiidantomcat]

very clever