Reviews : Tamiya US Navy PBR31 MkII Pibber Boat

According to the information provided on the kit box for this model, this one has been around since 1991. For a kit of this vintage, I was very impressed with the quality of the precision molded plastic parts. The decals in the kit provide the builder with the option to build either boat #105 or boat #150. As boat #105 had a distinguished military history, I went for that option. The kit includes several accessories to add plenty of visual interest to the build. These items include beer bottles with Lite Beer decals, two 55-gallon drums, a portable AM/FM cassette player, two jerry cans, four ammunition steel cases, water jug, ice chest, two extra helmets, binoculars, a boat anchor with rope and six mini-tires that are mounted around the boat as dock bumpers. As was expected for Tamiya Model Kits, parts fit was excellent with no fit issues encountered. Installation of the twin .50 caliber machine guns in the bow turret was somewhat fiddley, however with careful dry fitting it went together OK. In order to fit the gunner figure inside the turret properly, I recommend leaving the figure's right arm detached until after the figure is installed behind the machine guns inside the turret. The gunner's right arm can then be installed below the right side .50 caliber machine gun. It is important to study steps 8 and 9 when assembling the turret as some parts are not supposed to be glued. Steps 13 and 14 provided an excellent painting guide for the accessories and the crew figures. In order to add visual interest to my models, I usually take the time to carefully detail paint them for eventual installation. For the hull and superstructures on the boat, I used Tamiya Olive Drab 2 (TS 28) and Tamiya Dull Red (TS 33). For the exposed arms and faces of the figures, I used Model Master Acryl Yellow Ochre 1/2, 4214. For the vests on the figures, I used Vallejo Model Color Khaki 70.998, FS30277. For the .50 Caliber machine guns, I used Folk Art 667E Gunmetal Gray. I painted the canvas cover above the boat's wheelhouse with Mission Models MMP-020 US Army Olive Drab Faded 1 FS 24088. I sourced some tan thread to rig up the mini tires around the outer edge of the boat. Although spray can paint was used to paint the hull and superstructures of the boat, smaller detail parts were painted using Vallejo Acrylic paints applied using an Iwata HP-C airbrush with a 0.3mm needle at 20 PSI. The decals supplied were few in number, speeding up the build process. Micro Sol and Micro Set decal solutions were used in the decal application process. As expected, Tamiya instructions and kit engineering were top rate. Micro Krystal Clear was used as the glue for all of the clear parts on the model. Black thread was used for rigging on the navigation light mast and the communication array mast. Due to the simple paint scheme and low decal count, I would recommend this model for entry level model builders who have completed a few kits prior to attempting this build.

Apocalypse Now! was the first exposure to the horrors of riverine warfare for many Americans and of course, the now iconic PBR. The kit represents an early Mark II with a standard weapons outfit of two .50 caliber machine guns in a rotating mount on the foredeck, one .50 caliber machine gun on a tripod, one .30 caliber mg on a pipe mount and a grenade launcher on a pipe mount, all mounted on the aft deck and engine cover. The deck and engine cover are a single piece to which you add bulkheads and other details and the hull is also a single piece to which you add a transom plate to mount the Jacuzzi jet nozzles and overboard discharges. There are M-16's and a shoulder-fired grenade launcher for the crew a water jug, a cooler with beer bottles and a portable tape player. The kit is in 1/35th scale so you can use weapons and equipment from armor kits or aftermarket sets. Each unit or squadron oftentimes equipped their PBR's to suit their needs so you will want to check references if you're modeling a specific boat. The fit and molding is the usual high quality from Tamiya as are the crew figures. I would like to see more riverine warfare vessels from the Vietnam war as this made up a very large part of the US Navy operations in that conflict and thanks to the guys of SBU-12 I was introduced to the amazing variety of secialized small vessels that made up these units.

I built the kit many years ago and found it to be fairly accurate with the nickname being totally off the mark for what the actual crewmen called this boat. As a member of the Naval Special Warfare Group assigned to boats such as the Light SEAL Support Craft(DML does a fine model) and the larger Medium SSC of which there is no kit I did run across many PBR operations and worked with the crews often. I even witnessed the destruction of one PBR and the way they were molded into the basic shape as they are nothing more than fiberglass over plywood. The kit represents any one of hundreds of crew modified boats and no the crew did not typically live on board but for missions only. The model is wrong in the sense of weapons and official USN equipment. No crew used the grenade launcher for very long because it jammed all of the time and the single shot shoulder fired launcher, the M-79, was the popular weapon. All of the machine guns in the kit should be replaced by more updated kits and the crew as well is out of date, but with some detailing could be rendered to look better. Shirts off the crew meant awful sun-burning which should be part of the makeup of the figures. The exact name for the boat does exist; Mark 2 would be the official title followed by glass boat or plastic boat Never Pibber which is almost insulting to those of use in the Brown Water Navy.

This was a fun kit to build. I found 4 sprues, 1 with the 4 crewmen figures, and 3 boat parts. The detail and mold quality surprised me for a low parts count model. There was literally zero flash, or warped/broken parts and the instructions were detailed and complete. I used brown sewing thread for the radar mast rigging, drilled all the muzzles of the .50 BMG's. I really had no issues at all... fitment was perfect. My slight changes were to add a 5th crewman on the M60 midships. An offduty SEAL catching a ridealong? I also swapped out the fantail single .50BMG, for a Dillon Aero 7.62mm minigun. I have no idea if this had been done, but the existing time frame suggests its possible. Finally, the American flag supplied I glued a piece of aluminum foil inside the fold over printed paper flag. This worked exceptionally, allowing a more realistic formability to the flag, which will then hold its shap.

In real life, these 'Brown River Navy' boats were full of personality, because the crews lived and fought on them, and this kit lets the hobbyist capture that! My favorite part is the accessories, which can be configured in different ways should you want more than on in a scene. This kit is just begging to be in a diorama with a little Vietnamese fishing boat!

I built this tears ago when it first came out. It goes together well. I will build again and plan to do much more detailing to it. At the time I worked with a former Navy Chief who commanded one of these boats during the Vietnam War. He was very impressed with it and gave me the actual pin he was awarded by the navy to all of these boat commander's.

Tamiya has done it again with this “Pibber” boat kit. The plastic is perfect, and I recommend taking your time. I find the majority of my problem is rushing through it instead of enjoying the building and taking my time. Better turn out. All in all, great kit, and the shipping is mind boggling fast, I don’t know how they stay in business!

Not a bad little kit. Adds something unique to your 1/35 Vietnam collection. Get the PE set available for this and you will have yourself a fine looking example. I have an aftermarket decal set for this so am eager to start the build. Looks like it will go together without any trouble...typical of Tamiya kits.

This model kit is very well produced with no flash on the spurs , pieces very identifiable , and directions that are easy to follow . The finished product has tons of detail and 4 really cool crew figures . This is another excellent model from Tamiya . a must have if you like military models

Looks and appearance of a 1968 Patrol Boat in Vietnam. Apocalypse Now Redux! I painted it from my memory flying over them in my Huey. Great model and detail. Easy to follow instructions. Important to follow the steps in order!

I enjoyed this build. Everything went together very easily with little extra work needed. The detail is excellent and appeared to match the many pictures I used for reference when adding my own detail. Well worth the money.

I am currently building this model. It is a great build and it is a beginning to my riverboat collection. So far the directions are very simple to follow. This model fits together well and has been an easy build so far

Tamiya hit another home run with this model. Not only was it easy to put together but the authenticity is incredible. It was like the one's I saw in Nam right down to the accessories. If purchased a must to paint.

I really enjoyed putting this kit together. Unlike a lot of plastic models, the parts actually fit together, the instructions were fairly clear, and the result was outstanding.

I haven't gotta mine yet but it looks like its going to be fun to put together, but I am not sure how to make water

An easy kit to build. Lots of detail and with painting you can make a nice example of this Vietnam icon.

I worked using this boat in Vietnam and this model is very authentic. Quite easy to paint and assemble.