AK47 Patrol Boat [1]

I bought some excellent resin river boats from The Scene at Attack earlier in the year to use as AK47 riverine equivalents of trucks or APC's. I haven't done anything with them though, as I've been concentrating on the land based element of the project.

 http://thesceneuk.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=104&zenid=74688c40aeb6df9b27168a84aee210ee

However, I recently aquired an old diecast Dinky patrol boat that had seen better days and had already been stripped down to bare metal. It's a bit on the small side for 15mm but, with a bit of surgery and bodywork, could easily be scaled up to create a PBR style gunboat to accompany the smaller landing craft.

I suppose I could just buy a couple of Peter Pig PBR's but I'm intrigued by the scratchbuilding potential of the patrol boat, especially if I can repeat the process for one or two more. They're pretty cheap on Ebay if you go for the knackered ones, so I could end up with more, if the customising works out to be straightforward.

I'm thinking of removing the forward part of the wheelhouse then blanking off the aperture with a plastic card frontage. I can then add a Peter Pig AAA gun to the forward mount. The stern mounting will have to be turned into a hatch but I could mount an HMG there instead. I also have to do something about the top of the wheelhouse, as this is way out of scale.

There are loads of holes to be filled and details to be added but at least it will be a bit out of the ordinary. I'll aim to give it a bit of a Soviet style make-over as well, with a suitable paint job as a matter of course. It's a challenge, perhaps, but one that I think I'll enjoy getting to grips with!