This is something I do in between the more serious projects. I find it nice to have something to do while paint and glue dries on the big boys.
The kit is Ace 1/72 LAV-C and it will be part of a small USMC diorama I'm doing. This kit must be one of the worst kit ever, with a lot of flash, wrapped parts and generally poor fitting. So far it has been needing some serious plastic surgery and it came as a nice surprise that all eight wheels acctually touch the ground. The details are rather soft and I'm not sure about how correct this vehicle is, but in 1/72 scale it does not bother me much. It looks like a LAV-C to me and that is what is important. And btw, I love building it, it is a real challenge.

Erik


The parts do not go very well togheter




The rear hatch is the main problem area. I had to use rather much plastic strips and putty to make it look allright. Next step is sanding.


Compared to a match box it is rather small...

I have built one of them kits too. It was a tipical "short-run kit", each part needed careful cleaning, and I had a few fit problems too - but I liked that work, and in the end it turned out to be one of my most beautyful builds.

So... don't give up!

Why do I have to find out about all these ACE LAVs problems AFTER I bought a bunch of them?????

Well I might as well by the Altaya ready made LAV 25.....

Those are the only ones in small scale (and most of the ACEs are already OOP).

Keep us posted. Your work will be very useful for me.

Cunha

A small update:
Most of the building is done. It still misses some minor adjustments and a few parts. It also misses a lot of putty... Crew is from Preiser.

Erik

Well, this dog of a kit has finally got some paint. Still a lot of work to be done, and this will not be my best build for sure. It is basically sanded into shape since I had to use a lot of putty to even make it look close to a Lav... However, it will work well as a prop for my small USMC CH-53 diorama.

Erik

Im am building an ace t-90 between projets and it is a bit of a dog aswell..

I've just finish an ACE BRDM 1 and 2 and both were dogs but, these and the LAV's are the only options currently available.
Charlie

Finished. I don't think I will build an ACE kit again. All modeling stash has been moved to my new house so it will be a while before I start a new build.









Erik

Looking great! Fantastic job for 1:72nd.

Lars