1:72 LAV-150 Commando AFV w/ Cockerill 90mm Gun

The Commando on wheels, with a gun in a small turret

The Commando family of armored vehicles came about at the start of the 1960s as a private offering by an American firm to armies that needed an inexpensive, fast and easily maintained vehicle. The bet paid off. A boat-shaped hull with high ground clearance, drive to all four wheels and the ability to swim without preparation made the type an export hit: it served from Southeast Asia through the Middle East to Latin America, and the American military police patrolled with it in Vietnam.

This is the gun variant. A Belgian low-pressure gun of 90 mm caliber found its way into the two-man turret, a weapon with little recoil that the light hull can carry and that will still deal with armored targets and a fortified nest. With it the vehicle stops being merely a carrier and becomes mobile support for a column.

The 1:72 scale suits vehicles like this. The model is small enough to fit into a diorama with a street, a bridge or a checkpoint, and at the same time large enough for the wheels, the grilles and the equipment on the hull to be made out on it. Wheeled vehicles also do away with the worry of tracks, so the build moves along briskly. It is enough to set off the rubber tires with a different shade and the vehicle looks alive at once.

Glue, paints and a base for the model are not included in the package. What shows most on the finished vehicle is a dusty film on the underside of the hull and on the sides of the wheels. Light dust on dark paint moves the finished vehicle straight from the display case into the terrain where the real subject spent most of its service.