LVT-4 Buffalo Amtrac

I am in the process of building a Commando team to fight alongside my partisans for games of Bolt Action. The force is taking its time to put together, but now I have transport for them.

I am also going to use these models as UNIT troops for some Doctor Who scenarios that I have been thinking about, the LVT will probably not be used for these games.

As well as this model, the Commandos plastic boxed set I also have a couple of blisters, a Mortar Team and the Vickers MMG Team.

Commando LVT-4 Buffalo Amtrac

The Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) is an amphibious warfare vehicle and amphibious landing craft, introduced by the United States Navy. The Marine Corps and Army used several LVT models during World War II. Five hundred were provided to the British Army. Originally intended solely as cargo carriers for ship to shore operations, they evolved into assault troop and fire support vehicles.

I was pleased to get for a present the Warlord LVT-4 Buffalo Amtrac for Bolt Action.

Bolt Action Commando LVT-4 Buffalo Amtrac

The LVT-4 is a 1/56th scale 28mm resin and metal kit and comes in a box with a picture of the completed model on the front.

The model comprises four resin parts, the hull, two tracks and the rear ramp.

Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT)

Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT)

There are metal components for the mudguards, benches and machine guns.

Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT)

The resin pieces were nice clean castings with virtually no flash and minimal casting “plugs” that needed to be removed. I did very little cleaning, and as I went over the castings I was impressed with the quality of the castings.

I washed the resin in warm soapy water to remove any remaining mould lubricant.

Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT)

The next stage will be glueing the pieces together. There aren’t too many parts to this model, so I thought it would be a simple build, but in the end I made a mistake which meant having to start again.

The problem arose when adding the tracks to the main hull. Unlike when building Flames of War resin models which include notches for the tracks, the LVT-4 Buffalo tracks had no way of indicating where they were placed on the hull.

Doing a dry run I thought I had it right, but when I came to place the rear mudguards I realised I had them on too far back! So I had to remove the tracks, then attach the rear mudguards before replacing the tracks.

Apart from that, the rest of the model went together really easily.

The next step will be a white undercoat.

Having given the model a white undercoat I then gave the model a base coat of British Armour Green.

There were lots of undercuts which meant careful spraying.

Overall I was quite pleased with the initial results, and the next stage will be adding the British markings.

Here are some more photographs of the model.

Warlord LVT-4 Buffalo Amtrac for Bolt Action

This is a well detailed model.

Warlord LVT-4 Buffalo Amtrac for Bolt Action

Warlord LVT-4 Buffalo Amtrac for Bolt Action

Warlord LVT-4 Buffalo Amtrac for Bolt Action

Thinking I might need to get some jeeps for my commandos.