Here is another project I started today. This is a beautiful kit to build. The reviews that I read about this one seem to all be true. The only thing I wish it had was an interior. I am building this one OOB and will paint it desert sand for the OIF era.

I enjoyed it, only draw back is the amount of flash on the kit. Otherwise its a quick, fun build.

Ditto on that. But for the price it is worth it. I am not having any real issues with this build. The only thing is to look at the directions very closely before jumping in and gluing up the pieces.

Agreed. An overall excellent kit to build, and it has the bonus of the infantry fire team. COuld use an interior, but from what I remember it didnt look like it would be too bad to try to scratch one.

Here is some up date photos of the lower hull completed. Now on to the Turret, stowage and paint.

I'm working on the same kit also Dave, but i went ahead and got the Eduard PE set for it along with the Legend Stowage set. I'm gonna attempt to put mine in a dio with the Warriors crew and Think 180 figures.

Dave,
Nice so far. One question, are those kit supplied periscopes I see or did you make those yourself?

Rob

Nice job Dave.
Your Lav looks great.
I too have this kit and it looks great in the box. The only problem I see right now on mine is that the front of the upper hull has been damaged and some plastic has been broken away, so some filling to do.

Since ODS there's been a lot of changes and upgrades to the Lav systems. New gunners sight and MG mount to name the main ones. Also some Lav's have gone through the SLEP. These have a new exhaust cover and other small defferences. You don't need to add them to make a great looking kit, just thought 'd bring it up.

Here's some Lav pics to drool over:

Lav-25
Prime Portal has lots of lav pics.
Lav's at PP
This is the Lav I plan on building- gotta scratch those odd stowage racks on the sides.
OIF Lav's

I dont know if you are going for the realisum, but if you are, then you forgot to add the Anti Skid on it. but other than that, it looks good, are you going for the OIF version, b/c its totally differant from what the kit makes.

Lookin' good Animal. Keep us updated with more photos!

I am going to build it as is. I am assuming that the kit represents a version for the ODS era. If so this will work for me, as I could use it with the M60A1 and a couple of the M2's for a ODS DIO. One question was there any Sand painted versions during ODS?

Look's nice Animal

Sebastian

They are just paint to the inside of the ports.

The box art shows a desert sand color for the vehicle. Did the Marines in fact have any LAV 25's in Iraq during ODS, painted in desert sand, or were they all Camo?

Animal
great looking build, a kit I've always wanted to do. The USMC did have the LAV during ODS, here is an LAV history link.

http://www.cpp.usmc.mil/schools/soi/new/lav/lavhistory.htm

Don't know for sure on the paint job, but I think that the 1 tone desert camo was in use then for LAVs, for sure on M1a1s etc.

Animal,
we had them, and they were a mix of desert tan, and camo. Some vehicles didn't get painted in time.

If you want to do a cool diorama, mix an LAV-25, and one of the variants. I'm doing a 25 and a TOW (I was mostly on the TOW variants, so I like them irrationally).

This kit is a huge improvement on the Italeri and (mercifully long-gone) Esci versions. Mine was fairly flash-free and no damaged parts. Only odd thing about the kit is the gun tube--like Trumpeter couldn't decide whether they were doing the smooth or fluted version, so the added the flutes on one side only. I opted to get a replacement smooth metal barrel, and I'll complete it as a Desert Storm vehicle. Two companies offer aftermarket fluted brass barrels, but neither one has the new muzzle brake done correctly.

Gerald, whose barrel are you going to use? I'm modelling one from the early 90's as well.

Hey ANIMAAAL! Sorry, muppets flashback. I found a company that makes a complete interior kit for the Trumpeter LAV... website is here:

http://www.aefdesigns.com/US_Military/USMilitary.htm

Crap... you already have the hull together Oh, well, next time

I can't wait to see the end results Dave. looking good so far. This looks like a breach in the norm I mean from all the guntrucks and trucks variations.

I too have this kit and have the Eduard PE set and the Barrel Depot fluted replacement barrel. I was also wondering about AEF Designs LAV-25 interior made for this Trumpeter kit (cat numbet KA-32 TRU) and if it's any good. Opinions please......?

cheers
Bob

Well, the census around here says AEF Designs is a hit and miss thing when it comes to there quility. I myself only bought one of there kits a long time ago and it was horrible.

As for the barrel, I just snaged the Tamiya BArrel from the ODS Bardely and it worked out fine and looked good after I drilled out the suppressor.

The AEF kit is the one I saw. I've gone back and looked, and they don't have a pic of the LAV-25 interior kit. However, from the LAV-M interior they have posted, the driver's compartment is incomplete in that it lacks the gauge panel that sits to the left of the driver, kind of a glaring omission given that it's the first thing most people notice looking in.

What I really want is to do my dio with the back doors open, so I can replicate a picture of younger, thinner me that I took at 29 Palms forever ago. My issue is that I don't have many interior pics of the LAVs... Does anyone else have some/ know where to get them? I already tried google without much success.

Looking for interior shots of the LAV-25, and the TOW variant. I can more or less remember the general details, but I want to go a little further.

Here you go Clark,
This guy Scratched Built a 120mm LAV 25, YES SCRATCH BUILT!!!!! He has some good shots of the interior that you can use for start.

Talal Chouman

Awesome link, Pete, thanks Now I can start cutting styrene

I'm envious of his scratchbuilt masterpiece, and I'm pretty sure that I can now show enough detail to make myself happy in smaller scale