LKA-116 USS St. Louis Amphibious Cargo Ship

thingiverse

A work in progress... While it will not be totally accurate or perfect, this will be an effort to replicate the ship I was stationed on for 3 years back in the early 80's. The U.S.S. St. Louis, LKA-116, was one of the Charleston-class amphibious cargo ships designed with deep cargo holds to move Marines and their gear. The first part is the hull and deck. Since this is a heavy remix of JohnButtery's great Liberty ship, there is a lot of work to do on this. The hull after printing will need some sanding to smooth and blend out some of the adjustments I made. I plan on making this suitable for radio control (RC) and will probably enlarge a bit from this scale, as the files now are just under 3 ft. (887mm). I will probably make mine closer to 48" long. In my designs you will also find files that will be a part of the small boats (LCM 6 & 8 boats) that the Lou carried. I will work on this as time permits and consolidate all parts as I get further into the project. Highly advisable to use the .3mf file to pull apart the sections as needed, since most parts are grouped together, but once all finished I will upload all major components separately as .stl files. 1/18/22 - Updated files - still undergoing lots of adds and edits, but it is getting there. 1/20/21 - New updates with an .stl file all together and the .3mf file with all components that can be separated and sliced. Still lots of work to do, but she is getting there and looks more like the 'Lou' now. 1/21/22 - LCM 8 boat files added 1/25/22 - Hold covers and some spacing fixed. - Still a lot to go! 1/26/22 - Boat skids, winches and winch decks. The uploaded .stl file is all consolidated together with the small boats attached and measures about 12" long overall, which is smaller and simplified due to file size limitations. Not optimized for printing in its entirety this small... 1/29/22 - All files done. I will upload all of the 3mf files and then files converted to STL at a later time. You will still need various parts if wanting to make an RC model - propeller, rudder, etc. 1/31/22 - All new files uploaded. The 3mf file is all consolidated by grouping, so you can pull apart, as needed. The full model .stl file is reduced in size to about 10", I believe and is for reference placement only. I also added some files for various pieces to complete the exterior, but will still need ladders, various containers, etc. 2/3/22 - Reloaded updated Winch towers and the completed 3mf file due to some parts were not connected. 2/7/22 - Added first forward boom I missed initially, so uploaded new files. I will be starting the RC print very soon, but I did print a small version that came out very well and will post a make soon. I printed it for an old shipmate of mine and will be sending to him. I will consider this complete for now, but keep in mind there might be some sanding and fitting and such that will need to be done when working on the project and hope all those 'Gator Freighter' sailors out there enjoy it. As mentioned, this is not an absolute replica, but as well as I can do - Enjoy!