Howdy All,

On occassion I run up to an obscure hobby shop in the northern part of my state. This place is one of those places that is a surprise at the quantity of kits compared to the location of the store (remote). Anyway, in my eternal quest of obscure and different armoured variants I stop by this place on an infrequent basis. This guy has models from 1974! No kidding.
Sorry, more to the point.
While perusing through his heavily weighted shelves of kits, I came upon a box that I hadn't seen before (probably because it wasn't my focus at the time). The kit in question is the Tamiya AAVP 7A1 W/UGWS, kit # 35159. It's a kit of the Marine landing craft, only a variant thereof. I'm just curious as to the availability of the kit in general, plus the quality of casting, and accuracy as well. Maybe Rob can pipe in here, even though he doesn't like "anything that floats"
Any help from the members would be greatly appreciated.

Thx,

Tread.

BTW, I picked the kit up for the original sticker price of $20.99......is that good?

This is the Tamiya LVTP7A1 kit with a sprue that adds the up gunned commander's cupola (40mm grenade launcher+.50 cal) and the side armor seen on vehicles in Desert Storm. It is fairly rare and highly sought after. There was a reason why they stopped making the kit...I think it was because they cut corners by just adding a sprue to the kit instead of reworking the headlight housings and some other errors. I believe it was heavily criticized so it was not produced in large quantities.

You got a good deal. I recall paying $9.90 for the regular LVTP7A1 when it was on clearance in Toys R Us back in 1996. IIRC, Trumpeter copied this kit for one of their first series.

Hey Rob,

I don't think he's talking about the Trumpeter kit. The Tamiya kit doesn't have the EAAK applique armor for the sides. You are correct about the UGWS, though. It also has the trim vane for the front. I can't find anything wrong with the headlights either. Twenty bucks isn't out of line (just saw on on Ebay going for 35 last time I looked).

Not being an LVTP expert, I can say that the entire rear 2/3 rd's of the vehicle is different than the standard LVTP available from both Tamiya and Trumpeter. I'd post a pic if I could, but I'm computer 'challenged'.
You are correct Rob when you pointed out the 'up-gunned' copula. And it looks like they added more than just a sprue. At a glance it looks like half the kit's different. But, again, I'm no LVTP expert.

I'll have to check around. Talked to my usual friend down at my local hobby shop and he says they're going for closer to $50.00! Hard to believe, but?

Tread.

BTW, the date stamp on the side of the box says 1992.....that would make it 10 years old.

You are probably right TJ, I don't remember all of the rumblings regarding the kit though. 1992 sounds about right, they popped out kits of vehicles that were seen on CNN during the Gulf War, M2A2, M1A1, Challenger MkIII, AAVP 7A1.

Tread - the UGWS version model kit is pretty scarce. I have seen them going for +$50 bucks. I wish I had one! When it first came out - I got one for XMAS - and it was in the mid-$30 dollar range.

As far as details and accuracy - it isn't bad, and I don't remember any grumbling about it either. It looked fine to me.

Gunnie

Thx Gunnie, I just happened to stumble upon it. The place I mentioned is one of the old country-style '5 &10 cent' store arrangements. Quite large, with lots of kits. To be honest, I don't know how the guy stays in business! My only thought is that he owns the store outright, and is an old hobby enthusiast from way back. (He's an older gentleman). It's always a bit of a ride up there (takes me about an hour and a half) but always worth it.
One of the best things about the store is looking on the bottom of the stacks of kits (where I found the AAVP 7A1 W/UGWS) or behind a stack. I'm not kidding when I say he has kits there dating back to 1974, and probably earlier. The other little self-serving thing about the place is the guy generally doesn't update the pricing on most of the kits, so the original prices are still on the boxes! I guess it's not really self-serving when you think of it, he get's to lower inventory in his well stocked store, and I get interesting kits at great prices. :-)

Tread.

P.S. I'm going to have to do a search for more info on the AAVP......any suggestions?

Here 'ya go Tread - Mike Kendall's AFV Interiors site is a good place to start for info on this beastie...

http://www.kithobbyist.com/AFVInteriors/lvtp7/lvtp7a.html

Gunnie

Many thx for the link Gunnie. Once again, not being an LVTP expert, it seems to me they redesigned the entire troop carrying section around the new jet drive system. These units run down either side of the vehicle and speed up it's water based locomotion.. The cut-away of the 'up-gunned' cupola is nice.

Now, considering the scarcity of the kit, I don't know if I should consider building it, or just hanging onto it.........Hmmmm, what to do.

Tread.

Speaking of the AAV7....does anyone know of any detail sets for the interior or the EAAK armor that has sinnce been added to the vehicle? ..hate to have to scratch build all that.....

I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I have become very interested in these vehicles over the past few years. I have put an interior plus EEAK armor attachment points (didn't have the Kirin or Trumpeter set at the time) in one and built an LVTR7 out of the Minicraft kit. I plan on building a few more in the future, so shoot me an email, and maybe I can help out more on any specific help you might need.

I am clueless as to the term EAAK. What does it mean?
thanks
DJ

EAAK-Enhanced Applique Armor Kit-adds protection and survivability to an otherwise vulnerable alluminum hull.

Another link of the FAS site, if anyone is interested.

AAVP7A1

Tread, here's a pic of one finished: U.S. Marine AAVP7A1