LAV-R Question

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

So, this weekend I stumbled upon Trumpeter’s LAV-R kit for $13. I couldn’t pass it up. I’ve got one more color to go on the paint and I have started thinking about markings.

Unfortunately, the kit supplied decals are laughable, and that’s coming from someone who knows about as little as a man can about USMC vehicles.

I’m trying to make this as close to OOB as I can and still do it some justice, and to keep from spending any extra cash on aftermarket markings.

So the questions: are there some rather generic markings that I could mask and paint to make the kit look a little more convincing? I see a bunch of LAVs with chevrons all over them, but I haven’t a clue what they mean. Do they all have the chevrons? I’m hoping to maybe use some of the kit decals along with some hand painted stuff to make this into a decent display model.

Thanks for the input…

2

Hey Jon,

Nice score for $13.00

The chevrons identify which platoon the vehicle belongs to, and point in the same direction regardless of which side of the vehicle you’re looking at. ie. > on the left side, > on the right side (do not make both point to the same end of the vehicle) Direction of the chevron identifies the platoon (IIRC, left=first plt, up=2nd plt, right=3rd plt)

3

#### That is just for US Army vehicles. The Marines use them differently. The chevron usually denotes which Bn in the USMC. They can face the same way, such as both sides facing forward as well.#### The best bet for LAV decals is the Echelon USMC LAV set. It has all you need and fixes the screw-ups by Trumpter in their translations.

4

Cool, thanks for the info.

I have yet to find the Echelon sheet anywhere, looks like it is out of production… The search continues, I guess.

5

Hi Gino,

Thanks for that, I didn’t know there was a difference in how the markings are interpreted.

Still learning from you [:)]