THE ELM CITY HOBBIES SPRUE VIEW

Posted Jun 23, 2010

FINALLY! A Modern Canadian Armored Vehicle......who would have thunk it!!!!

This all new release from Trumpeter is the start of something beautiful……actual live styrene plastic models of modern Canadian armored vehicles!!! Oh what a glorious day to be a modeler of modern armor!

This is the long awaited first Canadian release of a modern armor subject, and represents the Canadian LAVIII TUA (Tow Under Armor). Basically an armored vehicle, with a twin TOW (Tube Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire Data Link Guided Missile), which are designed to take out main battle tanks and other armored vehicles.

Here are photos of the sprues and instruction sheets. The gallery will open in a popup and you can click through to the next and read descriptions.

The kit consists of 546 plastic parts in grey styrene, as well as clear styrene, photo-etch, copper and brass wires, 9 tires (8 Drive and a spare), a sheet of beverage boxes (including 3 different kinds of water, 2 different kinds of soft drink, and a banana box), as well as a sheet of Canadian ration boxes.

This is a very beautiful kit, very well detailed, a ton of parts. It is derived off of Trumpeter’s plentiful number of Stryker kits, as the Canadian LAVIII and US Strykers are built on the same base platform.

Originally the Canadian Armed Forces were to acquire 70 or so of these vehicles and were meant to replace the aging Leopard C1 and C2 Main Battle tanks. However with the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the involvement of the CF in Afghanistan, the Leopards were found to be still needed, and were saved from the scrap yard (and since have been supplemented with newer Leopard 2A6M variants). Unfortunately with the constant pounding from the terrain, and IED strikes, most if not all of the LAVIII TUA vehicles have been converted to ISC (Infantry Section Carriers), by having their TOW turrets replaces with RWS (Remote Weapon Systems) and have been thrust into the action in Afghanistan.

A few points of interest. The kit represents the LAVIII TUA with its extra plate armor already attached to the vehicle. Since the LAVIII TUA never really went into service or saw any combat, the plates were never installed on the TUA series, and thus is a little inaccurate. Another point is the Painting and Markings sheet gives you 6 different license plates to be used on the vehicle. The problem arises in that they only give you one each of 6 different plates, when all CF vehicles have a plate on the front and back, so Trumpeter should have given 2 each of the 6 different plates. Easiest solution is going to be to color photocopy the sheet so that you have 2 plates the same to use on the kit.

Of course there are other items that are apparently wrong with the kit (according to the experts), some mistakes that are carried over from all of the Trumpeter Stryker kits, most notably the size of the hull is slightly larger than they should be. Not sure why this is, maybe someone fudged their numbers when they calculated the size it should be in relation to the 1:1 vehicle.

In either case, only those that work on these vehicles every day and have intimate knowledge of the vehicle from stem to stern are really going to know the differences, and to the layman building that just wants to tackle a Canadian Modern Armor subject, this will fit the bill nicely!

Like the old saying goes, if it walks, talks, and acts like a duck….then it must be a duck!

This is an excellent kit, something long awaited by Canadian Modern Armor fans, as well as others (who ever thought we would see a model company do a Modern Canadian subject!!!), and would be a welcome addition to anyone’s stash.

Now it will be hard to wait for the regular LAVIII Infantry vehicle to come out, never mind the rumored Grizzly, and Husky vehicles that have been promised in the future!

If you have any questions or comments about this kit, you can post them here:

http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/forum/index.php/topic,1091.0.html

This kit retails for $49.50CDN and can be ordered from Elm City Hobbies

I would give it 4.3 out of 5 Sprues!

Scott Millican lives in Elm City, New Brunswick.
No one is exactly sure where that is.
He owns an awesome hobby shop
and has a really cool website too.