Resurrecting the Iconic The Plywood Workhorse That Won the Beaches,
1:12 Scale, 3D Printable and RC-Ready.
While massive battleships and aircraft carriers dominated the headlines of the Second World War, the amphibious assaults that actually liberated continents depended on a humble, 36-foot wooden box. Designed by Andrew Higgins in New Orleans—originally for navigating the shallow bayous of Louisiana—the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) became the indispensable bridge between the open ocean and fortified enemy shores. Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower famously credited Andrew Higgins as “the man who won the war for us,” noting that without these shallow-draft boats, the entire Allied strategy of beachhead landings would have been impossible.
Built largely from marine plywood with a heavy steel bow ramp, the Higgins boat was rugged, expendable, and brilliant in its simplicity. Its signature flat-bottomed hull and protected propeller tunnel allowed it to speed straight onto sandy beaches, drop its front ramp to unload 36 fully armed troops or a small vehicle like a Willys Jeep, and reverse off the sandbar under heavy fire. Over 20,000 of these craft were produced, carrying the first waves onto the beaches of Normandy, North Africa, and across the Pacific islands.
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Bringing History to Your Workshop Bench
At EnDTaS Design Studio, we have engineered this legendary D-Day workhorse into a comprehensive, 1:12 scale 3D printable model measuring 880mm in total length. Our design philosophy focused on capturing every authentic nautical detail—from the open cargo bay and structural reinforcement ribs to the stern defensive stations—while delivering a modular, custom hobbyist engineering framework tailored for radio-control conversion.
To complete its historical silhouette, the file pack also includes a standalone, period-correct 1:12 scale Browning M1919A machine gun to mount at the stern gun tubs.
If you want to buy these guns only, they are also available as a separate model.
Engineered for Desktop Printing and RC Conversion
Comprising over 110 separate STL files, the entire kit is carefully segmented to fit comfortably on standard desktop 3D printers with 22×22 cm build beds. To save builders hours of masking and painting, the underwater hull sections are designed as independent pieces, allowing you to print the lower hull in a separate filament color right off the build plate. We have also included a full-color 3MF reference file to serve as an interactive 3D visual guide for assembly and color layout.
Underneath its historical exterior, the hull is built for serious RC performance:
- Wide-Open Interior Access: The entire rear deck is completely removable and can be secured using either 5mm magnets or M3 screws, giving you effortless access to batteries, receivers, and speed controllers.
- Waterproofing & Alignment: Integrated assembly flanches provide wide adhesion surfaces for strong, watertight hull seams, aided by built-in guide holes for M3 hardware (and M2 screws for finer scale details).
- Flexible Powertrain Mounts: The kit includes pre-drilled mounting frames tailored for standard DC drive motors and steering servos (alongside 3D reference models of the electronics for easy clearance checks), plus blank adapter frames that allow you to scale the project or drill custom mounts for your own hardware.
- Articulated Bow Ramp: The front ramp is engineered with two operational paths. Builders can opt to drive it via a hidden mini reducer DC motor, or utilize the historically inspired cable-winch layout and built-in cable pathways to rig a custom cable-pull system.
All major mechanical interactions and tolerances have been verified through computer simulations, creating a crisp, well-engineered digital prototype ready for you to bring to life on the water.
The 1:12 Scale LCVP Higgins Landing Craft 3D model is officially live on our studio store!
You can preview the full file pack and secure your digital download directly via our Cults3D page.