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Armor/AFV: Modern - USA
Modern Armor, AFVs, and Support vehicles.
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OIF LAV 25's
afv_rob
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England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
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Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 11:31 PM UTC
Sorry if this is a dumb question that is going to annoy the 'experts', ive done some research and looked and lots of pics!

Ive picked up the Trump LAV 25, with Echelons decals and voyager etch. I want to use the decal scheme from the sheet which shows a vehicle in 3 tone nato scheme. I know the Trump kit needs a little work, but what do I need to do to create a fairly accurate LAV without loads of scratch building(ive done too much of that laterly ) I know the driver and gunner sights are no good, but were any OIF LAV's still fitted with these sights? If I updated the sights, do I then need to add other SLEP details? And are there many LAV's in Iraq without the SLEP exhaust cover? Are all OIF LAV's fitted with the M240 mount?

Sorry about all the questions, any help would be much appreciated. Experts feel free to tell me to get lost a look harder
HeavyArty
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 12:37 AM UTC
There were/are plenty of LAVs running around without the SLEP upgrades. They are upgraded as they go through the rebuild cycle. Not all have been back for rebuild yet. All have the M240 coax and one up top for the TC to use, which are both missing from the kit.
Tankleader
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 12:45 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Sorry if this is a dumb question that is going to annoy the 'experts', ive done some research and looked and lots of pics!

Ive picked up the Trump LAV 25, with Echelons decals and voyager etch. I want to use the decal scheme from the sheet which shows a vehicle in 3 tone nato scheme. I know the Trump kit needs a little work, but what do I need to do to create a fairly accurate LAV without loads of scratch building(ive done too much of that laterly ) I know the driver and gunner sights are no good, but were any OIF LAV's still fitted with these sights? If I updated the sights, do I then need to add other SLEP details? And are there many LAV's in Iraq without the SLEP exhaust cover? Are all OIF LAV's fitted with the M240 mount?

Sorry about all the questions, any help would be much appreciated. Experts feel free to tell me to get lost a look harder


Hello Rob,
The original sight configuration for the USMC LAV25 had a DIM36, and daysight body mounted to the intermediate body, the DIM36 was a 1st Generation Thermal with the squared ballistic cover. The Commanders sight consisted of the M36 mounted to the intermediate body along with a passive elbow and the rounded ballistic cover. This would be the correct configuration for the original gulf war. Now in 1995 the Marine Corps upgraded the gunner’s night sight to the Hire 1 thermal. This was a change to how the vehicle looked internally but externally it maintained the original ballistic cover over the gunner’s sight. The Slep program kicked off in 1999 and ended in FY2005. So during OIF you had a mix of Sleped and UnSleped vehichles running around. This howeve had no effect on what the sight covers looked like. This year the Turret is receiving massive upgrades, on which I am planning on writing an article on. These upgrades include an add on armor package, 2nd Generation Flir sight, new Nav System and a host of other items.


Short, Re-engage

Andy
Tankleader
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 12:48 AM UTC

Quoted Text

There were/are plenty of LAVs running around without the SLEP upgrades. They are upgraded as they go through the rebuild cycle. Not all have been back for rebuild yet. All have the M240 coax and one up top for the TC to use, which are both missing from the kit.


Gino,
Correct with one minor exception. During OIF there were a combination of vehicles in theatre so you will need to research the vehicle you are modeling. All of the LAV's have been SLEP'ED that program finished about 2 years ago, with new upgrades happening now, most of the vehicles are essentially being unslepped. There are tons of new upgrades coming NOW, that will drastically change the way the USMC LAV appears. Especially with the add on armor on the turret and hull plus the new nav and sight systems. There is confusion among many modelers doing the LAV because as soon as the SLEP program ended new modifications that were being added essentially started undoing what the SLEP did. The biggest visible change is the switch back to the smaller muffler.

Tanks & Smaller Weapons
Andy

afv_rob
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 01:45 AM UTC
Wow, thanks for the help guys!

If I understand correctly Andreas-I can leave the old kit gunners sights as these would work for an unSLEPed vehicle of which there were some in Iraq?

If I built the kit from the box using the voyager etch set and adding the Gun mount to the turret, would that be accurate for a version seen in OIF? Do you have any detailed shots of the newer type of sights?
Tankleader
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 01:57 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Wow, thanks for the help guys!

If I understand correctly Andreas-I can leave the old kit gunners sights as these would work for an unSLEPed vehicle of which there were some in Iraq?

If I built the kit from the box using the voyager etch set and adding the Gun mount to the turret, would that be accurate for a version seen in OIF? Do you have any detailed shots of the newer type of sights?


Rob,
I'll see what I can come up with, but it may be a day or so.

afv_rob
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 03:17 AM UTC
Id appreciate that Andreas-No rush, ive got to build the hull first!
Tankleader
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 12:30 PM UTC
I've attached a couple of drawings that show the different types of Sight shields in use on the USMC LAV25. Something to remember is that the ballistic covers are just that covers and they can be moved from one sight to the other without too much trouble.

This cover style was used on the initial LAV’s through the first Gulf War.



This second style cover appeared at the end of the first Gulf war and covered the Gunners side only, the commanders side didn't change from the cover above.


Now, with the latest upgrades, the cover from the image above is being moved to the commanders side and the gunner is getting a system that looks like this from the outside. This is a post OIF modification



As I stated in an earlier post the SLEP program completed about two years ago, and almost immediately new upgrades were being applied that made the LAV even better, but necessitated that some of the SLEP mods be removed. I hope this helps.

Tanks Out
Tankleader
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 12:33 PM UTC
Gary,
Based on your images, you need to add the ballistic cover from the second picture to your gunner's side and the cover from the first picture to the commander's side. You also need to add the third antenna mount between the first two, you won't mount an antenna there but only the bracket that the antenna mounts too.

Tanks
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