Hi all,

I have bought the Italeri "Alligator" and have been searching the net for colr references without much luck.
I have seen other builds in different colors ranging from blueish to OD - what color was the most commonly used in the pacific? I guess no Alligators were used in europe during WW2 -correct?

Best regards
Morten

I have seen other builds in different colors ranging from blueish to OD - what color was the most commonly used in the pacific?

Then you should go with the three colour hard edge camo - sometimes with a thin black/dark brown line seperating the colours. Sort of the same principle as the early WWII French camouflage. To see the exact patterns I would recommend Squadron/Signal LVT in action. It is a cheap book and gives some good information on the camouflage and markings.

Markings as previously stated by Djohannsen.

God arbejdslyst!

Don't know how much help your looking for but here is a photo of the "Bloody Trail" just off the beach.


For some excellent info the site I recommended, Hard Corps Models, has some perfect items for you, they have a more realistic set of decals, or dry transfers for this model and some excellent books just on this type of amphib. If you purchase the dry transfers it comes with directions on placement and has painting suggestions. The books get alot more specific and I recommend them for conversion info and detailed specifics for the LVT (A) 1.

If you plan on staying in the WWII PTO modeling area, I highly recommend these books, if not maybe I can help with some other items that will help with this model.
Bob

I would like to depict "the bloody Trail" 1944 at Peleliu as it hits the beach...

...this vehicle carried its vehicle marking 'B 7' painted on the rear of the turret. The only other marking it displayed was the name 'The Bloddy Trail' on the pontoon sides.

Finally, you said that you are interested in depicting the vehicle as it "hits the beach." I would posit that "The Bloody Trail" would almost surely not be present on the pontoon. The appearance of the marking and the sentiment it expresses sure seems like it was chalked on the pontoon as the campaign was prosecuted inland.

I hope that this helps.

Dave

Bob Wrote:
Basically it's painted on and it's probably within 50 yards of the water, on D-Day.

David Wrote:
The name "The Bloody Trail" was indeed painted on the vehicle before it landed. I interviewed the commander of this vehicle a few years ago and he stated that it was painted on the pontoon while the vehicle was on board the LST enroute to Peleliu.

Also, my color plate of this vehicle in my Amtanks book is incorrect, the vehicle was actually painted in the ocean gray/bluish color, not OD as I depicted.

The color of the LVTs on Peleliu came from two sources...

The name refers to the trail to Tokyo....

The color of the LVTs on Peleliu came from two sources, first, the interviewing of several veterans from the battle, including LVT crews from the 3rd Armored Amphibian Amtrack Battalion. The second source came from color movie footage shot on Peleliu that I tracked down and was able to transfer to DVD.

The name refers to the trail to Tokyo. The Marines new that they were fighting their way to Japan, one island at a time, leaving a trail of bloody battles behind them.

David

Hi Morten,

5-O Ocean Gray was a US Navy color. We have it accurately matched in our Colourcoats line of enamels (item US 06). No minimum order on paints, and we ship worldwide.