1/48 Tamiya Komatsu LAV

[SoftScience]

My fourth kit for 2019 is Tamiya's nice little Komatsu LAV. The box just calls it Light Armored Vehicle, because it seems Komatsu's lawyers are getting as craptastic and greedy as Ford's, Bell's, Boing's, etc. Because those firms don't make enough money as it is, right? Vermin! 

Anyhow. 

Great little kit, and a very simple build. It had plenty of parts for something so small. It comes with a rudimentary interior, and several options, (e.g, different antenna configurations, smoke grenade launchers, open or closed roof hatch). I would have liked a spare tyre rack on the back door, and brush guards for the headlights, but not all of these vehicles have those fitted, so Tamiya wasn't exactly wrong. 

The only changes I made to the kit was to drill out the lifting eyes, and replace the grab handles and door handles with brass wire. 

Paint is Tamiya thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner. I used a black base and then applies thin coats of the base color, and followed that with the base color with a few drops of gloss white added. I masked the green with Silly Putty and then repeated the process for the brown paint, but instead of adding gloss white, I added a few drops of a gloss red, and sprayed that into the crevices and shadow areas. I used Tamiya clear blue to simulate the armored glass. Reflectors were painted silver and then given coats of Vallejo clear red, clear orange, and white glaze. 

Weathering was limited to a dark brown pin wash, and some vallejo mud and grass mix. The mud mix was applied into the wheel wells and onto the flat parts of the tyres, and sparingly onto the bottom of the body. I wanted to simulate a vehicle doing limited off-road driving after a spring rain. 

 

[Getting Old]

Nice