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Leatherneck "Tuna Boat"


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This project was just finished for a local modeling club group build this morning. The deadline is today and the theme is "On or In the Water". Everyone naturally assumed I would be doing a float plane of some sort. So when I announced I was doing a "Tuna Boat" there were some surprised looks. What I didn't mention was, it's going to be a Leatherneck "Tuna Boat"... :deadhorse1:

This is the 1/35 Academy LVTP-7 kit with a few accessories from the spares box done up in a faded Desert MERDEC scheme roaming the Delta corridor during a CAX at 29 Palms sometime during the mid 80's.

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A fun project that I started over three years ago, ironically enough, as quick armor build. Although over the years it has provided a nice diversion from my usual aircraft builds. So after dragging this project out for a few years it's finally done and it feels great to put this one in the display case.

Semper Fi,

Mark

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Where did you get the alice packs with the rolled up sleeping pads? Looks like the real thing.

Thanks John,

The packs are a combination of Tamiya stuff and a couple of pieces from a Legend LAV-25 stowage set. I believe the ones you may be referring to are the Legend ones. They are quite nice and the set comes with quite a few pieces.

Dig the grunt in the "Heisman Trophy" pose, too. Very "beach assault."

Thanks Fishwelding,

That's too funny!...I never noticed it before but, your right... :P

<_<

Mark

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The Tuna Boat looks great. Good job on it. Like the others have said, the figure makes it come to life and gives it some sense of scale.

I think this LVT real name(from korea) is Marine Flower or flower of marine! in Vietnam we call Hoa Bien!

nice model! but I never seen this kind of camou flag before!

I don't know where "Marine Flower" comes into play, but O.K. The camo was used from the mid-'70s until the mid-'80s, when it was replaced by the current 3-tone NATO camo. It was called MERDC. More info on it here.

A few pics too.

aavp7a1-dvic381.jpg

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Edited by HeavyArty
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Translation is risky business. I wonder if "flower" in this case is what we would say "foliage." Like the old "Woodland" camouflage.

In truth, I kinda miss MERDC, although I like NATO tri-color, too. I assume MERDC might have been more work, especially to the extent that units really did vary the colors from each other. I confess, it's all more interesting than just "sand tan" to me.

Rampage has also done what I consider to be the best option for armor kits, too: display on a small, but not overpowering base, together with figures. It's really neat that the armor world has all those figure sets, I think, because model military vehicles seem to really come alive with scale "mannequins" which tell a mild story, demonstrate scale, and in general provide a frame of reference.

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uhm, other camouflag guys...

As HeavyArty suggests, I think ROK uses a variant of the old U.S. Army camouflage scheme developed in the late 1970s.

(...but I suspect there's still something lost in translation here).

To be honest, I think Korea was right to keep it, as it looks awesome, especially on their K1A1s.

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but i though the ROK camou was use in the korean war.......! incheon island, lots of LVT................

Nope, ROK vehicles were all OD green during the Korean War, just like their US and UN counterparts. Camo vehicles didn't come into fashion in western armies until the '70s. Any LVT in another color or camo has been repainted since the war.

It is not a good idea to use display or museum pieces as referances. They are often incorrectly painted or have incorrect parts for the time period they are supposed to represent.

Edited by HeavyArty
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