Hi,
I am building a Hobby Fan LVTP5 with sand bags on the deck. and it will carry as many marines as it could. The question is can I place some of marine on the rear deck near the engine area? I know it is a stupid question (++) I had converted about 8 sitting figures now and I think I can only add 8 to 10 more if I place all of them on the centre of the deck. But the instruction sheet said that the LVTP5 can carry 34 soldiers!!! Where can I place the others??
MC

MC - I don't know about the positioning. I might suggest that if you don't get a response in the diorama forum you may try the armor forum next. Even though its a dio questions someone in armor might know from experience.

Hi MC!
I presume that you are speaking of an LVTP5A1 Landing Vehicle, Tracked...here is what I have in my references concerning crew and placements;

Four troop seats hold eight marines each. Another two sit on the machine gunner's platform for a total of 34. In an emergency, the vehicle can carry 45 standing marines. The LVTP5 can carry 5,443 kg of cargo when afloat.

And another reference stated:

Crew total, 37 men:
Commander in hull right front
Driver in hull left front
Assistant driver
34 passengers

Hope this helps you some with your placement issue, mate!
~Gunny

See if you can find a library copy of David Douglas Duncan's photo book, "War Without Heroes." The pictures were shot in Vietnam in 1967 and depict Marines during Operation Fortress Sentry (an amphibious operation with LVTP-5 Amtracs and M48A3 tanks), as well as operations at Con Tienh, a firebase which was the model for Khe Sanh the following year. The large format pictures should give you all the detail you need (there was also a paperback edition, though the pictures suffered from the smaller format).

thanks a lot!!
MC

MC,
In the Armor/AFV, under the Vietnam section, i posteda question about Amtracks in action photos? HEAVY ARTY, posted a reply with links to a web page on the Amtracks in action in Vietnam, which has the information with some pictures showing what you need and some really good accounts of the amtracks in battles etc
Love your work!.