Trumpeter

1/35 USMC LAV-A2 Armoured Vehicle

Kit Number: 01521

Reviewed by  Ken McDevitt, IPMS# 46356

MSRP: $ 39.95 Imported by Stevens International: Website: www2.stevenshobby.com Description and History: The Tetra-axle ATC LAV-A2 represents an improved version of the Marine's Light Armored Vehicle, which has been used by the US Marines since 1980's and continues in service today. In terms of basic LAV chassis, several modifications/series of LAV have been developed and delivered to the Marine Corps, such as armored personnel, anti-tank, command and control, logistics and mortar variants. The Light Armored Vehicle-A2 is fully equipped with the modern target designation system, which includes laser range finder and thermal imager. In the Box: 293 pieces. 8 sprues in plastic sealed bags. Upper and lower hulls. 1 photo etch fret. 1 decal sheet. Instruction booklet: 10 pages with 17 steps with painting and marking guide. The painting guide has color numbers for Mr. Color, Vallejo Model Color, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol. Ken's Armor Modeling Glossary: Fiddlybit - very tiny parts that require the use of fine tweezers for placement and a minute amount of glue. Also, requires extreme care in removing from sprue and cleaning up. Has a tendency to break. Known for springing across the work area and landing on the floor, never to be seen again. Translatum Erratum - The knowledge gap created when translating non-English to English. First Impressions: The sprues are 100% free of flash and there are very few injector pin marks. None of the pin marks will show when assembled. The single sheet of decals looks clean and crisp. Other than the fiddlybit parts found in most armor kits this looks like an easy build for the average modeler. Of course, you need to be very careful with the fiddlybits. Build Plan: This is an OOB(Out of Box) build with no aftermarket additions or replacements. With a few exceptions (attachment of wheels and painting of small parts) the assembly and painting sequence will be followed. I'll wait until the Desert Yellow base coat is applied to the body before installing the wheels, tracks and tools. Tamiya Desert Yellow is the main theme for painting and Vallejo Model Color will be used for smaller parts. Construction and Discoveries: With a few exceptions, this was an easy build and most level 2 modelers should not have any problems. With this build. With most tanks models, there are many small parts that take patience to place and glue and this is no exception. In Step 2 the instructions call out parts B47 to be attached to the lower hull (see picture). There are no such parts on the "B" sprue. It should be part B11. I painted the tires Tamiya NATO Black and the wheel hubs Tamiya Desert Yellow before putting the tires on the hubs. Part way through the build here are some in progress pictures.

The rear door section, Step 8, gave me the most problems. First the tail lights B7 have a keyhole opening in the back of each. They are supposed to "mate" with an alignment stub on the outer side of each door. These stubs did not exist. The inner and outer door handles are extremely fragile. I ended up destroying both outer handles to my embarrassment and dismay. Since I have not reached the scratch building phase of my skills I took the lazy way out and did not attempt making a replacement. Part B8 near the top left corner of the left door in mislabeled as part B6. Most of the PE was easy to work with and could bent without the use of any special tools. Step 11, headlamps and mirrors require very small tools and/or fingers. The various tools were painted to be applied after the main color was applied. Progress Photos: After assembly, here are some unpainted pictures to show you the details of the build.

Detailing and Weathering: For models that I do for IPMS reviews I try to complete them and turn in the review as soon as possible. So, the "Final" pictures will have no weathering or very subtle weathering. The other reason is since this is a build review; I want to emphasize the build and details. I don't want to mask the details with heavy weathering techniques. I used 2 light coats of Tamiya Flat Black as the base followed by 3 light coats of the Tamiya Desert Yellow. 2 mist coats of "Pledge with Future Shine" (aka Future) were applied before adding the decals. I applied some light washes around hatch and panel lines and some pin washing onto nuts bolts and other raised features. After a day of drying I sprayed a mixture of 1 part Tamiya Flat Base to 3 parts Future to "flatten". I would recommend this kit and would like to thank Stevens International/Trumpeter for supplying the kit and IPMS for the opportunity of doing this review.