This is my AFV Club LVTP5 Battlefield Bus. It's not completely finished. I'd like to add more stowage and figures, but I'd like any opinions, or suggestions you might have on it.

I really like the LVTP. What I'm not a fan of are the bags on it. The ones in the middle look to 'helter skelter', no organization (this may be the way it was). The images don't show if there is any texture on them, I personally would like more texture on them, they look to much like a 'blob'. Some of them don't look droopy enough.
More may be key.

The AFV is great, love the weathering, love the washes, the hand painted nick name is really nice too.

Yep i have to agree. These round shaped bags ruin the image of a nice build, painted and weathered model. So get em off and either make new with texture , better shape and different colour , or add some nice stowage, which probably was indeed there and samo cammo netting rolled. Its a big bucket though i d like to build one. Was a good kit? any problems? any extras?

I've gotto play along with the others... The only drawback on your (already made) LVTP are, the sandbags... I don't know if you've already finished them, but they look like some squashed clay, their colour isn't natural (they should have a more sandy colour) you need to reshape them... Dispite of that, the model looks fantastic... the rusty look overall is quite good.. I would like to be able to achieve that look on my models... well I'm starting so, maybe some day I will!!! Good Job!

See yaaa

Ditto what others have said: Great model, sandbags look like petrified lima beans. You'll probably have to mold them to the shape of the surface they're resting on to get a realistic shape. Otherwise, quite good.

What's the silver roll at the back of the vehicle supposed to be? Chicken wire?

Ok, sandbags gotta go. They were made out of sculpey and were my second batch (first turned out too big). Making sandbags is harder than I thought. The wire at the back is suppose to be chain link type stuff (used to put up around vehicles to protect against RPGs), but I'm thinking on redoing it because it wouldn’t give like that if it was wrapped with rope. I made it from a paper towel and it was going to be a quilt for another project, but I thought the texture looked like chain link fence so much I thought I'd try it out. I might even scrap that idea. I've got some balsa wood and am trying to make some crates to put on it. I’ve also thought about placing some life preservers on in. I haven’t seen any in pictures yet, so I’m not sure they were used, but I wouldn’t doubt a few didn’t have them onboard. Also, I've done some research and found that they hauled fuel barrels a lot of the time, so I'm going to try to find a way to scratch build some of them, or buy them and strap them to it. Also, what do you guys think about the blue color for the glass parts. I thought about making it black, but decided to try this out. Should I change it to black, or keep it as is?

Brad,
You may try tulle, the stuff wedding veils are made out of, for your chain link fencing. Hit the fabric store. A yard of the stuff is a dollar or 2 and will last you forever. I bought white and painted it but I think it even comes in silver.

Shaun

I'll have to agree with the others in the case of the blob-like sandbag thingys.

I would say either leave them off, change the texture and re-arrange the bags to look more like a thought out defense.

All in all, I think tou have a great subject and a great looking kit!

Howdy Brad,

O.K., ditto on the "lima beans". Your LVTP looks great though! I do have some input. Your tracks look good (those L&L tracks can sometimes be a bear), but I wish I had a closer peek at both them and the road wheels (the wheels were almost always a mess). You've also done a good job on the general 'scuff' marks and wear&tear. But the tops of those things got a real workout, and because nobody wanted to ride in the bloody things, everything, including the kitchen sink was tossed 'topside'. So, the 'look' would be a little more like you might see on wing roots.
hth

Tread.

Oh, and if you plan to redo the 'lima beans' and reinstall them. They didn't go all over the middle area like that. They mainly went towards the front (behind the copula) and along the sides. The bags at the extreme front are questionable as well. But don't eliminate the other bags, because they were almost always there.

As told before for the RPG fence you can use the wedding tule stuff which is cheap easy to find and have for all your life . I use aluminium mess wire (the one we put on windows - doors for the flies, like the one on the M113 ACAV i post downwards) or the plastic mess available for the same reason. Both of them very cheap and usefull to have . I bought yesterday 2m length 1 m width of aluminium mess for 3$. Have it for many purposes