I’m sure ya’ll have seen progress pics of my LAV from a couple of previous post. Things are coming along well, and I’m very pleased with my first attempt at preshading. I still have to add the brown and black for my 3 tone camo scheme, so I’m not sure how it’s going to look in the end. However, I’m happy with the way it’s looking so far. This is Trumpeter’s 1/35 LAV-25 Piranha, which is a nice kit. I had one fit problem with the rear hull plate which was fixed with sanding and a tiny bit of putty. The kit has a little bit of flash. All the parts needed at least a little clean up. I’m toying with the idea of putting it in an urban Iraq diorama, with the figures that come with the kit and Dragon’s Modern US Marines. The Trumpeter figures don’t look great, but I’ll see what they look like after construction. Constructive Critisism is always appreciated.
I painted the model with a white spray can primer I bought at my hobby shop called Cital Color. Then I airbrushed flat black on what I thought would be the darker or less faded areas. Then the model got light airbrush coats of Tamiya Olive Green. I’m thinking that I’ll have to use light coats of brown and black to get a faded or worn look on the brown and black parts of the camo scheme.
Very nicely done, if you were shooting for 100% accuracy you are only missing no-skid on all the upper surfaces (turret roof, forward deck, aft deck). All I see at the moment.
Lemon Jello, I would definately recommend this kit. About half of the build is putting together the suspension. The fit isn’t as good as a Tamiya kit, but most problems with fit can be fixed with a little bit of sanding. There was one spot at the underside of the rear hull plate that needed a little filling. Other than that, it’s a nice build. I’m pleased with the detail, even though there is no PE like a Dragon kit. The tires are vinyl and look very nice, but I haven’t tried putting them to the hubs yet.
I wanted to add the black part of the camo last night, but it was a long night last night at work. I’ll post pics as soon as I’m done with the camo. NATO tri-color camo is much more fun than desert sand.
I’m going to touch up the green a bit, but I’m liking the camo scheme. The contrast between the colors should mellow out a bit with a tinted overcoat, some clear coats and a wash.
Looks good so far, but would the headlights really be a different color than the camo sprayed? It looks as though you may have missed some spots between the smoke dischargers and under the gun. Keep it up, your almost there.
Looks good so far, but would the headlights really be a different color than the camo sprayed? It looks as though you may have missed some spots between the smoke dischargers and suspension. Also, under the gun. Keep it up, your almost there.
I got a little bit more done. The cool things about pictures with harsh flashes is that they show what parts need touch up. This is a little mock-up of the dio I’m thinking about. I’ve been working on the figures that come with the LAV, but I haven’t dived into the Dragon set yet. I plan on adding some figures at the corner wall (represented by the sanding sticks and the Tamiya glue).
Anybody have any advice on my first attempt at a diorama?
