"Proud Brave Reliable"
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Introduction
During
the Vietnam War, the Navy realized they had let Riverine warfare technology
go. With all the rivers, the VC and NVA had no such problem, their low
tech Sampans worked just fine. Once again, we had forgotten history and
had to repeat it. Quickly the Navy put out bids for a small patrol boat
for the river waterways of Vietnam. The PBR (Patrol Boat River) Mark I
was the result. Essentially this was a pleasure boat design, with a fiberglass
hull and waterjet propulsion, and the requirement was for 25 knots. The
production contract for 120 boats was won by United Boatbuilders of Bellingham,
Washington. Unfortunately the Mark I's had several nagging problems which
plagued them throughout their lives. The main problems were the motors
and Jacuzzi water pumps. The Mark I motors were severely overloaded, and
the water pumps suffered from operating in brackish water with the impeller
blades being damaged and worn. To make a long story short, max speed was
found to have dropped from approximately 22 knots to about 14-15. Not
good when your main defense in an ambush is speed!
Along
came the PBR Mark II in 1967-68. The design was changed substantially.
The hull form was modified and the motor upgraded along with the water
pumps. Did this make the Mark II perfect ? No way...but it did improve
the boat. Since this is a modelling webzine, this is not going to be a
historical research article. Suffice to say, there are several references
at the end of this piece if the modeler is looking for more information.
Plus there is quite a bit on the web about these boats. Being an ex-jarhead
(68-72), I've always been fascinated by these boats and their operations.
Trust me, I've always felt these crews had Brass. They were a different
breed.
The Model
Now,
the PBR Mark II is definitely Not a large boat
. We're talking about a boat that was about 32' long by 11' wide. Now
onto that you pack twin 50's up front in a turret, normally an M-60 and
a Mark II Grenade launcher on pintel mounts in the middle, with a single
50 aft. Pound for pound, they were impressive little boats. Which also
makes scratchbuilding one a difficult proposition (at least for me). Research
also indicates some of the crews tended to "Modify" their armament.
That's a nice way of saying they mounted anything they could to give the
bad guys a rough night. I've heard of experiments with the 7.62 mm gattling
gun aft, which when fired in long bursts actually moved the aft end of
the boat; to rumors of a 106 recoilless rifle mounted aft, unfortunately
I have no pictures of that one!
My
plans actually came from the Naval Institute Press book, U.S. Small Combatants
(by Norman Friedman, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-713-5). They were copied and then
modified and enlarged to 1/144th scale. While not perfect plans, they
were good enough, because I'm not a perfect builder. I decided early on
I would attempt to build this as a waterline diorama. With most all of
my models I like to add 1-2 figures just to give scale. The accompanying
photos show some of the basic build. Most of the construction was accomplished
with 20 thou plastic stock. The forward gun tub was brass tubing. The
railings, masts, and canopy frame was built from brass wire stock superglued
together. The 50 cals were from Minicraft PBY kits. The M-60 and Grenade
launcher were scratchbuilt from plastic and brass.
I
had decided to try to keep the diorama simple. The idea was to show a
crew getting ready for another "Dinner Cruise on the Mekong".
So 2 figures were modified from the Prieser line, and painted up to show
the crew with flak jackets getting the boat ready. The docks were built
from plastic sheet stock. The ground surface was actually built up from
joint compound, and highlighted with model railroad grass,vegetation,
and trees. The water was accomplished in several steps. I wanted to portray
muddy river water. So first a layer of aluminum foil was crumpled, then
spread out and glued to the base. Next it was painted with a thin mixture
of brown and green acrylic paint. I wanted some of the foil to show through
for reflection purposes. Then came a layer of Mod-Podge tinted brown,
next a layer tinted green, then 2 clear layers. This was then finished
with 3 coatings of future floor wax as a sealer. The boat had been highlighted
with pastels to show wear and tear. The canvas canopy is household tissue
material wet and glued to the frame. This was then painted and highlighted
with pastels again. And that's about it.
Conclusion
Did
I actually accomplish what I started out to do? That's up to the readers.
But I did learn a lot, and perhaps the next one I do will be better. Any
and all criticism is appreciated. In the meantime, anyone have a basic
set of plans for the LSSC (Light Seal Support Craft) or the new 34' Dauntless
boats now in use by the Inshore Boat Squadrons? Till next time, keep building.
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