With the HobbyBoss UK WMIK Land Rover released, could one say that the US Ranger Land Rover SOF WMIK version would differ just by a change of the dashboard to mount the steering wheel to the left side, or would more changes be necessary comapred to the UK WMIK?

When was this HobbyBoss WMIK kit released, and any word on the other Land Rover kits HobbyBoss listed? Wasn't there supposed to be a hardtop, Ranger SOF WMIK, and Ranger SOF electronic variant?

There are quite a few other changes than just changing it from the correct to wrong side drive. Given how few RHD versions exist of the WMIK LR (French and Rangers) it makes sense to concentrate on the British Version to start with. Most manufacturers do not release all their variants in one go. The WMIK has only been available since Mar so I would expect the hardtop pretty soon.
Cheers
Al

Hi Al

Are you sure about French WMIK Landies ? The French Navy Special Forces (Commandos Marine) now use a handful of Land Rovers but they're not WMIK ones...They are built by Centigon :



More pics here :
http://www.journaldu4x4.com/?Defender-militaire-PATSAS-Centigon
http://servir-et-defendre.com/viewtopic.php?f=294&t=4884

Frenchy

They are probably the ones, I've only ever seen a head on shot.
Cheers
Al

That would be an interesting conversion, that one and the rsov are both based on the defender 110 station wagon type land rover. The British army land rovers are totally different when you compare them, even the SAS land rovers are different from the WMIK as they are based on the land rover defender 130 chassis. Also the czech SF land rover would be a cool one to do as well.

This is the Czech SF one I don't think it would take to much to convert the WMIK kit to this?

The Hardtop and the Ranger versions are coming.. just a matter of time.. and some patience





Hisham

Scott... that's a very cool pic of a very cool looking vehicle. Might be a bit difficult to scratch a ring for the Dshk they got in the back.. at least for my skills

Hisham

Nice! I saw the hardtop on their site, but that is the first pics of the Ranger one I have seen. Based on Hobbyboss's recent "posted on their site to actually released" time frame, the Hardtop version will be around August. The Ranger one is not listed now.

Hi All,

I saw pictures of the Hobby Boss Ranger SOV from one of the show reports. But to put the whole thing into a simple list regarding vehicle types:

The Hobby Boss WMIK and to be released Defender are based on the what has been called the 'Wolf' these vehicles are actually known as Truck Utility Light/Medium, (TUL = 90 and TUM = 110). The current service Land Rover has nothing in common with the older Defender. The vehicle has more in common with the Land Rover Discovery and the Range Rover.

The WMIK actually refers to the Weapons Mount Installation Kit and is a kit fitted to any Land Rover so early internet pictures will show both right hand and left hand drive vehicles. Early WMIKs were often based on a GS (no radio) chassis as the FFR are too valuable an asset, yes FFR variants do exist and have appeared in photographs. A true FFR has the extra alternator and battery box along with the dexion racking behind the front seats.

The SAS vehicle is based on a 110 chassis with a High Capacity Pick-up (HCPU) rear body, original these vehices had 3.5 litre V8 petrol engines, later versions had the updated Tdi engines. The last big operation for these SAS vehicles was in Afghanistan during the assault of Tora Bora. The vehicels are often known as a DPV (Desert Patrol Vehicle) but where actually known as Pinkies by the crews and not by the correct designation Special Operations Vehicle.

The Ranger SOV was originally built by Land Rover, and is based on the 110 Station Wagon, ie: it has the rear seats fittted, no doors and the WMIK style roll cage. They appear to be based on the Tdi engine and not the 3.5 litre petrol engined version.

In real terms the identifier for many of these variants will actually be the axle design and the bonnet. The UK spec vehicle has the fibre glass bonnet and the 'export' version has the more usual aluminium one.

The Hobby Boss WMIK has the rear seat on the wrong side, there is a picture of an Italian SOV based on a 90 chassis with the idential seat and on the same side as the Hobby Boss kit. Remeber that Hobby Boss is a Chinese company and would not have had access to service vehicles and the master kit would have been based on photographs. This is also why the front mounted antenna (TUAAM) mount seem undersized to the correct type. The kit has provided the much older Larkspur wing box married to the 'correct' Base Antenna Element (the metal bit) and the Base Antenna Support (the black bit).

For those of you wondering, how come I know so much about Spec Ops Landies - I have a mate who owns an original Pinkie (as the Tamiya kit) and he used to have access to the HCPU variants. The signals bit was easy, I was a Cbt Sig with the RE, spent a lot of time fiting and fixing Clansman to Landies.

One thing that does strike me, with the world being a very connected place - makes you wonder how Hobby Boss missed a few bits, I mean a quick post on a web site with the right question.......

Regards to all

Brian

Will have to check, but someone makes a resin Czech special forces vehicle. Historica, now out of business I understand, made several Land Rover variants to include: the Italian AR90 special forces vehicle (very similar to a WMIK, just with the 90" wheelbase- also modified by Ricardo Special Vehicles ), a Defender station wagon variant, and the basic AR90 short wheelbase version(managed to get one of these before the doors closed). A hobby store in France, I believe called Special East, still had some in stock a few months ago at pretty high prices--some around 130 Euros. Brian, like you I cannot figure out how Hobby Boss managed to miss the boat on so many details that are easy to see in open source pictures and publications. They also have late model features on what ,I assume, is supposed to be an early WMIK vehicle. The radio racking, normally associated with FFR vehicles, attached to the front of the roll cage just behind the crew seats is one such feature. Not sure if this is appropriate or not? What do you think? For anyone really interested or planning on building different versions, I would highly recommend purchasing a copy of Brookland Books(www.Brooklands-Books.com) Combat Land Rovers, Portfolio No.1 by Bob Morrison. It covers all of the versions being discussed here and has many excellent colour and B&W photos. It will give you a much clearer picture of the many variations in use; it especially has many articles/pictures on the Wolf variant. It is about 10 years old now (book is still available though), but the information is still the same; just no coverage of Iraq/Afghanistan operations. Tankograd's book Land Rover Defender is also a relatively inexpensive and useful book to have on hand; is from 2006, so has some colour pics of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is well worth the cost if planning on doing the series of vehicles Hobby Boss is planning on releasing. Sorry fo being long winded! Still am glad for Hobby Boss' kit!! Will be anxiously awaiting further releases!!

I believe it was AEF Designs. I recall a photo of one built up on their website, but no one could produce a photo of a kit or another photo online. In fact, I asked about that kit here on Armorama but no one replied. At the time, AEF had a price for the kit so I believe it was for sale.

I don't know of anyone buying it. I, for one, have the extremely rare AEF SEAL DPV ...

Hi Douglas,

I have the Brooklands title and it is a treasure trove of very useful pictorial information. Some of the text isa little off in places but that this due to the writers not being members of the Armed Forces. The UK Goverment has a no comment policy on the SAS and SBS.

Yes I have two of the Hobby Boss kits and was puzzled with the inclusion of the racking behind the seats and the inaccurate wing mounting plate (there shouldn't be a flange or bolt on the side). If a vehicle is an FFR they also should have the radio table/battery box in the rear and the additional alternator. There is also a voltmeter below the light switch and a box containg two pairs of terminals behind the left hand seat attached to the bulkhead. This is the 28v outlet and provides the power for the radio equipment. I should point out that the Accurate Armour Land Rovers don't have the associated FFR equipment.

There are a number of 'civilian' WMIKs but these are invariably based on a Defender chassis with a look-a-like kit added, these vehicles normally do not have the correct chassis or axle configuration. Once you look past this the picture becomes even less clear when the newer WMIKs are taken into consideration. The later vehicles are now a permanent fit and the latest ones are not even based on the older TUM chassis but based on the improved Snatch Land Rover. The Snatch Land Rover was withdrawn from service and given a large upgrade (Vixen) this program was not made public but the press was happy to point out that the 'Snatch' was still in service. This is a classic example of OPSEC (Operational Security) and this inormation was not given out due to the sensitive nature of operations and IED strikes. If you tell the bad guys the vehicle is better they make the bombs bigger! The Snatch has been withdrawn from serivce and Withams SV (a reseller of older MIOD vehicles) has been selling the bodies at tender/auction.

Wow another long post! I hoep this is of interest to you all and I still might expand on this thread if I can. In reference to the AEF Land Rover, AEF has ceased trading and I'm not going to comment further I have an AEF kit......

Regards

Brian

Brian-Thanks for the information; very interesting and useful indeed! Being in the colonies, I do not have the opportunity to see these vehicles in person and rely on printed info. Information from a person as yourself is key to getting the 'real' picture and getting the details correct. I do not know much on the radio equipment being used and what details should/should not be on the vehicles. Most FFR 'Wolves' I have seen are usually hard tops, have seen very few FFR WMIKs; thought this was something new, but did see a photo of an RAF Regiment WMIK with the radio racking taken in 2003 (Tankograd's book). The differences in vehicles sure does get muddled after time and everyone gets a whack at modifying-officially and unoffically-their equipment. Photos of privately modified 'civilian' vehicles-which some model companies seem to be using-further adds to the confusion. Guess this is from original post; I am also waiting for the U.S. ranger version as well; need something to put exiting from my 1/35 Chinook! And ,yes, the U.S. vehicle is a completely different vehicle from the British WMIK! I thought of converting one of Accurate Armour's WMIKs to a Ranger version when AA first released theirs but then discovered my error in vehicle types. No way will it work. I am sure there will be all kinds of details to get sorted out when these U.S. variants appear as well!

Nice to see another scaly back here Brian, and thank you for the useful information.

Hi Scott,

Always a pleasure to pass on knowledge, I had the oppurtunity to photgraph a SAS SOV a few years back, this vehicle is now a 'gate guardian' at Stirling Lines so is pretty much untouchable now.

Douglas, yes I would love to see the Ranger SOV, I found that they have a few variants too. I like the configeration of this particular vehicle, the extra boxes just make itlook so different. Cmon Hobby Boss release it please!

Regards

Brian