Hello All,

I was wondering if this kit, Trumpter USMC LAV-25 "Piranha" #00349, is the same as the Italeri kit. Any and all opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

Hi Gary,
Thanks for the information. I'm not up on all of the kits and I have heard that at times one manufacturer will do a rebox of some one elses kit, perhaps just adding a sprue or something to make it a bit different.
I appreciate you taking time to help out.
Joe

With the eduard PE set it builds up super nice actually The vent screens and exhaust shields are must-do enhancements on them.

Hi Kevin,
I appreciate your opinion, but I build them as they come from the box. I have a hard enough time doing a decent job with the parts they provide. Photo etch will just be too much for this old man.
Joe

If you are building out of the box or detailing it the Trumpeter kit is better....it is the only
LAV 25 kit with an accurate turret hatch layout and the tires are better than the Italeri kit.

Overall much better than the Italeri kit.

Well, the core kit's parts fit is pretty darn good, so an ootb build will go smoothly. I had a little flash off the front of the upper hull, and to avoid over sanding, assembled it with the flash on it and then sanded it flush, so the very sharp angles were sure to meet up. The basket took a bit of carefull flash clean up, but nothing to get concerned with. Other then that it's modelling 101, a little flash here and there but good kit overall. Decals stink though, but Echelon makes a great replacement set.

http://armorama.com/news/2072

Even if you were to use the Eduard kit, other then the straps and some other fiddly bits, the larger parts are fairly easy to put on:

New tool
Not the Italeri LAV and definately not the ESCI LAV

See review with sprue shots

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/trumpeter/tr00349.htm

Thanks guys. The information has really been helpful.
Joe