Trumpeter 1/35 M1082 LMTVT
By Jacob Russell
The M1082 LMTVT
LMTV is the acronym for Light/Medium Tactical Vehicles used by the United States Army. Many of these trucks pull the M1082 trailer. It is a single axle trailer with airbrakes and a 5 ton capacity. A canvas top can be added to the trailer to protect the cargo from the elements.
The Kit
The Trumpeter kit comes in a sturdy box with a nice illustration of the trailer behind a LMTV truck, driving "somewhere in the desert." It consists of 135 parts. 129 of these parts are plastic on 5 sprues. 4 of the sprues are grey plastic and 1 is clear plastic. There is also a small photo-etched fret with 6 tiny pieces, plus 2 soft plastic tires and a length of plastic coated wire.
This is a well detailed, somewhat complex kit for such a rudimentary vehicle! It is very well molded, with no flash to speak of on any of the parts. The soft plastic tires have very realistic tread detail. A notable omission is the canvas cover...
Trumpeter's instructions are very well done. They include a parts map and a logical, well illustrated build sequence. The small decal sheet and photo-etched parts are also impressive. Color callouts are for Gunze Mr. Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol paints. There is a separate, full color Painting & Marking Guide with 2 different color options. One of these is in a sand color and the other is in 3 color camouflage.
Conclusion
This is a nice, well detailed kit. I would recommend the purchase of Trumpeter's companion LMVT standard truck kit to go along with it. You could alternately build it as a stand alone model or as part of a diorama. I recommend this kit and I would like to thank Stevens International for the review sample.
References:
Global Security:
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m1082.htm