AAVP7A1 questions

Thanks, I had missed the change over of this.

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The tracked Amtrack is still alive, just that the U.S. doesn’t make it (new) anymore.

This is the Turkish FNSS ZAHA Marine Assault Vehicle–newly designed and looking for customers.

ZAHA has a lot of upgrades that the canceled USMC AAV7 SLEP/SUP has and ZAHA has even better design features and additions.

Kinda like the Army replacing UH-60 Blackhawks in National Guard units with non combat capable UH-70 Lakotas… they can’t deploy either type to a combat zone except under the most dire circumstances.

But that makes some sense with the UH-72 as they are in guard units and it was a way to replace the UH-1 and OH-58 fleet with a COTs product. In that role it works as those older vehicles where at the end of the life cycle.

I guess you could still put AAVs on LCACs to get them ashore but it feels like we are losing a large amount of capability to move Marine grunts around. While maybe not the best, still seems better then a 5t taxi until the ACV fully comes online.

The problem was that they were replacing UH-60 Blackhawks with the UH-72 Lakota in Guard units, not Hueys. Those said units were then no longer capable of being deployed overseas. The UH-1s were phased out by the Army in Guard & Reserve units many years before this happened.

And the U.S. Army wants to replace the Blackhawk with the Future Vertical Lift program and also field a new armed scout helicopter (again and try again) after a series of failures and cancellations. The contenders do look promising though.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ausa+2022+future+vertical+lift&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiox-mX8uX6AhW3IjQIHW3jCRsQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=2048&bih=999&dpr=2.5

Totally getting off topic here from AAV7s… :upside_down_face:

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Sory to revive this thread. But I have questions. I already got a cheap LVTP7A1 from tamiya and I want to build it as an ODS 'trax.

I’m curious to know… Now that Hobby Boss’ version is available. Can you retrofit the HB interior into the Tamiya hull? WOuld that require a serious level of modding to work?

No idea, but I assume it would be a big problem since the Tamiya hull wasn’t designed for an interior.

Hobby Boss has the LVTP7A1 and LVTP7A1 w/UGWS, both of which were used in ODS. Both are relatively cheap and come with very detailed interiors. To me, the Tamiya kit is just not worth the extra effort to add the interior to.

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Then I gues i will build it “buttoned down”.

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If you already have an interior, you could probably make it fit with some work. If you need to buy a kit with the interior, then like Gino says, just do that, and then maybe sell the Tamiya kit.
Ken

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Nah! I’ll save myself the hassle and build this ancient kit. I’ll buy the RAM/RS with the EAAK afterwards and build it as an OIF track.

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I made my own interior for the very same kit using some sketches issued in a French modelling magazine way before the internet existed.
The drawings are not perfect but you can enhance the result with all the documentation around.

Here are the drawings






And here is my interior.








Olivier

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Thnks, Oliver. This is really nice. :+1:

Histoire & Maquettisme n°4 (published in 1989) maybe ? Thanks for the memories Olivier !

H.P.

Thank you H.P. for reminding me of the magazine title.

Olivier

This really is great, Oliver. I can use the photos as a template to cut the styrene sheets with Cricut machine.

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For sure. The measurements are in millimeters. CP stands for plastic card in French.

Olivier

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Wow that’s really nice Olivier!

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image

I was doing some further research and found this image from the 1983 invasion of Grenada (Operation Urgent Fury).

I literally have BOTH kits in my stash (Dragon BRDM-2 and the Tamiya LVTPA1).

I can assume the 'Trax is painted in MERDC Summer Verdant, but i am trying to figure out which color the BRDM-2 would be painted in; probably some shade of 4BO Protective Green, I’m thinking swaying more into the olive shade of green.

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Another interesting picture from Grenada.

Looks like an M60D mounted on the side of the commander’s hatch on an LVTP7. looks like it uses a door mount, probably from a CH-46 helicopter.

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