I'm working on a MEWT Bison right now for my Unit's display in the Communications and Electronics Museum here on base in Kingston. This has been a project that I have had on the go for quite some time; over a year. It was shelved due to health/temporary lack of "give a [auto-censored]", but I've resolved I am going to finish this after having sunk a lot of time and resources into it.

For those not aware of what a Bison is, it is the Canadian Forces variant of the General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) LAV-25. Bisons in the CF are employed in a variety of roles, from ambulances, command posts and transport. This particular build is of a MEWT, one of the specialized vehicles used in my Unit.

For this build I am trying to replicate one of the vehicles on my roto;



I decided to post up here as I am not the most experienced when it comes to scale modelling; I am learning as I go. I would appreciate any feedback/suggestions/criticism, I want to get this right after all.

Some build pics so far;



With some of the add on armour (AoA) applied, generator, mast and air conditioner unit partially complete.



The air conditioner with cage, generator cage and some EW gear have been added.



Some more AOA has been applied to the upper forward hull, as well some more EW specific antenna mountings have been added. Suspension and wheels all mounted; Italeri wheels and suspension on a Trumpeter lower hull = fun times....



The AC unit was rebuilt as I fudged the math and it was too large previously, now there is room for all the proper other bits that need to share space on the rear hull.



Picked up two "Canadians in Afghanistan" figures from "Black Dog" (I believe they are a Czech company) as EW operators; the level of detail on these guys is amazing and I'm hoping I can paint them up well enough to do the models justice.

That's all for now, working on the rest of the AoA, and starting into some of the smaller bits and bobs like the C6 mount and ancillary gear for the vehicle. Have some correct Michelin XML tyres on the way to replace the stock kit ones.

XML tyres and some more AoA + bits mounted;

You did a lot of work on this one. I didn't know this variant of the Bison.
Which kit are you using as a donor kit?

There are parts from both a Trumpeter USMC LAV 25 Mortar variant and an Italeri kit as well, managed to get an upper hull resin kit that was a very limited run so it saved me from having to scratch build that.

I'm farther along on this build, it's been going on for awhile so this post will compile all my previous ones from another forum here to catch up;






And a shot of one of my WIP crewmen, just need to apply the "CADPAT" effect to the BDU's;



In this shot you can also see the mud on the undercarriage and wheels; mixed a water based paint with granulated brown sugar to make it lump.


Finished the cam pole / tarp tentage / workspace off the rear, as well as the TCCCS radio antenna and some paint work on the generator plus another dirt wash;



Started on the display base, glue is still a little wet between the stones so it's white for the moment.

Thanks Mike, yeah figured I should get motivated once in a while

So starting to get down into the weeds now, I needed a 1:35 scale plastic water bottle for the TCCCS antenna but didn't want to pay $10 for one out of an accessories kit. Picked up some clear plastic rod stock and chucked it up in the drill press, then used various files to lathe it down to shape;



Here it be painted up and installed on the antenna;



"Tagging" or naming our Bison fleet is a bit of a tradition, this boat is henceforth named "Trogdor".



Working on the barracuda camouflage netting to go over the tarp, hoping to have it finished tonight.

Finished the "barracuda" type came net over the tarp;



It's vinyl sheet that was cut with an automated plotter, then stretched open to make it 3D. Light dust brown on top, medium brown on the underside. It's just draped for now as I wanted to get a pic up, the intent is to have both the net and the tarp secured tight to the base with stakes to stretch it tight.

Got the AoA plugs all done, just have to sand them to round off the sharp edges... Also test mounted the C6 on the crew commanders hatch.

Very nice build! Without going into classified details, what's a MEWT and what does it do?

It's an electronic warfare vehicle.

Two shots this morning, some new parts mounted;



Muffler mounted, smoke launchers (rear of hull) mounted - both were scratch build parts as I couldn't find suitable ones in any kit.



C6 mounted w/ ammo box on the crew commander's hatch, tow strap attached to clavicle under the front hull and stowed above winch assembly. I want to take a second crack at the cam net, so hopefully in the next few days I will have a new one - the current one isn't quite stretchy enough to allow it to open all the way so I'll have to come up with a new pattern for the plotter to cut that hopefully alleviates that problem.

Great build. Great pictures. Nice job.

Nice build so far. Just a question for you, the ground cover looks too rocky to me. What part of the AOR does it represent ?

Anthony

Pretty awesome build here!

Having just acquired some Voyager wheels for the LAV so it looks like one is in my immediate future now.







~ Jeff

Can you explain the process of making the camo netting? It looks great and I would LOVE to know how to make my own. Cheers.

Just north of a little town called Jelawar, in the Arghandab valley.

I used the below pattern I created to have a vinyl plotter cut the cam net out of vinyl;



Then it's a matter of painting and stretching it out. Although I'm not quite happy with it, going to tweak the pattern and see if I can get a better result.

Still puttering away on this;



Crew painted along with the "terp" figure. Mounted the vehicle on it's display base and have been doing some work on the front hull to finish the mirror mounting assembly, as well as the wiring on top for some of the EW gear.

All that is left is two antennas and some mounts, then wire the main mast and it's done!

Going to build a nice base for this and then some plexiglass to go over top.

Detail painting on figures finished; I took a week off before the "big push" to finish this to come at it with fresh eyes. This is scheduled to be on display @ the C&E Museum for 07 Aug 12 once my Unit SM approves it.



Two operators featuring authentic "OP Athena Sandy Bums"



And the interpretor, just chilling.... although to be authentic I might take a 1/32" drill bit to him and bore a whole in his mouth to put a cigar in...

She`s done!

Here are some shots of the finished product;



One of the antennas, I lathed this out of wood and here it`s pictured with a coat of white primer on it.

Here are some all around shots of the completed model;









And some close up shots;





Thank You to everyone here who offered advice, feedback and encouragement - nice to be finally done this build!

Not bad! What did you use for the rear view mirrors and mounts/headlight guards? Will you be adding some edging around the base?

Jim

Jim the mirror and headlight assemblies are from a Canadian Grizzly AVGP `late`model kit.

I will be finishing off the base, a nice painted edge with a felt bottom... I actually think another sloped layer of wood on the base would look great actually.

Finally went into the museum last month;



Despite swearing that I was done with scale modelling; I've picked up a Trumpeter LAV III kit. Planning on adding some RealModel aftermarket kits and building it up as a companion piece to the MEWT.