1/35 Trumpeter LAV-A2

[LTmodelmaking]

Hello, everyone. I'll be entering this group build with a LAV-A2. I wanted to enter 6 wheels or more GB last year but hey, I'm finally doing something

Some info on LAV-A2:

Funding has been approved for continued upgrades to the LAV family to bring them up to the LAV-A2 standard. Phase I improvements include increased external and internal ballistic armor upgrades, improved fire suppression equipment, and upgrading the vehicle's suspension to the Generation II standard. Phase II upgrades include replacing the turret hydraulics with an electric drive system and replacing the thermal sight with an improved model incorporating a laser range finder for aircraft.

To reflect the improved significant survivability and capability enhancements occurring today, the LAV is being renamed as the LAV-A2. The LAV-A2 project involved developing and installing an internal and external ballistic protection upgrade package for the Light Armored Vehicles, an automatic fire suppression system for the interior of the vehicle and a Generation II suspension upgrade to support the added weight of the new armor. The suspension upgrade includes new struts/steering knuckles, torsion bars, shocks and mounts and drive shaft. The three-kit armor system provides the LAV with additional survivability against improvised explosive devices (IED) and direct-fire kinetic energy weapons.

The LAV-25A2 includes the Improved Thermal Sight System (ITSS) developed by Raytheon, scheduled for fielding by the end of 2007. The ITSS provides the gunner and commander with thermal images, an eye-safe laser range finder, a fire-control solution and far-target location target grid information.

The new armor will provide protection from 14.5 mm armor-piercing rounds, and include an anti-spall lining on the inside to further protect crew members. It will be similar to the protection found on the U.S. Army's LAV III "Stryker" variant.

If anyone wants to know more about LAV-25 there's always Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAV-25
And here's a video walk around on Youtube:






I'll try to build it to look like this:

[schweinhund227]

Looking forward to that !!

good luck and happy modelling !

[chief5437]

These things always look great, good luck with the build!

[LTmodelmaking]

Update time.

I put the hull halves together and built most of the turret. The fit of the kit is alright but there's a little bit of flash or moulding flaws on every part. I had to (or rather I wanted to ) sand the welds on the lower hull to make the add-on armor to fit better.






When I put the rear plate there were small gaps between the sponsons so I put some Evergreen in them




After that I used Tamiya putty to fill the remaining gaps and fill in two sink marks on the each side of the hull and at the rear








The back doors didn't fit so I had to do some adjustments




I also encountered a problem when it was time to put the rear turret basket on the turret. The instructions tell to put it on the bottom of the turret basket but it should go on the inside. The problem was that the provided PE mesh was too big so I had to cut it. That wasn't the end of my troubles. The basket had warped lower bars so what I did was I glues the basket to the turret with the mesh inside and when the plastic hardens I'll attach the mesh to the bars using superglue.










There's ANOTHER problem. There's only one shock absorber cap on the right side because the kit is supposed to have an exhaust shroud but I want to build a more up to date LAV-A2 which has the new muffler(which I'll have to scratchbuild )






Also LAV-A2s have anti-slip. I tried applying some using Tamiya putty and a cheap brush. I think it looks okay.




Here's a free pic of the turret

[LTmodelmaking]

More work done. I removed the side view ports and plugged the holes in the add-on armor because LAV-A2s don't have them. Trumpeter's kit is based on an up-armored LAV-25A1.






As you can see there're no view ports in the armor. It's a different LAV variant but it has the same hull armor.



Also started scratch building the right side shock absorber cap.

[LTmodelmaking]

Built the suspension and added the extra armor. I don't know if it's my fault or if it's a problem with the kit but the from axle is of the ground by a couple of millimeters. It's too late to fix it now. I kinda rushed the suspension because I want to finish the kit faster. The suspension on a LAV-25 isn't complicated but the parts required some adjustment. The locating lugs for the front shock absorbers were warped on the hull and the shock absorbers themselves. So I had to cut the locating lugs off and just glue them in place. After that I had to align everything by eye. I did some minor adjustment to the add-on armor as well. The rear covers for the lifting hooks had their locating pins cut off because the covers were protruding from the armor too much. I scribed a line on the right side armor plate where muffler cover was supposed to go because it's an armor joint and trumpeter didn't even add that. Now that the hull's major assembly has been, for the most part, complete I can start adding the little bits. I always build the hull so that I wouldn't damage any of the small parts while trying to glue it together. So just a word of advice don't follow the instruction. Use them as a reference but don't build everything step by step. It'll save you a lot of trouble. Trust me.
Now for some pictures:

[Aliktren]

Good stuff, wussed out from doing anti slip myself, that looks great

[LTmodelmaking]

Finally did some work today. Gotta finish this build so I could start building a Hetzer for Heil the Hunters SiG.
Started scratch building a new muffler. Used 1mm evergreen sheet and glued the pieces together. Later I sanded the piece to get a rough shape of the muffler. Finished gluing the shock absorber cap cover. Now I'll need to putty the seams and sand them. Also plugged the hole where the main gun is supposed to go because it's too wide for the RBmodel barrel. I'll drill out a new one later.
I thought it was going to be hard to scratch build the exhaust pipe but as it turns out it's very easy. I just heated a piece off sprue and bent it.

[Nige201980]

that a cool looking machine great work on her so far.