Just saw this on the Blast website. Whats next?
http://www.phpshopxml.com/blamod.shop/CID/82e500e1afed3941289c2338b9a38011/function/itemPageDisplay/shopItemCode/TRUM370
Bill

The Trumpeter 00370 USMC LAV-R Light Armored Vehicle Recovery
has been listed on the Trumpeter new releases on PMMS for quite a while....along with:

- 00371 USMC LAV-C2 Light Armored Vehicle Command & Control

-00372 USMC LAV-AT Light Armored Vehicle Antitank

So, I guess that answers your question of what is next.

Looks like the LAV-R will be selling for a very reasonable price. That's encouraging.

Jason
It'll be good to see if parts from the Recovery Lav could be used for the Bison Recovery vehicle. Can you tell if the crane arm is similar to the Bison's?
Bill

It should be pretty darn close to the one used on the Buffalo ARV.

Nice - and partly expected - that they keep extending the LAV family to include more versions.

I had not heard about the antitank version.

Thanks for the update

And here you can see, what is in the box:
http://www.trumpeter-china.com/war513/products/en_message.asp?id=501

Tomek that's great.
Now Jason if I remember correctly the crane on the Bison extends from the roof of the raised roof area. I have tried my Bookmarks but most of my ARV links are expired.
I'm sure you know this off the top of your head.
Bill

Here's two Canadian Bison ARV, thanks to Mark Stares for the images.
Bill

I was just going to post the second image...it is from the CF Combat Camera website.

As you can see the placement of the crane is pretty much as the Trumpeter kit but the Buffalo hull and the LAV-R hull differ in that the Canadian Buffalo extended superstructure is not as high as the LAV-R and the hull is extended wider....look at the image of the Buffalo at the Kandahar airport behind the commander's hatch and you can see how it is widened...compare it to the Trumpeter hull images. You can easily see the wider and lower upper hull on the Buffalo compared to the LAV-R.

Jason
I am confused now with all the wildlife.
The Bison is an older Lav 25 which is dimensionally smaller than the Lav 3 is that correct. The Lav 3 is what Trumpter is depicting in these variants. The Buffalo is another newer Canadian manifestation based on the Lav 3 and this is the one currently in use in Afghanistan?
I see what you mean about the wider hull behind the driver. So, to convert the Lav 3 into a Buffalo you'd modify (lengthen and widen) the hull top but could you use the crane and other various bits?
Bill

The Buffalo is the name of the Bison based Canadian LAV 8 x 8 ARV....it is not built on the LAV III hull...it is built on the 8 x 8 LAV hull...i.e. Bison hull.

Trumpeter is basing their kits on the 8 x 8 LAV chassis. Only their Stryker is based on the LAV III hull.

You cannot convert a LAV III into a LAV 8x8 as used by the Bison, Buffalo, Coyote, LAV-25, LAV-R.

I am not sure if the Canadian and US cranes are the same...They are likely very similar but I don't know if they are exact....probably not.

Clear as mud?

Jason
I know you know what you're talking about, it is just hard to get my head around the nomenclature.
Is the Buffalo the same as the Bison?
Could you use the new Trumpeter ARV kit to make a Buffalo?
Is the Lav 25 what you're calling a Lav 3?
I have an Italari kit of the Lav 25 which is in the process (stalled) of being converted to a Bison. What I really wanted to do was to make a Bison ARV, but first I need to sort out where I can rob the crane from.
Sorry for being so thick.
Bill

FYI y'all, we received our review sample from Stevens and will be reviewing it shortly at AMPS, so stay tuned.

Danny Egan
President
AMPS

Join us....still a bargain, especially in Canada....http://www.amps-armor.org

The Buffalo is the Canadian 8 x 8 ARV....the Bison is the 8 x 8 APC.....same hull.

The LAV 25 hull is completely different than the LAV III....basically the same turret.

I think the new Trumpeter LAV-R will be the best place to start for a Bison....now...still lots of mods needed to the upper hull....but easier than the LAV 25 hull.

Jason
I understand now. The Bison is the APC and the Buffalo is the ARV. I always thought that the Bison had the ARV and the Engineier version.
So you think that the best way to get to the Bison is with the new Trumpeter eh?
Thanks for sticking with me on this I appreciate your patience.
Bill

The Trumpeter LAV-R already has the commander's hatch behind the driver's hatch...the LAV-25 does not.

Granted many other changes will have to be made on the LAV-R...right from the headlights to the driver's hatch to the superstructure to the smoke grenade dischargers.....and of course to the rear hull....the Bison and Buffalo have a ramp the LAV-R has two doors like the LAV-25.

Lots of work ahead for a Bison or Buffalo.

Jason
Thanks for the to do list, it seems daunting. I have the Maple Leaf models lights, jerry cans, new tires and I await other "in progress" things from Maple Leaf to see which Canadian project I will spend a year of my life working on. I stalled on my Bison when I could not find that particular reference picture of where the roof meets the back of the cupola, is that short wall vertical or angled slightly?
For you Canadian Armour gurus it would be an interesting conversion article for us less familiar with the genre. I know much has been done with the Italeri mortar carrier, Mr. King has done the extensive Cdn. Lav 3 from the Trumpeter kit (as have other no doubt), I remember a very nice ARV in UN colours some time ago.
I'll have to search the net for comparison pictures to satisfy my visual way of understanding things.
Thanks Jason

Just to confuse you even more , there's the Husky, the 6x6 version (same lower hull as Grizzly, Cougar). I suspect the Trumpeter LAV-R crane will be closest to what the Husky has. Here's the Husky:




And a Buffalo:




I think the crane on the Buffalo is a different HIAB model, maybe the next size up. Hopefully I can track one down and get some measurements.
Either way, there's lots of interesting scratchbuilding ahead!

Jim

Thanks Jim hadn't seen these before. These Husky ARV's have the props still, what time period are these pictures? Once upon a time in my naive bliss I thought I'd attach the HIAB crane from the Academy M113 Fitter to my Bison and be on with things but then I discovered the critical masses of Missing Links, Armorama and 54 Modern Canadian Vehicles I am a much more cautious modeler (and better for it too!).
It has been a year since I thought about my Bison but my interest is warming once again.
Are you or have you built the Husky? Bison?
Thanks for the photos.
Bill
PS
Just read your profile and looked through your photos, you're the man to talk to about Cdn. ARV's!

Jason
Why does the Canadian Military call the vehicle at the Kandihar Airport a Bison ARV and you call it a Buffalo? No wonder I am confused.
http://army.ca/wiki/index.php/Bison
Bill

The moniker of "Buffalo" never really caught on in the EME world. It seemed easier to just call it Bison MRT and thats what it is mostly refered to as.

cheers

So, is this right they are one in the same thing? Jason made a point of saying that the Buffalo and the Bison were built from the same hull but implied that they were two seperate vehicles?
[quote]The Buffalo is the Canadian 8 x 8 ARV....the Bison is the 8 x 8 APC.....same hull.
/quote]
Can some one show me two of these vehicles side by side please?
Bill

The Bison MRT(Mobile Repair Team) and the Bison ARV (Buffalo) are two different vehicles.

I don't think the MRT has the HIAB crane.

When the Bison fleet was purchased back in the earlys 90s there were 32 Bison Mobile Repair Team vehicles and 32 Bison Recovery vehicles puchased.

OK, Bison MRT.....



Bison Amb......



Bison APC.....



I think this is a TAC 9 variant....



As far a I know we never got Bison recovery vehicles, just the mrt's.

cheers