Peter Pig 15mm Patrol Boat River (PBR)

This multi-part kit from Peter Pig provides the wargamer with the opportunity to put into action what was quite possibly one of the most widely used riverine craft of the war. The PBR, or Patrol Boat River, was a familiar sight on the main waterways of Vietnam. It was however, also seen patrolling in very remote areas and sometimes appeared as quite a shock to VC bivouacked in what they believed to be secure sanctuary areas.

The PBR, the ubiquitous workhorse of the River Patrol Force, was manned by a crew of four;

• Boat Captain, E5-E6, Petty Officer - was responsible for his boat being ready for patrol or battle)
• Engineman, E4-E5, Petty Officer - took care of two engines and pumps
• Gunner, E4-E5 Petty Officer - was in charge for all ammo and armaments on board
• Seaman, E2-E3 Sailor - was charged with general cleanup of the boat and acted as a rear gunner

Equipped with a Raytheon Pathfinder surface radar and two radios, the PBR was commonly armed with a twin- mounted .50-caliber machine gun turret forward, M-60 machine guns (or an automatic grenade launcher) port and starboard amidships, and a single .50-caliber aft.

Due to it's very shallow draft, the PBR was able to move into areas previously prohibited to craft of this size. Also, it could be heli-lifted and set down into areas that were inaccessible from the main waterways. As a result of this, the PBRs ranged far and wide throughout the rivers, estuaries, streams and tributaries of Vietnam.

Reasonably well armed for a light patrol craft, the PBR could deliver some withering fire both ship-to-shore as well as ship-to-ship. Coupled with it's high speed of 25-29 knots, it was capable of running down vessels that attempted to escape as well as delivering fire on enemy shore positions.

Unfortunately though, because of it's very thin armour, the PBR was unable to withstand a lot of punishment (particularly heavy machine-gun, RPG and recoilless rifle rounds). As a consequence, it was very much a hit-and-run vessel when confronted by large scale shore formations that were equipped with heavy weapons.

Assembly

The main body of the model, namely the hull, wheelhouse deck and awning, all come as a single resin casting. Whilst the casting itself is satisfactory, I was a little disappointed at both the lack of detail and the finish in some parts. It was necessary to clean-up the casting which carried an amount of resin 'flash' similar to a white metal model.

The rest of the model is supplied as white metal parts which require little, if any, preparartion;

• twin .50-cal forward turret
• stern .50-cal and gunshield
• 40mm auto grenade launcher
• raytheon radar mast

It is always a good idea to do a 'dry' run with any multi-part model in order to test for the correct fitting of the various components as well as to work out where you wish to place the crew figures. Once the model had been prepared, I assembled it to get an idea of how it should look.

There are two holes drilled in the forward face of the bridge although there is only the single radar mast supplied. Whilst there is a hole for a second mast, this was not supplied, so I do not know if this was simply an oversight or whether no such second mast comes as part of the model. Since I ordered two of these kits and neither was supplied with a second mast I can only presume that you have to make your own?

Painting

As always, I started with a black undercoat. The basecoat of Vallejo Olive Drab was then applied using the sponge technique and making sure to pick out the top edges of the hull and about half-way to the waterline. The prow of the vessel was also quite heavily basecoated as was the awning covering the wheel-deck. Only the deepest recesses were left in black.

The second stage was to apply an intermediary highlight using a mix of both Vallejo and Color Party Olive Drab. Again, this was applied using a sponge over the same areas as the basecoat but with a lighter touch and not quite so extensively. In this way it is possible to build up areas of contrast as well as almost imperceptible gradations of colour.

The final layer was was added using only Color Party Olive Drab. This was only lightly highlighted by the addition of a small amount of Olive Drab and Bubonic Brown mix.

Slightly increasing the amount of Bubonic Brown, I then went on to complete the highlighting of the awning. What I wanted was to achieve a result of slightly faded canvas. In order to reduce the sharpness of the final highlights, I used a very watered down Chestnut wash over the whole area and this significantly toned down the highlight as intended.

The overall effect was now one of a well weathered canvas.

Finishing

The tyres that line the side of the hull were painted black and the life buoy was painted white.

The original model comes with a small bow wave already modelled in place. I wanted to make the vessel appear to be moving through a stretch of water and so I added a card base. Using modelling putty I then fashioned the water and in particular the stern engine wash at the rear of the vessel.

Using some picks and similar tools, I built up the both the prow wave and the rear wash. The water was then painted various shades of brown and, where necessary, highlighted right up to pure white to represent foam.

After completing the painting of the main hull and cabin, I attached the Raytheon radar mast (painted separately) and the two radio antennae for the onboard URC-46 (Mk I PBR) or PRC-25 (Mk II PBR) radios. These can be seen in many photographs of PBRs at quite a steep backswept angle. The model has two quite clearly distinct radio antennae bases to which you can attach the antennae. I made the radio antennae from plastic sprue that I heated and then stretched..

The crew were painted just like standard infantry that I have presented elsewhere for Vietnam Crossfire. Weapons were originally painted in Vallejo and Color Party Olive Drab and then gently dry-brushed using Tin Bitz and Boltgun Metal to give them a metallic appearance. This was toned down with the addition of an Armour wash so that they appear as dull metal with a tint of olive drab. Where necessary I used Brass to paint ammo belts. The crewman in the forward weapon mount has a black beret - the distinctive headwear of riverine crews.

The finished model looks all the better for being mounted on the card base and surrounded by water. In particular, the addition of the stern engine wash gives it a much clearer sense of being on the move.