Modern Imperial Ethiopian LAV-150's

[Old Wombat]

So, I was inspired by the Africa GB thread to start building 2 pretty-much OOB HobbyBoss 1/35th 90mm gunned LAV-150's (both Mecar & Cockerill).

Theory is covered in the "Africa GB" thread & in the "Camouflage & Markings" forum but here's the body of it;

The theory is that;
- in 1974 the Brit's & US supplied sufficient equipment, money & merc's to counter the Cuban, East German & North Korean input;
- Haile Selassie was not killed & his forces defeated the rebels;
- this resulted in Ethiopia not facing a further 17 years of civil war;
- Eritrea remains a problem until the early-80's when Arab Islamic clerics accidentally pronounces jihad bil saif (holy war) against all Christians in Eritrea;
- by 1985 Eritrea is split; the provinces of Bakara, Sahil, Senhit, Hamasen & Seraye becoming the "Protectorate of Eritrea" under Ethiopian rule, while the provinces of Samhar, Akale Guzay & Denakil are absorbed into Somalia as "North Somalia";
- British, Commonwealth & US forces are regularly stationed in Ethiopia but, officially, in training & supporting roles, whilst protecting the construction of an artificial harbour & port facilities in the Eritrean province of Sahil;
- 1990's see ongoing border skirmishes with North Somalia & Somalia, plus actions (with limited Kenyan support) in Sudan in support of non-Muslim rebels in Sudan's southern provinces.

So, what I want to do is a couple of 90mm gunned LAV-150's in action either in the Somali border conflicts or in Sudan.

The camo is WhIf & (when I finally find someone to print them up for me) so are the markings.

However, as you will see, I had an epic fail on the masking. This is a user error, not equipment failure. It was my first time using liquid masking (in conjunction with tape) &, not only did I put on too many of the smaller bits-&-pieces, I tried to be too frugal with the mask.

Anyway, what's done is done &, if I'm lucky enough to get the job I want, in the time I have available, I can't fix it - so, I'll try to hide it with weathering, etc.
However, I really like the pattern & for the region I think it works brilliantly.

Here's a sneak peak:

[Maverick]

Gorgeous pattern.  Perhaps you could put the errors up as 'wear & tear' given the nature of the environment and African nations routinely being fairly shoddy with regards to maintenance?

Regards,

Mav

[Old Wombat]

thanks, Mav.

Yeah, that's what I'm going to try to do & it kinda goes with the field-applied camo look, too.

[ChernayaAkula]

Had you kept shtum about the error, I would have asked how you achieved this effect. Okay, so what did actually go wrong? 

[Old Wombat]

Oh-Kay....

Process:

1. Paint each vehicle with a different OD base coat (Tamiya OD1 & Tamiya OD2) from rattle cans (I don't have an airbrush yet).
2. Cover OD, red-brown & desert sand areas in tape masks cut from a print-out of the pattern below.
3. Spray with Tamiya Wooden Deck Tan (rattle can) & let dry.
4. Remove tape from over OD areas & paint liquid mask over the OD & WDT areas.
5. Remove tape from Desert Sand areas & spray with Tam. rattle can (decide it's too similar to WDT & over-paint with Dark Yellow (can), then Desert Yellow (brush)) & let dry.
6. Paint liquid mask over Desert Dark Sand Yellow areas.
7. Remove tape from Red Brown areas, spray & let dry.
8. Remove liquid mask..................... 

Step 9: Discover that I had painted on the liquid mask too thinly & that it was not holding together well enough to be removed easily (eventually I resorted to soaking the hulls in water, which worked OK, sorta, but it had negative effects on the white glue used to fit the clear parts & the mask was so thin in some places as to be non-existant) & during the mask removal process I discovered that with the mask not coming off as easily as I had expected (the ignorance of unfamiliarity) most of the smaller, delicate bits (rear-view mirrors, protective frames, etc.) were in danger of being damaged & several were.

Lessons Learned:

1. DON'T apply liquid mask too thinly - get at least one good coat on or double coat if necessary.
2. DON'T fit small pieces prior to painting (an old habit I had forgotten over the years).
3. DO a test paint of the colours to ensure a sufficient contrast.

Still, I've had some (lots of) practice covering painting errors in the past, so I'll find a way to fix it.


..... & I still love the pattern!

[rickshaw]

Bit complex but a nicely executed cam patterns.   When you said LAVs, I assumed they'd be LAV-25 variants, not Cadillac-Gage ones! 

[Captain Canada]

Those both look awesome. Like the boys were saying, if you hadn't made mention of it, I would have thought it was ab awesome job of a worn-out paint job !

[chrisonord]

I was going to say exactly what Mav said, as it would not look out of place all scratched and scruffy in an African countries service.
Chris.

[Mossie]

I'm with the others, I thought it was weathering!  Maybe take some fine grade wet 'n dry & gently work at the 'chips' to give a more natural worn look?

[Old Wombat]

Thanks for the support, guys!

I was going to do weathering, anyway, & the field-applied paintwork style was intentional. Now I just have to do the weathering differently (& more heavily) to cover errors, rather than as something of a (lighter) highlighting style. C'est la guerre!

[Taiidantomcat]

Very nice and accidentally authentic!! 

[Doc Yo]

  Problems aside, these are some terrific looking paint schemes!

[Weaver]

I'm with the others, I thought it was weathering!  Maybe take some fine grade wet 'n dry & gently work at the 'chips' to give a more natural worn look?

Yeah, and me: I think it looks just like the sort of thing you'd see out there. Embrace the happy accident!

(If they do a 1/72nd version of those LAV-150s I'm going to be eating cold beans out of a can for a months because I WILL buy some)

[Mossie]

Yeah I'd like a couple in 1/72.  I'd kill for it's smaller brother, the Scout, but I'm not expecting to have to murder anyone anytime soon...

Anything special planned for the turrets wombat?  I'll be impressed if you can whiff up some new armament for the Commando, they stuck just about everying on them & I swear I've seen a pic of one with a kitchen sink!

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, folks!

Mossie: The LAV-150's are basic Out-of-the-Box builds. So nothing special with the weapons/turrets, maybe a little extra detailing (like ammo boxes fitted to the MG's, & commander &/or gunner figures) & there's a teeny-tiny external stores mod to one of the hulls. This WhIf is mostly about the camo & markings & the slightly modified history leading up to them.

I'll admit that when I bought them I was thinking about doing them opened up.... then I saw pictures of the insides of a real 90mm-gunned LAV-150 & decided against it because the innards of a 90mm Cockerill-gunned LAV are cramped & crowded & the turret basket is basically a scaled-down version of an M1A1 Abrams turret interior.

Wa-ay beyond my skill-set or passion for detail. Not that I don't appreciate that kind of detailed work when others do it, it's just too picky & finicky for me.