Tamiya Marine AAVP7A1

    Chipping is to the modelers feel, one of the few places in armor modeling allows for " artistic license". That being said how much you do depends on the stiuation the vehicle is in.

       Most scratches come from repeated or constant abrasions cause by enviroment or crews. Mitirary grade paint is VERY durable so unless your AAVP is run over by another heavy vehicle the scratches would be minimal.

       Another consideration is in todays modern military if crews aren't operating the machine they are usually performing maintenance on them including touch up painting to prevent corrosion.

   All that said your model your vision, if you like it then that's what matters. HAVE FUN!! And if you can post some pix.

Concur with above.

LVTP & AAVP spend a huge amount of time parked.  When in a ship, about the only wear is where the chains hitch up, and that's not a lot of wear.

In a anding, thay are not much used to go punching through the bocage, either.  Typically, it's carry a load to the beach, go back to the ship, rinse and repeat.

They were one of the first vheicles to change to the pre-catalysed acrylic paint, which is tough stuff; mostly it goes glossy with wear, then flakes off to show whatever base color is underneath.  AAVP & LVTP aer mostly aluminum, too, so, if they rust, it's to gray-white, not red.  That pre-cat paint shows "splotches" where ever it's used as touch up paint, too.  Your pick on how to model that, lighter, darker, whatever.

AAVP are issued to Transportation battalions, which have the various platoons and companies detached as needed to other manoever units.  So, the dudes driving them are pretty protective of them, and the grunts in the back just want to exgress ASAP.

And, watching roll off a stern ramp is a heck of a thing; not bad for the two guys who can see outside, but a bit disconcerting for those within.  Hard to not notice all the stencils for "Install Drain Plug before water operation" too.

Thanks for all the info. I went through some pictures on-line and I did notice that there was very little paint damage or chipping, mainly just wear where things may be constantly rubbing or areas of use, like the ramp. So probably more "smudging" than any chipping.

When the vehicles chipped it typically was straight to the aluminum hull.  Most common place to see exposed white primer tended to be on the lower hull.  Either at bow where it was worn down or along sides where the upper run of track would rub against the hull.  Track shrouds tended to be a little more chipped/beat up because we removed them frequently to change sprockets, roadwheels or support arms.  We also used them as ramps to install the final drives - which left huge scars in the paint.