The British LCT (Landing Craft, Tank) is a barge intended for landing troops and equipment on the beach. It has a 350 ton loading capacity and armed with 2 20mm cannon. It has a crew of 12 (2 officers and 10 men). Used during D-day, it was also utilized in Indo-China and Algeria by the French. It had a range of 1100 nautical miles at 8 knots.

The US LCT, known as the Short LCT, is the British Mk VI version. It is called the LSU (landing ship, utility), a name normally reserved for vessels with a minimum length of about 197 feet. However, since the vessel was sometimes used sort of as a tramp steamer, it was considered appropriate as it could operate in high seas. It had a total loading capacity of 150 tons and a crew of 12 (1 officer and 11 men). It also was armed with 2 20mm Oerlikon cannon. Like the LCT, it was used a great deal in WWII and other actions post war.
 

THE KIT

It is nice to get a two-fer when buying a kit. The two vessels in this kit are not exactly huge, but in this scale will make into a nice display for those who are a bit limited in space. The majority of the sprues are for the LCT, whose major sprues are to the right in the image above. The only real option I see is that you can probably put the ramp in the lowered position. No vehicles or cargo is supplied, though it would be nice to have some small trucks or tanks included. Perhaps someone does these as an aftermarket afterthought!

The other kit is the smaller LSU and again, a lowered ramp seems to be the only possible option. Both have a small display stand as part of the fit. I'd like to tell you what colors these are painted, but the instructions only provide Humbrol numbers, so those who can't get that paint are S.O.L. when it comes to this aspect of the build. I'd imaging that Navy Grey and Hull red or black will take care of most of the big parts! There is a lot of 64, 113 and 27 used. Each of the ships has its own exploded view and though the LCT is a bit complicated, it is not so much so that the exploded view type of instruction sheet won't handle all the details. Each vessel has a set of hull numbers and that is it for the decals.

CONCLUSIONS