Trumpeter 1:35 USMC LAV C2 'Command and Control'

[Panzermeister36]

For the GB I'll be building Trumpeter's LAV C-2 ''Light Armoured Vehicle - Command and Control''. A nice little kit from Trumpeter, here's my in-box review of it:

[youtube]Mfm_aJNpO2I[/youtube]

Some history and information:

''The LAV-25 (Light Armored Vehicle) is an eight-wheeled amphibious reconnaissance vehicle used by the United States Marine Corps and Canadian Army. It was built by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada and is based on the Swiss MOWAG Piranha I 8×8 family of armored fighting vehicles.''

''During the 1980s, the US Marine Corps began looking for a light armored vehicle to give their divisions greater mobility. They chose the Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) based on the MOWAG Piranha. It entered service with the Marines in 1983. The U.S. Army was interested in these vehicles at the time, but did not order any (although they did later with introduction of the Stryker family of vehicles). The USMC ordered 758 vehicles of all variants. LAVs first saw combat during the Invasion of Panama in 1989, and continued service in the Gulf War, Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan.

The table of organization and equipment for an USMC light-armored reconnaissance battalion includes 56 LAV-25s, 16 LAV-ATs, 12 LAV-Ls, 8 LAV-Ms, 4 LAV-Rs, 4 LAV-C2s, and an unknown number of LAV-MEWSS vehicles.

The LAV platform is planned to remain in service with the Marine Corps until 2035.''

The C2 variant:

''LAV-C2 (Command & Control)
LAV with a raised roof to accommodate several VHF, UHF and HF radios. It is armed with a pintle-mounted M240E1/G machine gun, and carries 1,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition. Generally referred to as the C2 ("C-square" or "C-two").''

-Wikipedia


''The U.S. Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicle-Command and Control is an improved LAV-25 with new communication and digital battlefield management systems that improve voice and data connectivity. The vehicle is an important enabler for fully informed intelligence, fire support and maneuvers during amphibious and land operations in a Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) battalion or independent LAR company units.

When combat loaded, LAV-C2 carries a heavy complement of rounds for its 7.62-mm pintle-mounted machine gun and grenade launchers. The vehicle is powered by a 275-hp Detroit Diesel 6V53T turbocharged diesel engine and has a standard 8x4 configuration, which can expand to 8x8. Rapidly configurable for any mission, the vehicle can also be fully amphibious within three minutes.

LAV-C2 can adopt other useful configurations, made possible by its modular technology stations. For example, the Fire Direction Center can control and assign artillery fire missions. This system selects target priorities, determines firing coordinates, chooses the type and number of rounds to fire and provides firing data for up to eight mortars. It also maintains continuous digital or voice communications with all platoon elements within its area of responsibility, forward observers, fire support teams and higher headquarters.''

-Lockheed Martin

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My plans for the vehicle are to build it completely out-of-the-box with only a few additions like antennas and such. I'll also be on the lookout for some stowage as I see that a lot on ref photos. In addition, I usually try to find my own camo scheme to be unique and all but I'm having trouble finding anything but the usual NATO ''tri-tone'' scheme for this LAV-25 based vehicle. So I may have to give in to the instruction's demands.

[wappynutter]

Fantastic piece of kit Evan...
Looking forward to following you with this build.
..... and excellent review buddy.
Stay well my friend, all the best..

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

If you are going to build it like the last pic...
Good looking kit

[Panzermeister36]

Fantastic piece of kit Evan...
Looking forward to following you with this build.
..... and excellent review buddy.
Stay well my friend, all the best..

Thanks Andy!

If you are going to build it like the last pic...
Good looking kit

Hopefully something like that; I like the deserty-sandy look in that photo. May do it with snow though And I'll be needing some stowage!

[Deacon]

Looking forward to this mate.

[schweinhund227]

Cool ! Looking forward to your next update !

[UKguyInUSA]

This looks like a cool build, look forward to seeing what you do with this

[Panzermeister36]

Looking forward to this mate.

Cool ! Looking forward to your next update !

This looks like a cool build, look forward to seeing what you do with this

Thank you all I've done some building and I'll have an update and the sprue shots up tomorrow

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Meanwhile, a good view of the NATO camo on the LAV. It seems to vary between a slightly feathered edged camo on some vehicles (like the C2 at the bottom) to a very sharp edge, like on this LAV 25 on top. That means I can mask it or freehand it

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[Panzermeister36]

Alrightey guys, time for the shots of the kit!

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Beautiful boxart - the kind of which you want a poster^

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The box^

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The sprues - there's only 5 of them plus the hull upper and lower^

[Panzermeister36]

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And here are the upper and lower hull sections - most of the details are molded on^

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The PE fret, the tires, and the decals - no clear bits to be found^

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Detailing look pretty good, though a bit flashy sometimes^

[Panzermeister36]

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Here you can see a bit of flash but good weld seams (this will be covered by a plate) and also some weird bubbling

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The instruction are very clear and precise, though it's the standard large fold-out sheet rather than a more preferable booklet^

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The usual Trumpeter marking guide - nice overall view, no worded description of the vehicle shown - but the colours look much too bright^

[Panzermeister36]

Now to the build!

And you get met with a nasty first inpression - look at dat flash

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After some work with the ol' hobby knife I managed to clear it up.

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And a couple more suspension bits added on:

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[Panzermeister36]

These were a pain to get off the sprue:

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Not to mention this beast of a piece for the steering, but at least it's not 20 little pieces of photo etch *cough hack* Dragon *cough*

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The front suspension with the steering:

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[Panzermeister36]

Ah god good luck getting this off the sprue!

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But somehow I managed to pull it off even though I had to chop it from the sprue very close to the edge of the part as you can see on the right

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And here is the swim gear fitted on:

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[Panzermeister36]

The rear shocks and axle bit fitted on, no trouble except some flash:

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And the front with the shocks and some little details added as well as the front plate:

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The whole lower hull done:

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It's a quick kit to build - I'm probably almost half done already!

[schweinhund227]

that suspension work is making me salivate !

Excellent wok my friend!

[Panzermeister36]

Sorry guys, but the build will not be finished as this model suffered TWO falls from 5 feet off the ground, in separate buildings too

So I lost interest, as well as all the antennae and the commander's hatch (I had done a bit more progress since the last update)

Hopefully I'll finish it sometime, though!

All your completed builds look great, guys

[zeekodadi]

This is definitely a kit to build, looking forward to you build