Scale: 1/35
Hong Kong based Gecko Models have produced some unusual and fabulous kits over the last couple of years, including a brandnew tooling of the Scimitar 2, and it looks as if that trend is set to continue in 2023. WWII British Landing Craft Assault (LCA) (ref. 35GM0080) is a good example of the kind of esoteric kit that Gecko have tackled recently that we’re not likely to see from other manufacturers. The craft derived from a prototype designed by John I. Thornycroft Ltd. of Woolston, Hampshire. During the war it was manufactured in numerous places as various as small boatyards and furniture manufacturers. It was typically constructed of hardwood planking and selectively clad with armour plate, and its shallowdraft, barge-like design with a crew of four could ferry an infantry platoon of 31 men and five additional specialist troops to shore at 7 knots (13 km/h). Men generally entered the boat by walking over a gangplank from the boat deck of a troop transport as the LCA hung from its davits. When loaded, the LCA was lowered into the water. Soldiers exited by the boat’s bow ramp. The LCA was the most common British and Commonwealth landing craft of World War II and was, of course, responsible for landing the majority of the soldiers on Gold, Sword and Juno beaches during Operation Overlord. Gecko’s kit comes in the typical sturdy plain, top-opening cardboard box with attractive box art. Inside you’ll find thirteen sprues of grey plastic, a single-piece hull and hull top, as well as a small fret of photoetch and two lengths of different diameter rope. There is also an extensive decal sheet with markings for five boats in both US and British service. Gecko suggest painting the hull in options 2, 4 and 5 in ‘US Navy Grey’, but Royal Navy White was the colour specified in Admiralty documents. The blue-grey applied over this was ‘B30’, and the colour artwork is a good match to this. The decks on these three boats would have been a dark grey, but the fittings would have been painted White. A colour image of option 1 is widely available online. Judging from the instructions, this is a mercifully simple kit from Gecko. There are lots of big parts for what was, in essence, a very simple design. Two different designs can be built from the kit, differing only in the armoured protection at the front and the design of the pilot’s station. This is a superb kit and will give modellers the opportunity to realise the D-Day diorama they have had in the back of their minds for some time!