US Riverine Armored Troop Carrier (ATC)

The Britannia Miniatures Armoured Troop Carrier (ATC) comes supplied as an 8-part grey-resin kit with three metallic gun barrels. The kit consists of the main hull, an upper-deck housing, troop-deck awning, front ramp, three gun turrets and a crane. Made of grey resin, each of the parts is well produced in terms of detail and required very little preparation prior to painting and assembly.

The main hull measures approximately 8.5" x 2.5" ( 21 x 6 cms). I know for a fact that the hull is not to proper 20mm scale in order not to appear overwhelmingly big on the wargaming table. In this respect the model has been fore-shortened by about 2" or 3". The hull has also been widened a little in order to accommodate the Britannia figures. Whilst some people may not be too happy with this compromise in size and scale, I personally have no problem with this. If you are going to fight riverine scenarios of any size, it will be necessary to field quite a few ATC models and, unless you have unlimited space, the reduced size of the ATC makes it possible to have several of these on-table without it appearing over-crowded. There may be problems if you combine the Britannia ATC with those of other manufacturers who have stayed faithful to scale as there will be a visual disparity between the two.

This is a large model, and as a painting project it is a good idea to work on each of the separate components individually. I looked at assembling the model prior to painting but felt that it was too unwieldy. Having said that, I worked on all of the components simultaneously, that is, I used the same paint colour and mixes for each component so that they proceeded together without producing wild disparities in color shades.

Painting

After undercoating with matt black, I used Vallejo Olive Drab as the base coat. This was applied heavily to all component parts in a uniform manner using the 'sponge' technique. If you use the sponge correctly, or, if your dry-brushing technique is OK, then you should still be able to see plenty of deep black shadows in all of the recesses as well as on the appropriate vertical and horizontal surfaces.

Using the same technique, I then applied a second coat of color using a mix of Vallejo and Color Party Olive Drab. This was applied a little more lightly and without such extensive coverage as the base coat. The effect that you should be trying to achieve is a blending or gradation of color between the coats.

I used Color Party Olive Drab for the first highlight. Again, this is applied lightly but extensively. Try to work the sponged highlights onto the sharp edges and angles of the model. This will add to the overall definition of detail.

In an attempt to recreate the effect of sun-bleached canvas, both the main well-deck awning and the wheel-house awning were further highlighted with a mix of Bubonic Brown and Olive Drab.

Unfortunately, this produced a highlight that was a little to bright for my liking and needed to be toned down. To reduce the tone of the highlight I applied a very diluted wash of Chestnut ink. This was applied liberally on both surfaces and left to dry.

Final details were now painted including the tyres that hang over the sides of the vessel, as well as the life-buoy and assorted boxes. I added the barrels to the weapon turrets and painted these with Bolt-Gun Metal finished with a Armor Wash to take the brilliant metallic shine off the barrels.

Finally, I painted the base of the model, the water, using a mix of brown paints. Both the bow-wave and the stern-wash were highlighted-up to pure white to give the model an appearance of movement in the water. Once the waterline was dry, I applied a coat of water-based clear varnish for the 'wet' look. I made sure that this varnish was also applied to the lower parts of the hull just above the waterline to give the effect that the hull was wet in places from contact with the water.

Finishing Off

Radio antennas were added around the wheelhouse. These were made by heating and stretching a piece of plastic sprue from an old model. When cut to length and glued in place, they look OK and are very flexible. I made the flagpole in the same manner although it is considerably thicker than the radio aerials. The US flag comes supplied with the model.

The various boxes, drums and containers were each painted either wood or metal. Metal surfaces were given an Armor Wash in order to tone down the brightness of the metallic finish. This also serves to leave them looking a little rusty or oily. The winch mechanism on the crane was also painted in the same manner. The life-buoy is quartered red-and-white with the mounts that fix it to the armor bars being painted black.

ATC Background

The Armored Troop Carrier was converted from an LCM-6 Landing Craft of WWII fame. Modified with bar armor trigger plate which prematurely detonated the warhead of an enemy B-40 rocket or recoilless rifle round and reduced penetration of any secondary armor plate. Styrofoam spontons were added along the hull to assist in flotation and alleviate some of the added weight due to all the armor on board. ATC's could carry a fully equipped rifle platoon of 40 men as well as supplies. Other tests conducted with ATC's were two 81 mm mortars in the well deck that were placed on tires to absorb the recoil, and an Army M-132-A1 Flame Thrower Track parked in the well deck. A winch was placed on the fantail for chain drag equipment to sweep for command detonated mines. The ATC's weaponry included two .50 cal MG's in a turret port and starboard on the pilot house, a 20 mm cannon in the aft turret, and numerous .30 MG's amid ship. Power was provided by twin Detroit Diesel engines connected to dual shaft drives. Top speed was 8 Knots. Crew consisted of seven sailors.

All figures are from my own personal collection and have been painted and photographed by me.