LAV 25
Réf: Trumpeter #00349 USMC LAV-25 Piranha
Live Resin #LRE35087 M240G standard US Marine Corps medium machine gun
AFV Club #AC35019 Extra thin camouflage net Desert Tan

The LAV 25 has been the reconnaissance vehicle of the USMC since 1983. It belongs to a family of light armored vehicles based on the Swiss 8X8 Mowag Piranha which also includes a mortar carrier, a recovery vehicle, a command vehicle, an antitank vehicle and an air-defense vehicle.

The LAV 25 is amphibious and can swim up to 12,5 km/h with its two propellers. Its armor protects the crew against small arms rounds.

It is fitted with a two-man turret which mounts a 25 mm M242 automatic gun, a 7.62 mm M240C coaxial MG and a roof mounted 7.62 mm M240G MG. It carries 420 25 mm armor piercing discarding sabot and high explosive incendiary rounds.

The crew is of three and a squad of four scouts is accommodated in the troop compartment.

The LAV 25 has since action in the both Gulf Wars but also in Panama in 1989 and in Afghanistan. The LAV I chose to depict belonged to platoon White of Alpha/4th LAR during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF). This platoon was peculiar because it had installed additional baskets, called Gypsy Racks, to the turret sides and the left hull side. Pictures of this platoon at Prime Portal led me to depict this vehicle.

The kit

Released by Trumpeter in 2005, this LAV 25 was a huge improvement over the Italeri kit which was then the only one available. The model depicts the early LAV 25 version as utilized during the first Gulf War. It comes in a sturdy cardboard box which appropriately protects the sprues. Those are three in light grey plastic. They are completed by two hull halves, the upper turret, a sprue for the M242 gun, a bit of nylon mesh, a clear sheet for the vision blocks glasses, eight rubber tires and a small sheet of decals. The instructions come in 10 page, the last one being dedicated to the figures. A color sheet gives the directions for the both decorations.

The level of detail is very good and the molding excellent. The fit only needs some putty for the junction between the rear plate and the hull.
However Trumpeter has omitted the wire-cutters and the M240 MGs (the roof mounted and the coaxial one). No photoetched parts are included for the engine grilles. The nylon does not match the turret basket mesh. For these reasons I used some Aber S06 mesh. The roof mounted MG is a Live Resin reference.

The decal sheet allows two decorations: a three tone one with SFOR markings and a UN white. Unfortunately, the color instructions for the decoration do not show the SFOR markings. To my knowledge, no LAV 25 has ever been in service with the UN. For my project, this had no importance as I needed to make my own markings.

The build

The first six steps are dedicated to the suspension. The only issue is the axles alignment. In fact, the front wheel struts go too deep into the hull. So you need to start with the rear axles and then the front ones to ensure a perfect alignment. The rest is really easy despite the numerous parts.
To facilitate the painting, I didn't fully assemble the wheels. I let the rims and the tires apart.
At step 3, the rear lights B7 do not have the glass depicted. A clear part would have been useful to give some relief.
Those who want to orientate the front wheels will have to modify the parts A22.

From step 7 the hull assembly begins. All the hatches are provided as separate parts which allows to shows them open even if no interior is provided. The fuel cans B13 and B14 are not the right type for OIF. They should have a recessed oval but as the camo net would cover them, I didn't change them.
On the engine compartment, I added the grilles Trumpeter omitted. I thinned the vision blocks protection B17. I also needed to add the wire-cutter from a styrene strip. The antenna B27 at the rear is not necessary.

The turret assembly starts at step 12. Once the vision blocks glasses painted and glued, the turret halves are glued together. The smoke grenades dischargers are not used. They are replaced by some spare parts from a Meng M3A3 kit which are loaded. The wire-cutter at the front is also added from styrene. For the vehicle I want to depict, the ammo box C19 is not used as well as the water cans on the turret basket.
The original C17 gun barrel is wrong and Trumpeter provides another one F1 which is closer to the real one. During OIF, the turret roof MG mount had been replaced by the Platt Mount. I got one in a Trumpeter set. The mount C15 is not used and the base is altered. The M240G is from Live Resin. To adapt it to the Trumpeter cradle, you need to extend the latter a little bit. The whole assembly Platt mount and M240 will be added at the very end to avoid breakage.
Finally, the basket mesh is cut in the Aber mesh sheet S06 using the templates provided by Trumpeter.

Then you have to make the necessary additions to depict the vehicle I chose. To do so, I had to add three racks, called Gypsy Racks. They are made from Evergreen 0.56 mm (0.022") square rod for the frame and 0.75 mm (0.030") for the supports.

 

The accessories come from different brands (Tamiya, CMK, Djiti Productions). Some are even made from Milliput. All of them are painted separately before being put in place on the vehicle. The identification panels on the turret and the engine compartment are made from plastci card and the olive stripes are masking tape.

The decoration

The three-tone camouflage scheme provided by Trumpeter is partly wrong. So I used the official one I got on the Internet. The shades are the Tamiya NATO references, XF-67, XF-68 and XF-69. For the markings I made masks from masking tape and I sprayed some XF-59. Once the hull was painted, I applied a basic weathering before putting the wheels in place. The rubber tires are rubbed with some steel wool to remove the shiny look.

Before the weathering, all the accessories are set in place. Then the AFV Club camo net is in turn draped around the hull. It is a kind of 18 cm x 25 cm resin decal which is very fragile. To keep it in place, I brush some mat varnish on the covered areas. Then I also tapped the net with some varnish.

The weathering is done by spraying several layers of diluted XF-59 and XF-57 shades. Some Mig Desert Sand pigments reinforced the dusty look in particular on the hull top

 

I warmly thank John Wypyszinski, crew member of White 4, for his valuable help all along this project.

References : Prime Portal LAV 25 in OIF

 

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02/2018