Revell 1:144 German LSM Eidechse-Class

[Tat2bhoy]

For the Cold War GB, I couldn’t decide whether to build something that went on the land, sea or the air. After a lot of searching, I decided to build all three!!!
So here it is, the Revell 1:144 German Landing ship medium(LSM) Eidechse class



It’s a kit based on the 2014 released US Navy LSM



The German version was released in 2016 with new parts including new vehicles and a helicopter.
I also have some after market pe to to give it some extra detail which I think will enhance the kit.

The LSM-1 / LSM (R) class was a US Navy landing ship class built in two basic types and variants . The basic type LSM (Landing Ship Medium) was a medium landing ship for troops and vehicles. The ships of the basic type LSM (R) (Landing Ship Medium (Rocket)) were landing support ships, which were equipped with rocket launchers and partly with artillery for the bombardment of landing beaches
Within the amphibious forces of the US Navy, the LSM represented a medium-sized ship between the smaller armored landing craft ( Landing Craft, Tank / LCT) and the larger armored landing craft (Landing Ship, Tank / LST). Initially, the LSM was also called LCT (7 ) (Landing Craft Tank, type 7), before the new classification "LSM" was introduced



he LSM 491, 537, 553 and 558 were named lizard , crocodile , salamander and viper , the class name was lizard class (DropShip class 550) . All ships had been taken into reserve in 1946.
The ships were gradually adapted to German technical standards and received among other things a different electricity supply. The superstructures were also slightly changed. As armament led the LSM of the Federal Navy a 40-mm twin gun. The range was given after the adjustments with 2500 nm at 12 knots.
The crocodile was rebuilt as a guide ship of the squadron to a slightly larger extent. In addition to the accommodation for the Geschwaderstab, it was given a larger sanitary area and a helicopter landing pad. Later, the crocodile got a longer bow ramp, at the same time the bow gates were removed.



The occupation force was 50 soldiers. All ships were decommissioned and sorted out between 1969 and 1973.

[pourquoi61]

You have covered it all there buddy.

[Tat2bhoy]

Inside the box, There are 5 bags with 17 spurs in total inside of them.
It all fits nicely inside the box, unlike some I’ve seen from Revell.



Taking them out the box, we’ll have a look at them


The first bag contains 6 sprues


These contain 3 each of 2 different sprues which have a LKW 5T gl EMMA, a HS-30 and a M47 Patton tank, the other sprues are the railings.


Next we have the the two hull halves


This bag contained 2 sprues, a couple of bulkheads and parts of the stand.


A bigger bag this time with 4 sprues


Various items on these .


This one has the 2 walkways.


The cargo deck (I think that’s what you call it, (someone with a bit more knowledge can correct me) with part of the winch moulded on.


4 sprues in this one


2 different sprues with 2 of each one


The last bag contains 2 sprues


This one has the flight deck, life boats and a helicopter


A close up of the detail on the Bristol 171 Sycamore helicopter


And finally the last one


At first glance, it looks a nice kit with a lot of parts.
This could be a good build or an absolute nightmare, time will tell, so here goes, which me luck

[Tat2bhoy]

A quick look at the instructions.
A nice A4 colour booklet. Looks easy enough to follow.





















The colour plates look nice





The decals look nice enough, but that string ain’t happening, will need to get something else for the railings



A close up of the vehicles

[Tat2bhoy]

Part 1 of the build
Drilling points on the hull and deck



With the appropriate drill bit, the holes in the hull and deck were drilled out



Part 2 was to join the hull sides with the bulkheads fitted



Securing the bulkheads

[Tat2bhoy]

The aft of the hull part had some extreme joint parts to the sprue! A bit of work to remove them



The seam on the bottom of the hull wasn’t the best so some sprue glue to the rescue, (Tamiya cement and cut up sprue parts)
Brushed on and left to dry.



When dry, buffed of with various grade sanding sticks



After sanding, some areas still needed some more sprue glue



When dry, some more sanding

[BobM]

Ships aren't my thing, but your helper has drawn me in! He looks like a hard worker!

I'll be watching!

[Tat2bhoy]

Ships aren't my thing, but your helper has drawn me in! He looks like a hard worker!

I'll be watching!

I don’t know what I would do without him

[Tat2bhoy]

On the underside of the hull, there are 4 location points for the stand. As I don’t know what stand I’m gonna use yet I will need to remove them.



They will need a bit more than a sanding stick to remove, time to bring in the big guns

[pourquoi61]

I would by that kit for the helicopter alone, cool grey man and funny.

[aur0ra145]

Haha, I love the gray dude!

[Tat2bhoy]

After doing all the clean up work on the lower hull, turned it up the right way only to find I’ve broken off one of the rope guide things at the aft end, can’t find it anywhere so will have to manufacture a new one out of platicard

[NorthernModeller]

Very nice subject choice Looking forward to seeing this come along

[pourquoi61]

Never much fun when that happens.
Still looking good.

[gaz45]

Nice start mate

[Tat2bhoy]

During the fitting of the cargo decks side walls, I came across an obvious problem, not a very good match.



So to fix the problem, I removed the two misaligned parts then marked where the correct ones should be and made the new parts with some micro strip and glued in place.



That’s much better


After test fitting the deck to the hull, it wasn’t a good fit at the front, so some plastic was removed from the step at the front.



There was also a slight bump in the deck, which turned out was caused by the raised writing under the deck, so with the offending parts removed, the bump was no more



Before fitting the deck, I decided to paint it beforehand. First I primed it with MRP primer.



Once the primer was dry, I painted the deck floor with a bottle of Tamiya XF24 that I purchased in 1989, still in remarkable good condition.



Using Tamiya masking tape and paper,



I masked off the deck floor ready for painting the walls.



The walls were painted with 3 parts Tamiya XF66 with 1 part XF2 mixed together.



There was some touch up to do on the deck around the winch



Didn’t notice earlier, but there are two holes to drill in the deck wall for part M199

[Tat2bhoy]

Using a mix of Tamiya XF1 and water, I brushed it onto the deck and walls, you have to work fast when doing it this way because when it dries it isn’t easy to alter it like you can with an enamel wash.



Next I used AK streaking grime and rust streaks.



Once applied, I let it dry for a few minutes before removing and blending it with enamel thinkers to give it the desired look I was after



I also done the same technique on the winch

[Tat2bhoy]

Once I was happy with the fit of the cargo deck to the hull, it was `welded’ into place



Before fitting the aft upper deck section, five supports have to be fitted to the lower deck, which fit to the location points on the lower part of the aft deck.



It takes a bit of fiddling about with the supports to locate them into the upper deck



As you can see, the deck to hull isn’t the best fit, so only one thing to do....



Get the clamps out

[Tat2bhoy]

Forgot to post a picture of the new rope guide I made out of styrene sheet

[pourquoi61]

Nice work and the rope guide is spot on.

[Tat2bhoy]

Nice work and the rope guide is spot on.

Thanks m8, I do enjoy a bit of scratch building sometimes

[Tat2bhoy]

As with the rear part of the upper deck, it’s a poor fit,



Quite a few clamps were used as there was a lot of gaps



Some spru goo was applied at the join of the two deck parts. When dry I will sand down for a smooth finish.



The round inserts are to fill the spaces on the deck where the original gun mounts were on the earlier version.



Spru goo was also applied to these areas



Some more spru goo required once again

[barrythornton]

I`m suspicious , why did the Germans want these landing craft ?

[Tat2bhoy]

I decided that I was going to remove the grab handles at the rear end


What I decided to use as a replacement, were staples



After removing them from each other using a blade, I straightened out one end



To get the required size, I put a couple of steel rules together and held in place with some tape



Then folded the staple over the edge of the rules





Then cut them to size



The moulder Handel’s were removed and then holes were drilled for the new ones to sit in

[Tat2bhoy]

They were then glued into place using CA glue, much happier with how they look now

[Tat2bhoy]

Putting together the ramp looked straight forward enough





And it was

[Tat2bhoy]

Some more minor surgery required, removing the two ladders



Replacing them with some N scale ladders



Carefully removed them with a craft knife and some sanding



Then cut and folded some new ones then glued into position

[Tat2bhoy]

After looking at some photos of the original, I decided to do some scratch building on the bow doors



As you can see the difference between the original and the kit parts



Using some snips, scalpel blade and some emery cloth, I started to remove the internal parts of the doors.
Will also be replacing the ladder with the photo etched N scale ones



Using some plastikard micro strip, I started to fit in place the new parts.
During removing the internal parts, the door locating pins got broken off, so drilled out where they are meant to be and inserted new ones using stretched sprue that I made by melting some sprue with a lighter then gently stretching to get th e diameter I required, the inserted and glued into the holes then cut to the desired length.



Then finally added a new ladder

[warpedcrisis]

Nice work there

[digger303]

Well done
Love your helper as well....clever .

[gaz45]

Nice work there mate love the staple idea

[Tat2bhoy]

Nice work there

Well done
Love your helper as well....clever .

Nice work there mate love the staple idea

Thanks guys, I should’ve used the smaller staples, the ones that you get from small cheap staplers, would’ve probably been a better scale

[Tat2bhoy]

Using one of the set of steps from the PE set, I replaced the plastic steps from the kit with a much better looking set

[Willem]

Beautiful scratch building going on. Ingenious stuff.

I think that I need a grey man to get on with my least favourite tasks like sanding and re scribing whilst I kick back with a cup of tea.

[Tat2bhoy]

The PE set comes with parts for the rear winch anchor


But when it’s built up, doesn’t look as good as the kit parts as it is meant to be made of round bar not flat

[Tat2bhoy]

Beautiful scratch building going on. Ingenious stuff.

I think that I need a grey man to get on with my least favourite tasks like sanding and re scribing whilst I kick back with a cup of tea.

He does come in handy for all the tedious bits

[pourquoi61]

You have the patience of a most patient person or animal waiting for something.

[Tat2bhoy]

You have the patience of a most patient person or animal waiting for something.

Thanks m8, it’s a really enjoyable build, the hardest part is remembering to put posts on here, I’m much further on than my last post lol

[pourquoi61]

When you get in the zone you just keep doing something else and forget to post.

[Tat2bhoy]

When you get in the zone you just keep doing something else and forget to post.

I’ve also started the bomber build SIG, but haven’t put up any posts yet

[pourquoi61]

When you get in the zone you just keep doing something else and forget to post.

I’ve also started the bomber build SIG, but haven’t put up any posts yet

I am waiting to retire so that I can find the time to do more.
Only 10 years to go.

[Tat2bhoy]

I primed the hull and upper deck with MRP primer



The upper deck was then painted with Tamiya XF24 dark grey. Once that was dry, I masked the deck except the hatches etc, as they will be painted the hull colour also.





The overall colour will be a mix of Tamiya XF66 and XF2 which is mixed at a 3 to 1 ratio and put in a plastic bottle I got from eBay



The hull and upper areas were then painted in the grey and left to dry.





Once dry, the masking tape was carefully removed



The lower hull was masked off and will be painted with XF7 and XF10 mixed to a 2 to 1 ratio.





Once it was dry, the tape was removed and a coat of Tamiya X22 was applied to protect it before the weathering was done

[Tat2bhoy]

Along the middle of the cargo deck and ramp, there is a yellow line, the kit comes with decals for it



I decided not to use decals and instead I am going to paint them on. The paint I’m using is Vallejo Model Air RLM 05.
The area to be painted was masked up,

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and painted in the RLM05



The tape was then removed to show a much better look than the decals would’ve done

[NorthernModeller]

Starting to make real good progress on this one looking forward to it

[Tat2bhoy]

Replaced the cargo deck stairs with the pe ones , not sure they’ll be seen ones the helicopter deck is on, but I know that they are there.



Starting on the railings, I thought I would try the ones that came in the kit, they are not the best, so I’ve used the best ones to see how it looks.



Ones they were glued and painted, I started to put the wire between them using sewers invisible thread joined it to the post with ca glue






Once totally dry, all the ends were trimmed. Happy enough with the result, but I will be using the pe post for the rest of the build as I think they will look better, but I’ll just leave these ones just now, might replace them or might not lol

[Tat2bhoy]

During the construction of the mast, I couldn’t for the life of me work out how partM225 fitted to the mast



So I looked further on in the instructions till I found a plan of the ship which showed how it was to be fitted, problem solved.



I replaced the ladder with the pe one that comes with the pe set



Filled in the location holes in the mast with some micro strip then smoothed off



Glued the pe ladder in place



Then painted the mast ready for fitting, won’t fit till later in the build as it might get knocked off!

[Tat2bhoy]

Before fixing the cabinets, I gave them some rust streaks using AK rust streaks. Brushed it on then waited a few minutes for them to dry, the brushed parts of it away using enamel thinner still I got the desired effect I was looking for

[Willem]

Just keeps getting better and better. Keep it coming.

[Tat2bhoy]

Just keeps getting better and better. Keep it coming.

Thanks m8, as I said, it’s an enjoyable build, not something I would normally go for, but decided to get it when I seen it on sale at wonderland models for £20

[Tat2bhoy]

using AK panzer grey streaking grime and rust streaks, I weathered the wheel house (I think that’s what it’s called ) the same way that I done the cabinets