1/35th FSBR - Fire Support Boat, Riverine

[Old Wombat]

OK. This build hasn't started, yet, but I'm back home, the kits are on the dining table (my work space) & I'm getting revved up to start.

The build has been initiated due to the "Floaty/Ship/Naval GB" over on Beyond the Sprues.

The base vessel is the Airfix 1/72nd S-Boat, scale-o-rama'd to 1/35th.

Weapons:
Main; 2 x 40mm Bofors in M42 "Duster" turret*
2ndary; 1 x 20mm Vulcan in M-163A1 turret
plus; various machine guns

It was goint to have the Vulcan & a quad .50cal mount but I didn't have a quad .50 in the stash & I was getting impatient to start (I'm 18 days late getting under way) so, well ... you know ...

Besides, this leaves me with a couple of turretless AFV's to play with later.

I have no option but to widen the hull of the S-Boat - the M-42 turret is as wide as the fore-deck (the widest part of the boat). As seen below;



Still have to set up my work space, which I should do in the next couple of days, but I have a few plans to draw up first for the mod's to the hull.



Pictures of the unstarted boxes.





PS: The build must be 1/35th as it will, eventually, end up displayed in a diorama with another scale-o-rama'd boat & a Tamiya 1/35th PBR (which sets the scale).

[zenrat]

Looking forward to this.

I keep looking at the Tamiya Pibber but the price puts me off.  Is it worth $45 in your opinion?

[Captain Canada]

This is going to be wicked ! Love those boats. Can't wait.

I'm reading a book about Seal Team Six right now, so of course that doesn't help. There was also a link on here to a downloadable book on the history of Riverine types. Very interesting and well illustrated.

[nighthunter]

Zenrat, yes, in every way worth it.

[Old Wombat]

Zenrat, yes, in every way worth it.

Concur!







But, then, I've been a PBR fan since "Apocalypse Now".

[zenrat]

Thanks guys.  Roll on payday.

[Old Wombat]

OK, moving along here!

Some progress has happened & a bit more has happened since these photo's were taken - but not much.

The build in progress with Thomas the Tanker present for scale, as usual;

















As you can see the hull is a bit of a cross between the ocean-going hull of the S-boat & the sea-sled "inverted planing" hull.

Getting everything "right" is turning out to be a bit of a challenge (especially the sea-sled hull form) & I may, despite my best efforts, have to sheet over the rest of the deck as the PSR is becoming a bit troublesome.

Still, onwards & upwards!

More soon, I hope!

Guy

PS: "Apocalypse Now" was on in the wee hours of this morning as I was working on this.

[zenrat]

I love the smell of styrene in the (wee hours of the) morning...

Looking good.  I don't envy you all that PSR though.

[kerick]

If you are PSR all those slots and small openings on the deck I would cover them. Much faster and would keep the outline of the opening from showing through the putty. Do you have access to a large sheet of something thin? The fewer the joints the better.

I love the hull shape, very unique!

[Old Wombat]

I'm heading in that direction, kerick, but I'll just butt the new sheets against the centre sheets & sand to blend, as I already have the raised forward turret ring fitted, using .020" sheet.

The final central hull structure is 4 layers of .010" sheet, final layer bonded with Araldite because the other adhesives used deformed the styrene in ways which were too difficult to fill/sand.

[kerick]

Sounds like a plan!

[buzzbomb]

Noice!

[Captain Canada]

Very nice. Love the shape of the hull. Nice to see the soldier for scale as well.

There was a link to a free download book on here some time ago, a very detailed read about all of the different boats used in Vietnam. Check the links section.

[Old Wombat]

OK, here we are again with lots of photo's of the ongoing build.

Are you going to do pump jets?

Still not sure on that. If the build goes well & I feel up to scratch building the extenal parts, maybe, but she's pretty big for a jet boat, so I may just go with prop's.

I seem to be an unwitting member of the "Measure twice - cut once ... Bugger! ... Measure thrice - cut once ... $h*t! ... Measure four times - cut once ... Oh, for f^#k sake!" school of construction. I used the card template system, too - even that didn't work!

Anyway, I've gone with the "Near enough is good enough" school for now & I'll use putty to carefully fix any glaring faults.

This is what she looked like 2 days ago;















And here she is today;



















Hope I haven't put you all, including the insomniacs, to sleep with all these pic's.




Guy

[PR19_Kit]

An interesting semi-cathedral type hull. What does it look like from the transom end?