DRAGON MODELS LIMITED

Product Specifications.

7237, AAVP7A1 RAM/RS. 1/72nd-scale styrene/multimedia kit containing 95 styrene parts, 22 DS-100 parts (including two track lengths) one photo-etched brass fret, two water-slide decal marking schemes and four pages of instructions in eight steps.

Introduction.

Amphibious assault across a contested beach, or "forced entry" as it is currently called, has been a specialty of the US Marine Corps since the beginning of World War Two. The Corps has fielded tracked amphibians since the landings on Guadalcanal in August, 1942. Called the LVT (Landing Vehicle, Tracked), these vehicles have evolved into the present AAVP7A1 (Amphibious Assault Vehicle, Personnel), which itself has been upgraded to the RAM/RS (Reliability, Availability and Maintainability/Rebuild to Standard) configuration. DML has just released this version with the UGWS (Up-Gunned Weapons System) turret, with fittings for EAAK (Enhanced Applique Armor Kit), but without the armor upgrade.

Tracks.

These consist of two lengths of DS-100 soft styrene of the latest pattern. They are crisply detailed and can be attached with standard styrene cements.

Suspension System.

The suspension system consists of components from the US Army's Bradley Combat Vehicle series with upgraded wheels, shock absorbers and return rollers. Separate side walls for the hull are provided, which have the torsion bar swing-arms molded in place as well as shock absorbers, final drive housing, and idler wheel axle. The road-wheels are molded conventionally in two separate halves per station as are the drive sprockets and idler wheels. Curiously, while the idler wheels have the correct opened spoke pattern, the drive sprocket has the proper pattern, but it is molded "closed". It will be a chore to open the spokes for the correct appearance.

On the other hand, with careful clean-up and fitting, both side panels that hold the entire suspension system, along with the tracks, can be added at a time during the assembly process that will aid in the painting of the model. Although not called out in that fashion in the instructions, the careful modeler may wish to give this consideration.

Hull.

The main hull is a single part, produced from a slide mold. It has nice weld bead detail and also includes all of the small welded-on pads to which the EAAK is fitted. There are two types of pad; one is square and the other is rectangular. The rectangular pads have two openings for the EAAK mounting bolts, the square pads have one. These are not represented on the kit pads; the fastidious modeler is in for lots of drilling! The rear panel is molded onto the hull pan. The rear ramp is separate and although it's detailed on the inner face (and has several badly-placed ejector pin marks), it is not designed to be fitted in the open position.

The front end of the hull, in this case very appropriately termed the "Bow", has two separate trim plates. One can be erected, the other folded down. The sea-going propulsion units are separate parts and also come in two versions: one set is opened for the use, the other closed for protection while on land.

Superstructure.

This part features all tools molded in place, which in my estimation is an idea whose time has long passed; a single shovel is a separate part. Although very anemic "boat-hooks" are molded in place, the wound rope "fenders", typically seen fitted, are not provided. The two longitudinal hatch lids that cover the infantry compartment are separate parts that can be depicted opened or closed. If they are left open, there is no detail whatsoever in the compartment. Likewise the driver and vehicle commander's hatch lids are also separate. A new exhaust unit is given and the instructions show what needs to be removed from the roof plate to accommodate it.

Other separate details include the long bars upon which the crew would stow various personal items, small towers that held the opened hatch lids in place and molded-on grills, antennae mounts, vents and access hatch lid panels. There is an extremely over-scale representation of the peculiar non-skid pattern seen on the roof plate of these vehicles, as well as cleats and the like, all molded into place. Much of this detail may need to be removed and replaced by the more fastidious modeler.

Etched brass parts are provided for the screens over the new exhaust system as well as to cover the engine compartment intake and cooling grills. Likewise, other etched fittings are given to detail various hatch lids, for smaller grab handles (best replaced with fine wire) and other minor items.

Turret.

The UGWS turret with the 12.7mm M2 heavy machine-gun and 40mm Mk19 automatic grenade launcher is provided. It has a separate hatch lid; the weapons can be elevated and the turret will traverse. Separate smoke grenade launcher mounts and tubes are provided, but beware as some of these parts do not have numbers next to them on their sprues. The prominent search-light and its mount is not provided.

From an earlier iteration of this kit, the standard turret with the M2 mounted is given. It should be consigned to the spares box as it is not appropriate for this version unless the modeler wishes to back-date it. As an aside, the original suspension unit panels are given, so the back-dating process will not be as hard as might be imagined.

Molding, Fit and Engineering.

Sad to say, the molding on this kit is not up to the standards set by other more recent DML kits such as the M4A1 75mm Sherman or the various T-34s. There is quite a bit of roughness in the fit between the superstructure/roof plate (C-1) and the hull (C-2), as well as between the hull (C-2) and the suspension side panels (D-1 and -2). Lots of care in clean-up and fitting will be needed, particularly at the seam between C-1 and C-2. In addition, the hull (C-2) will need careful removal of the mold seams; the modeler is advised not to confuse them with the delicately-rendered weld beads that are nearby. Other items of concern have been mentioned previously.

Accuracy.

Visually, the model appears to be fairly accurate. I have no scale plans in 1/72nd-scale to consult, but photographs and 1/35th-scale plans indicate that the major components are properly positioned and accurately-rendered, again bearing in mind comments I have made above.

Instructions.

These are brief and fairly busy, but in truth the kit does not have very many parts. A nice touch is that the etched brass parts are shown in color.

Decals and Markings Information.

Water-slide decals by Cartograf of Italy are provided for two vehicles; painting instructions are in full color and show four views of each subject. Colors are keyed to Gunze and Testors paints. One AAVP7A1 is depicted as being used by the USMC in Iraq during 2003. It is in the NATO three-color scheme and is accurate according to references (including the color photo that acts as the kit's "box art"). The second is for an Italian vehicle seen in Italy in 2005; I have no references for this scheme.

Conclusion.

This kit is somewhat "rough" in several places and will need a careful hand to bring the finished product up to an acceptable level of detail. It is certainly a sound basis for a super-detailing project and it ought to please those who simply "like to build". But for those in the "middle", it may prove to be a disappointment.

Recommended with reservations.

Frank V. De Sisto

References consulted for this review included, but were not limited to:

" "Gators in Fallujah, AAVP7A1 RAM/RS of 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion", Assault Vol.16, Concord 7816, article by Y. Debay.
" "Bradley, A History of American Fighting and Support Vehicles", Presidio, by R.P. Hunnicutt.
" "Amtracks: US Amphibious Assault Vehicles", Osprey Vanguard 45, by S. Zaloga.
" "AAVP7A1, LVTP7A1", Full Detail, by E. Gilbert & A. Swan.

Reviewer's note: Since May of 2005, I have been working on books for Concord Publications, a sister company to DML. The reader may wish to take this into consideration. For my part, I will attempt to maintain an objective viewpoint when writing these reviews.

- Frank De Sisto