Able Archer/ RFR rules - Vietnam in 20mm (part 11) - The Mobile Riverine Force

 

The Mobile Riverine Force (MRF) was created in 1967 to counter the VC activities in the Mekong river. These  boats were conversions from the LCM 6 and carried plenty of fire power and had bar armor to protect from the RPGs. The main boat type was the Armored Troop Carrier (ATC).

The MRF was divided into Assault Groups with around 100 boats of different types capable of transporting one reinforced infantry battalion from the 9th infantry division. The headquarters of these groups was also on water and on board of large LSTs. 

One of the main types was the ATC H (for Helicopter) designed mainly for Medevac. 

Another famous type was the Monitor that would generally lead the column along the rivers. They were heavily armed with 40mm canons, Mk2 mortars and 50 caliber machine guns. Some had M10-8 flamethrowers "Zippo" later on. 

An usual finding in the Mekong was oil, the main reason why the USA... travelled so much around the world. Here this soldier carried as much oil as he could almost drowning on it. 

Of course this story is BS as the black pool is just a way to give some depth to the weapons bay were the Mk2 mortar sits.

Here is another one. The figures are torsos from Esci and the mortars are scratch built. 

The last type of boat is the ATC, the most numerous of all. It could carry up to 40 soldiers and was armed with 20mm canons and 50 caliber machine guns. 

If you don´t want to loose patience doing these things you can have some nice 3d prints already available. The problem for me was that most were from the UK or the US (time+ customs problems) or were files from continental Europe and I still don´t have a printer. 

But if you want to loose patience, this is how I did it. The hull was made from wood and its 21cm long (1,5 cm longer than my LCM 3 which was 1,8 meters shorter than the LCM 6).

The control towers were made in hard styrofoam (BlueBoard) and the gun towers are cut down hard rubber chair protections bought in Chinese shops.

Plenty of 3mm card was added for the bar armor, deck and machine covers and ramps. The most troublesome part was to carve horizontally dozens of lines with the X-acto on the side pieces of card in order to simulate the bar protections. The vertical bars are pieces of broom sticks. The life buoys are vinyl pieces. If you want to use Blueboard on your constructions don´t forget to varnish it with PVA glue or acrylic varnish before using your spray primer. 

Next:  more armor for Vietnam