The Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) is a class of air-cushion vehicle (hovercraft) used as landing craft by the United States Navy's Assault Craft Units and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). They transport weapons systems, equipment, cargo and personnel of the assault elements of the Marine Air/Ground Task Force both from ship to shore and across the beach.

This one is a very nicely done kit of this interesting and important vehicle. To my knowledge, this is the first one of these done in this scale. The kit itself is fairly complex and it comes with an assortment of vehicles to help fill the cargo area. You can get additional ones from one of Bronco's other sets if you so wish. The kit comes with a photo etch fret that is rather small and is designed to fit along the aft corners of the vehicle.

The two engine/fan assemblies are quite complete and have a very nice amount of detail. The main hull section is designed to be built with the ramp section closed, but I see no reason why it could not be done with the ramp down if you so desired. The one piece lower hull and skirt assembly are nicely done and make for an easy build as the skirt is trapped between the lower hull and the rest of the vehicle.

Instructions are well drawn and the kit comes with a full set of decals for one vehicle. I would have liked to have seen a variety of hull numbers provided, but it should be pretty easy to to change that if you so desire. The back of the instruction booklet has a full painting and decal guide for the LCAC as well as a painting guide for the M1114, AAVTP7A1 and the M1A1.

Most of you will realize that this is one of those items that comes with the USS New York kit, but it is also nice to have it available separately. You can build it as it is or add it to your USS New York build as an additional item for use in a diorama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Craft_Air_Cushion 

January 2013

Thanks to www.dragonmodelsusa.com for the preview kit. You can find this kit at your favorite hobby shop or on-line retailer.

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