AAVP7A1 w/UGWS *FINISHED* pg. 4

I should let a 'tracker' answer your question on apricots,,,basically there has always been a superstition that eating apricots on a track was bad luck. At least in the Marines. In the days of C-rats, apricots in the nice little green can were a great find and a true delight!  Anyway in my experience with AAVs/LVTPs, and that goes back to the LVTP-5,,,dang I'm older than I thought!!  Anyway, grunts (the Backbone of the Corps!) would get in serious trouble for eating the apricots while on board a track...we used to mess with the trackers and leave apricot cans on the track..AFTER we had got off the track of course!!

ygmodeler4

Thanks a lot guys! I agree with you Karl, I think the figures give it life.

 

One question...what's all this talk about apricots?

Thanks a lot guys! I agree with you Karl, I think the figures give it life.

One question...what's all this talk about apricots?

Came out A-OK in my book!!

Very nice job Josiah!  When I look at it it reminds me of many hours spent rumbling around in those beasts! So to me you did your job then..recreate something in miniature that looks like what it is and stirs a Vet's memory!  Excellent!!

Its just missing the comm wire tangled in the drive and the obligatory can of apricots left by a misguided grunt!!!  

Josiah, I agree; it turned out looking really great. The weathering looks realistically done, and makes it look like it's really been in the field.

A nice job on the figures, too. I'm a real proponent of using some kind of figures in my builds to give some human interest and scale to the presentation, and even if you may not feel confident doing them yet, it's a good step in the right direction.

Thanks a lot guys! I really couldn't have done it without you all.

I'll take care of those lights and see what I can do about that mouth.

About the horseshoe, I can't remember if it was on one of the AAV's on your photobucket or a picture of one on google, but I saw that and said to myself, "Self, you're gonna put one of those on." I like the extra touch it gives.

Thanks again guys.

I think it came out great!  This is something to be proud of.  If I can help, the commander figure would look better if you can paint darker tan with or similar inside his mouth.  Just look yourself in the mirror and see what you see... maybe some pink or red wash to the dark tan.

Again, great work!

Nice work...looking good....nice recovery

Rounds Complete!!

Nice job on the AAV.  I like really the horseshoe!  I applied one to each of the AAVs in my section during OIF I and then put one on each one of the AAVs in my platoon during OIF II.  Couple got scarred up but I did not loose a single tractor.  Just keep the apricots away!

It turned out great.  Great job on it.  One small correction I see is the rear lights.  Only the left upper oval should be red.  The lower left and upper and lower on the right should be black slits.  They are part of the blackout marker light system. 

Other than that small correction, it looks great to me.

Andy, I like how yours turned out, I did just that, except I only sprayed the sides and running gear of mine, on the top I only used a mix of oil pastels that I bought at work. I also put the pastels on the sides and running gear after I sprayed it.

Overall I think it turned out well, first time I've done antennas so they look kinda lame but OH WELL, it's going to my dad's work so I won't have to look at it. Also I didn't glue the commander in because I might wanna take him out at somepoint, the driver is. Ummm I'm probably forgetting something else but just ask me, only people that'll probably comment on it are the ones who've been following it. WHICH i REALLY REALLY appreciate, I couldn't have been as happy with this as I am without many of you so many many thanks. If ya spot something minor that I need to change let me know cuz tomorrow my dad's taking it. If it's something major let me know too I'll just have to wait for my next build's to correct it.

Thanks again guys.

You would be surprised how much it can transform your camo... I thought I'd show you how it has done to my 234/1 I built last year.

You can see how much it helped tone the camo down and make them blend... I used thinned 90/10 base coat for this one.

Thanks a lot! I'll try that sand thing on a junk model to see how I like it!

EDIT:

Question: I went down to make sure I have everything I need on the model and to put all the tools and stuff on and I can't for the life of me find the instructions, checked every single model box and cupboard and drawer and it isn't there. So if anybody has some instructions for this kit (Tamiya 1/35) can you either scan or take pictures of them and send them to me?

Someone got me some, thanks.

The AAVP looks great!   It is ready for weathering stage.  Before you can do that, it will be helpful if you can airbrush highy thinned 'sand' paint or base paint you used to make the camo blend together better.  I used 90% thinner 10% paint to make it work and don't over do it! 

I used silly putt on my first build and I remember how fun and easy it was.  It takes alot of time and patience to paint figures.  Looking forward to your next update.

Oh, Kevin, also, that's the finest tip brush I have, it's fine enough, the problem is me though...everytime I paint a fig it gets better so I'm sure with more practice I'll get the lines thinner.

Thanks guys!

Tonka, I love the museum, been there prob about 20 times...unfortunately I havent been since they opened up the newer part with WWI, I hear the Belleau Wood's exhibit is top notch. I don't think this one will be going in a dio...already got a bunch of other things I need to finish and then start after this one.

Kevin, the mk19 barrel isn't drilled out, yet, the smallest bit i had broke back when i was drilling holes in the mounting bosses and I haven't been able to find another one (although I've only been passively looking)

Lookin' good on both camos. Next time 'round, I might tend to use a finer tip brush for the figure. May look a tad too 'thick' on the strokes but doin' good!

Question... is the 40mm barrel drilled out?

Good job so far... Git 'er done!

Looks great Josiah! The camo on vehicle is impressive. The figs look good also. Will be nice to see the weathering.

Now for a real challenge,,, put it in a dio charging out of the surf at Red beach!

Take a run up to the museum in Quantico and look at the display and pics they have there...

Very nice, clean work with the camo. She's going to look great when it's toned down and blended in.

Thinks a lot, I really appreciate all the help and advice you guys have given me throughout this.

Looking very nice.....the second time is a charm....Silly Putty is a must for NATO camo. figs look great also

Glad to see your patience paying off.

Rounds Complete!!

The AAV camo looks really good.  Good job on the paint job.  The figures look pretty good too. 

Killer job on the silly putty camo, Josiah--glad my toot helped you out! The paint job is really striking!

I don't know enough about the camo on the uniforms, but they seem to look in harmony with the vehicle. All in all I'd say you're on your way to finishing a winner!

Guess nobody liked the camo on the guys LOL.

after I stripped the paint off I repainted the camo on the AAV, I used actual silly putty this time, read Doog's tutorial on the hetzer he did way back when and it helped out a lot (thanks Karl)...anyways here's pictures of what I have so far.

Thanks for looking guys

Josiah

Alrighty, got the other guy painted, this time I used Gino's technique and I think it turned out better, what do you guys think?

OLD

And the commander is all painted and done except for his arms.

Hopefully I'll get more done on the actual AAV this week but classes start back up blehhhh.

Thanks for looking guys, Josiah

I've repainted the camo a couple times and this latest time is the best I've gotten to, it's good enough for me to keep it for these figs I'll have to bust out some of my plastic army men from back in the day to practice more. Also repainted the face of the commander with some vallejo paints, first time I've ever tried them and I like them. I tried blending and shading for the first time, I think it turned out well at first I was disappointed because you couldn't really tell the difference between where I mixed some red with the flesh to make it look like he's had some sun or the darker flesh mixed with base flesh where I put in the mouth and under chin and neck but then I was like "wait a second, blending means you're not really supposed to know the difference easily." I'm still kinda eh about the eyes, thats the best I can do, they look a lot better straight on and in person but still are like, meh. anyways, I'll post old pics of the camo and then the new one and tell me what ya think. I gotta go back over the green cuz it's thinner then all the other paints.

OLD


NEW


FACE


Thanks for looking guys

Josiah

I got it dirt cheap cuz of my employee discount but yeah, I'm hesitant to say it was because of its fault not mine, but I'm just gonna go with silly putty next time.

Thanks for looking in deattilio, glad you approve so far...would've been a lot harder to do those mounting bosses without that PDF you sent me so thanks! That's a shame about that Marine, I'll keep a look out for your build. Thanks for those links!

Looking good.  I was just gifted a MiniModelHobbies 1/35 AAVP7A1, which is essentially a poor copy of the Tamiya offering.  I’ve got a little work done but it slow going.  We just lost a Marine when one of our AAVs sank during training last week., so that spurred the inspiration to give this kit head-of-line privileges on the hobby desk.  The links below are to my Photobucket pages of AAVs at 3D Assault Amphibian BN and Assault Amphibious School BN to provide some reference for weathering.  Keep us posted.

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/deattilio/Amtracs/3D%20AA%20BN/

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/deattilio/Amtracs/AAS/

ygmodeler4

Karl: its a soft squishy modeling material made by crayola for kids that I picked up at work for dirt cheap. I was leaning towards the light tan wash too Karl.

Thanks for looking in again Gino, I'll be sure to do that.

 

Silly Putty would be my choice. It's been proven in many WIPs here.