Gents this is the first time that I tried ti make a vehicle,water,and bomb blasts the scene depicts the Marines under fire going toward Pelelieu all comments are welcomed Tom
Very impressive! The scattered brass on the deck is a neat touch. I'm not very familiar with LVTs - what model is this?
Wow! Such detailed work. Great job. (I think I see Sterling Mace, and Eugene Sledge, and RV Burgin and Snafu Shelton! )
Darned name dropper! Don't you just love a lady that knows her battles, all my wife knows about Peleilu is that I was once on a ship by that name.
all my wife knows about Peleilu is that I was once on a ship by that name. Did I ever mention that I did two years of my Navy service on the Sea Pig, aka Saipan (LHA-2)? (Largest Hotel Afloat) From your monicker I guess you were "cargo"
Totally agree... Okay you asked for comments....so here goes. Obviously the water and wash is the wrong colour...murky blue green for the water and simply white and off white for the wash. Some glue stains there that should be re-painted. The front should be a darker green reflecting that its wet, likewise "spats" all over the craft as water splashes onto it. I'd also increase the angle on the two 50s...no NEED to...but unlikely that they'd both be firing forward moving toward a stretch of beach. And i'd have my men huddled or hunkered...Their LT will give them a shalacking if they rubber neck... Landing craft should have some wear on it, even if new it gets scratched the first time its put over the side or slid down a ramp. Craft should probably be on an angle to re-inforce that its at sea...pick a cool looking angle. But i do commend your idea and the effort so far, you are on the right track.
CAC Thanks for the comments I will try to make the necessary adjustments you pointed out and thanks to all who commented on my little project Thanks again Tom
Yes, I was cargo. The Sea Pig? Compared to previous ships I'd been on the Peleilu (LHA-5) was luxuriant. I thought it was a pretty big boat till we sailed past the Kitty Hawk (at least that's one of the deck apes called the ship) on our way out of Coronado. Remember the old LPH. Those ships were pigs, though their crew members loved them. I never deployed on one, but spent several days on the Guam, I think, sailing up and down the coast practicing heliborne operations as part of a regimental exercise. I deployed on the USS Manitowac, LST-1180 also, better berthing than the Guam but worse than the Peleilu. Had great chow, it actually won some award for that. It wasn't a very pleasant ship in anything but very calm seas. Well anyway, I salute you for your service, ye ole sea dog!
Sailors love nicknames, but we did also call her Largest Hotel Afloat, and Saipan was definitely the most comfortable of three ships I served on; also new enough* that they hadn't started jamming extra bunks into staterooms or berthing spaces. * new then, sold for scrap now - I'm getting old!! I was never aboard an LPH but I understand they were cheap in every sense of the term. It struck me as particularly odd that the most valuable amphibious ships (at the time) with the most people on board were the only ones with a single propellor. I actually think the pure aviation ship is a better concept though. In theory the LHA offers flexibility to move material by boat or helo; but in my experience, including two six-month Med/I.O. deployments and several major exercises, we made little use of it. The same troops or equipment went by boat or helo every time. It was having an LPH and and LPD that had to go everywhere together. I did some NROTC summer training on the Lamoure County (LST-1194) which was also a relatively new ship way back then but I don't care for that design either. You can make a perfectly good LST go up to about 17 knots, but someone in the five-sided puzzle palace decided every ship in the amphibious ready group - beaching craft to helicopter carrier - had to do 20, which necessitated a whole new hull form and the excessively complicated bow ramp arrangement. Needless to say in 2+ years I never saw an LST need to go more than 16 knots. I also got to ride off one in an LVT-7, fun to do once Although we made jokes about dropping our stern gate and spitting out Marines - we didn't always say "spit" - it was an honor to work with the Corps.
I think I got both of you guys beat.....the first ship I was on was the USS Alamo LSD-33. Steamed through a typhoon in the South China Sea aboard the USS Tuscalusa LST-1187 spent a couple of minutes on the USS New Orleans LPH-11 and the USS Denver LPD-9 and the USS Cayuga LST-1186. When we finally deployed aboard the "Iron Nickle" it was like Disneyland.
Yeah, well you do have me beat. It did get me to thinking though. I was on another LST for a few days. I don't remember the name of the ship, we were on it practicing different landing techniques when my battalion went through Amphibious Training School at Little Creek, VA. We did the old Corps thing with cargo nets and Mike boats and splashing out the well deck in Amtracs. The final event was a night time amphibious landing at Ft. Story, we landed in Mike boats. The surf was really rough and the squid driving the boat grounded on a sand bar a good ways off shore. They dumped us off in water up to our necks and every time a swell came in it was about six feet over our heads. There was a pretty good current running out to sea and several of our Marines got swept out to sea, one dude even got swept back up under the Mike boat ramp. Navy Beachmasters in those LARC things were a good ways further off shore going back and forth, parallel to the beach using searchlights to search for and rescue Marines that were floating out to sea. It was one screwed up night. I was also on the Peleliu another time, actually the first time, right after she joined the Fleet. We were having a regimental exercise at Camp Pendleton. We sailed up and down the coast for a few days, then did a heliborne assault, seized some objective and then continued on with the exercise. We went through a hurricane on the Manitowoc also. We had actually sailed from Morehead City to Norfolk. We were anchored at Norfolk when a hurricane was heading for the area so the ships put to sea. I've never been so sick in my life, and I don't normally get sea sick. I silently questioned the wisdom of sailing ships into a hurricane but, supposedly it's safer than them being in port. Here's an old picture I found of the USS Manitowac, and scanned into my computer. Brings back memories of the good ole days, don't it.
Cool diorama!Looks great to me those first couple pics I thought all the guys must have bailed out! I was in from 81-85 and was on the USS Saginaw LST 1188,USS NewPort LST 1179 and the USS Sumpter LST 1181. Love seeing the Marine Corps Dioramas
