I was cruising the military toy isle at Toys R Us and came across a couple of items to add to my Joe army.
First is one I've been waiting for for quite some time in the 1/18 scale line. The LVTP-7 AMTRAC. Though the True Heroes toy lines call it the Steel Badger.
For those of you not familiar with the LVTP-7 AMTRAC, it is a tracked amphibious vehicle used by the Marines Corps to ferry them from Naval ships to the land. The first role was just to go back and fourth to the ships, but their roles changed as the vehicles became better armored and armed. They then moved into a troop support role and moved with the troops inland.
LVTP stands for Landing Vehicle Tracked Personnel. AMTRAC is short for Amphibious Tractor. This is the real thing...
After I took the AMTRAC out of the package, I had mixed feelings about it. If I was shown this thing for 15 seconds and then had it taken away, I'd say it was cooler than cool. Is very accuaratly detailed, from the winch on the front, to the gunner's turret, to the hatches across the roof, along the sides with tools and accessories, down to the tracks and wheels.
After getting more than 15 seconds to look at it, I realized it wasn't quite what I had thought.
True Heroes is made by Chap-Mei. I've never had anything of theirs, and I'm not too sure I'd buy too much more of their stuff. It really is nothing more than a plastic shell, detailed on the outside to resemble the AMTRAC.
The driver's hatch and commander's hatch do not open, however the hatch on the gunner's turret does, and it can fit a 3 ¾ in. figure nicely. This model features two machine guns protruding from the turret, I'd call them 50cals, though a real AMTRAC has one 50cal and MK-19 grenade launcher. There is a molded ammo belt that feeds them and the turret it also armed with smoke grenade launchers on the outside. The turret rotates 360 degrees, and has good detail. Make sure any figure you put in there has a firm grip on its weapon, there is an open space at the bottom of the turret that opens into the front of the vehicle. The back troop area is closed off from the front, so if a gun is propped in there, may as well kiss it good by.
The only other feature of the vehicle is the ramp that lowers in the back to deploy the Marines after coming ashore. The interior of the troop compartment is void of detail, save for the internal ribbing used to support the the vehicle's interior. It could probably hold five or six figures in a sitting position, depending on how you cram them in there.
It does have wheels underneath for rolling and no, it doesn't float. In the package, it is screwed to the packaging and that left two ¼ in holes in the bottom. If you need it to float, I'm sure you could break the threaded part from the screw and plug the hole with it.
Although it is very detailed on the outside, one item that is missing, and this would only be obvious to those who know the details of the vehicle, is the water propulsion system. Looking at the rear of the vehicle,directly above the rear sprocket of the the tracks is an open space. On the real vehicle, this is where the water propulsion system is located. It works somewhat like an impeller you'd find on a personal water craft (as I understand it).
The Steel Badger comes with one accessory and two figures. The accessory is a small gun, similar to a FLAK cannon. It can rotate, but not elevate. There are two buttons on top. One has voice that says “fire!” and has gun noises, the other makes the sound of incoming mortar fire. This also causes the barrel to light up. There are pegs mounted on the top of the vehicle to which the gun fits so as to sit on the top of the rear of the vehicle, and it sits securely.
The two figures are defiantly the lowest point of the set. As I said, I've never had anything from Chap-Mei, and these figures leave a whole lot to be desired. The first is a guy dressed in black, wearing a green beret. His articulation is limited to what I call old school Star Wars; hips and shoulders and rotating head. The hands are molded to hold the included weapons, just not in a remotely realistic way. I will say, for both figures, the detail is very good, too bad they aren't better articulated, there is a lot of potential there. The other figure is dressed in camouflage, and holds an M-16 with M-203. This guy is 100%molded into position, absolutely no articulation or movement what so ever. Like the little green army man, only bigger. The figures come with a plastic tree of guns, tools and accessories. An over sized MP-5 and knife, a back pack (they have Joe-esque screw holes in their backs for backbacks) and a shovel.
These guys and the gun will most defiantly be finding their way into the parts bin or eBay bin. They really can't even be used to customize and Joes.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f298/ottotheotter/My%20Joes/Non-Joe%20Vehicles%20and%20Aircraft/VehicleLVTP-7AMTRAC03.jpgIf you're wondering about it looking like a G.I.*JOE vehicle, yes, it does resemble the Night Rhino and Warthog, both of those being based on the LVTP-7 as well. Both of those are nice vehicles, but about as half as short as they should be. I was going to buy a couple of those from Darren Howlett and cut the front from one and the back from the other and make a more accurately scaled AMTRAC, but I came across this and decided to give it a look-see.
All in all, am I happy with the purchase? Meh. Yes and no; I'm glad to finally have an AMTRAC in my unit and it will customized. If anything it will be repainted more accurately. Gotta get rid of the WWII American invasion star on the side as well as the “soldier.” Yeah. Call a Marine a soldier, see how quickly you find yourself on the floor. (Honestly Army, I love you guys. By far the greatest army in the world. It's just that we Marines, well...we're just better. Nuthin' but love to ya, nuthin' but love!)
Is it worth the $24.00 price tag? Not by a long shot, I'd pay that if it had more accessories and better figures and was a little more solidly built. Wait till it makes it to the clearance price bin if you find yourself in need of a ride for your Marines.
[/img]http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f298/ottotheotter/My%20Joes/Non-Joe%20Vehicles%20and%20Aircraft/VehicleLVTP-7AMTRAC08.jpg[/img]
Pluses: Detail (even though it's only molded on detail), nice gun turret, opening ramp on back
Negs: Figures, driver and commander hatches don't open, not really worth the price.
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Some people, when trying to avoid thinking about those things that cause them pain, turn to drink, food, or drugs...I turn not to any of those...I collect action figures. Over the years, I've found that alcoholism is much more socially acceptable by far.
