Thanks John.

I'm using the Trumpeter Bustle Bin with some changes - using Ray's photo above and the other photos I have for the mods I've done.

I'm happy with the way it has come out - it was a bit of fun.

I'll post pics of my turret in the next few days with the assembled bins. I also based the other scratched bins on the MH resin bins in the conversion kit.

Mouse House Bustle bin



ASLAV bin




Cheers,

Paul

Hi Guys !

A bit of an update.

The turret baskets have basically been finished (a little bit of clean-up to do still on the mesh and rod).

I scratch built the side bins using photos for reference, and the MH resin baskets as a guide for sizes / lengths etc. 0.5mm styrene rod and 0.25mm sheet was what I ended up using (good old evergreen, you've got to love it !!). I made a balsa template and bend the rod on that. In hindsight it would have been better to have made a fixture out of a harder material, but the end result is still Ok.

The rear (bustle bin) was the Trump Lav-25 bin modified. A few bits removed and new styrene additions made. I also used those cool Mig PE rivets (you see them on the 'sheet-metal').

The mesh is the Pewter MH sheet that comes with the ASLAV PII conversion (this stuff is great to form and file / cut as it's nice and soft). It looks good in the flesh I think.

I dry fitted a few bits onto the turret to give a basic feel of what it'll look like (for the photo's), but it's pretty rough and there are a lot of bits missing ! More work there this weekend I think

John at Mouse House has been 'awesomely' helpful with extra bits to help make this a Phase III (thanks John !!), you can see the additional gunners sight used to replace the commanders version (although they both are yet to have the covers fitted).

I think I'll do the Hull tie downs next - the Gator glue arrived the other day.







I forgot to add the tie-downs to the turret sides and rear (damn !!), I'll have to do that later now. It would have been a lot easier to have done it prior to fitting the baskets.

BTW the baskets will end up with a lot of stowage in, and hanging from them !!

PS: any suggestions on what I should use for the stowage would be REALLY appreciated, as well as a tip on where to get that 'cool stuff' ??

Cheers,

Paul

Pawlak, The bustle racks look great, nice clean fabrication. Real Model has some cool modern stowage.
http://realmodel.cz/zen/

Keep up the good work!

Bill

Thanks Bill, I'll check that out !

Mouse House have some really nice Aussie stuff too from what I can see - although I'm not 100 % on which of these would be appropriate, including ammo liners.

Any suggestions ? Ray ?

What about packs etc, which would be best for the Aussie versions ?

Cheers,

Paul

Hey mate she is looking good.

Dont forget however that the turret hatches are very different between phase 2 and 3. Phase 2 is what you have now. Phase 3 the hinge mechinisms are much higher to allow the hatches to fold all the way back and lock back flat, with a gap between the turret roof and the hatch so they dont block the commanders periscopes. (See the pic of my 25 in this thread, with hatches supplied by MH from the still unrealeased PH3 kit)

As for stowage i reckon just go off the photos you have of the vehicle you are modelling. Some suggestions would be a large tow rope in the rear bin, as well as some packs and painted 25mm and 40mm liners. A fluro panel marker on top would be ok too. The side bins id suggest belt/chest webbing and an infantry helmet and some 7.62mm liners for the flex. Some keep F88Cs in there as well, and lots of loose easy to grab mags for it.

Thanks mate apprieciate the kind words, but having spent so much time fumbling through this i think ill leave that to the experts! Your interior is awesome work, and more accurate than you think.



Same place as mine mate. Put one on the engine access panel down by the commanders leg. There is a bracket in the back for the other one. Most like to keep it up top strapped next to the commander anyway.

Thanks Ray.

That's awesome info !

I'll take your advise on stowage. I know Bill asked the question about packs from the M1A1 stowage. I may use some of those as well, what do you think about them ?

I'll get some liners from MH when I order the PC conversion in the next few days.

As for the hatches, I'm not sure what to do. I'll check your photo again. Can you get some more close-up pics of your MH pre-release hatches or of the real thing ?

Perhaps I should modify the existing ones. Otherwise this goes on hold until the Phase III stuff is released.

Maybe I'll swing into a LAV-25 or the ASLAV PC, it'd be a shame as I'm not that far away from finishing with just the turret finishing, the hull 'stick on bits', a scratched camo basket, and a few rear bits to do. The harder stuff has been completed.

Cheers,

Paul

Heres the MH Phase 3 bits

Tacked onto mine.

And the real thing. You can see the bumpstop on the back is part of the MH kit. Its a three position hatch. Closed, Upright like Phase 2, or folded all the way back.


Also note that the sight heads are much more detailed in the MH Ph3 kit, but it wouldnt be hard to update the ones you have with a few of those handy Mig bolts. Youll need to scratch the parts in front of the sights you can see on my Phase 3, another very easy task. Oh, and note the coax barrel is just cut off the M249 that comes with the figures in the kit.


You have done very well so far, it would be a huge shame to stop now just for the hatches. You could continue right up to the finished model, then just paint the MH hatches seperatly and glue them on last when they are released. Or just scratch them!

The only reason im waiting is mine is a bar armour Iraq car, and the yet to be realeased kit has everything i need externally. I have too short a temper to try scratching bar just yet!!

Thanks Ray, You're a huge help !

I'll do what you suggest - sounds like I need to take the existing hinges off for the new hatch by the look of your model.

Those MH castings look really nice and crisp. It'll be awesome when they get this conversion out there

I'll work on the tie downs this weekend I think (if I get time).

Cheers

Paul

This is a great walk around link:

Edit updated to main page instead of one pic

http://www.warwheels.net/LAV25aussieKnowles.html

Cheers

Paul

Jason,

The details for the interior placards and warning signs are below. Actually the idea from the placards came from some reference photos you posted for me. I was working on an M577A1 and you posted some drivers bay, interior and roof pics to help me. Thanks.

I just posted a few pics of the finished product on a different thread:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/126476&page=1#1051337

Archer US and Allied interior placards http://www.archertransfers.com/AR35210W.html and U.S. interior placards http://www.archertransfers.com/AR35211.html. The most useful set was http://www.eduard.cz/ TP516 M-1025 Color photo etched set – ZOOM. They are made for the HMMWV but they have a good mix of the coloured warning placards that seem to populate the inside of our health and safety conscious AFV these days.

Paul,

As for your ASLAV25 stowage question. Give the mouse house backpacks set a go. They are quite accurate for Aust issue packs and webbing. Their stowage kit is also good as it has all the stuff to stow a RAAC vehicle. V accurate. The jaffel iron and brew mugs crack me up. Best of luck painting the Auscam though.

Ray,

Thanks for the tips on the styer stowage. I have seen that some commanders stow their F88s on the cupola handle over the engine intake panel. Something like the handle fitting into the hole between the optic sight and receiving group. Is that the way to go?

Thanks Wayne.

I've just ordered those bits thanks to you (although I can't find the backpacks on the MH website I've asked the question).

I've got the AusCam colors sussed out with mixed Tamiya colors, and I'll be masking each color with Bluetack when I get around to it. It'll be fun.

Hopefully the MH crewset is not far away, nor is the PhIII Conversion.

BTW: the Mouse House PC conversion is coming my way very soon (next week).

How cool is the ASLAV PC with that RWS ?



Ray any more work on your PC ?

Time to go and play with that AFV Club M151

Cheers

Paul

Thanks for posting that up mate. Ill get some as they will come in very handy for my build. Cheers.



Ive got a photo somewhere. Ill find it and edit this post when i get off the work computer!

The mouse house backpacks are Aussie Armour 357 5 Aussie packs and 8 pouches (almost at the bottom of the page on the mouse house website). Let us know what you think. You need to do a bit of work to add straps to the packs and to connect all the webbing pieces together. I have tried it with lead foil and masking tape with varying level of success. Painting the DPCU Australian camo pattern on the packs and webbing now that’s another matter. Anyone had any luck figuring out the colours? DPCU fades so much and there is so much variation in the tones of issued equipment that I really have had trouble with this stuff in the past.

Some good pics of UN ASLAV Ph2's in this link .

Anybody want to try doing the old driver training variant?

Wayne and Paul, With a bit of work you can get the AA packs and webbing pouches to look like issue gear. Have a look at my Leo. Behind the C/C hole you will see the Aussie Armour webbing. The "H" harness was made from masking tape.
The packs are now a bit out dated. Good for up to about 1998ish. Depending on the unit, personal taste ect.
Webbing

Cheers Jason

Hi Guys !

Thanks for the tips on the packs everyone. I can't find much in the way of reference pics anywhere, except below on the ASLAV's in Afghanistan.

There seem to be a couple of different types (16303 which I'm modelling has the 'sandy' coloured ones, the other machines have some in std DPCU). Are they both Alice packs ?

Any thoughts or observations / tips ?











I've ordered the Mouse House packs Wayne so I'll see what they look like. It'd be nice to find some close up picks of the current issued items (or the sandy ones above) for reference.

Ray, that Driver training machine would look great if it had a couple of RWS's
I can't see myself scratching that compartment - it'd drive me crazy

Wayne I'd try mixing colors and matching them before painting as far as the DPCU goes. Vallejo paints are best for figures and packs / webbing I find. It's just a case of trial and error using an old CD case or something similair. A bit of dust & bingo !

I don't have a formula, it'd be nice to know what std's the colours are based on.

I'll try to match these colours I think:

http://www.kamouflage.net/camouflage/00001.php/

Cheers

Paul

That looks like Box Art to me !!!

Do you have pics of the Master ?

Looks like they have got the right hand side rear vision mirror mount wrong????

Looks nothing like it !!

Id say that the DPCU pack on that ghan photo is one of these non issue items.

The tan ones are not identical to these, but they are the same design.



Also seen some of these around but in tan.

You could probably have another entire thread about all the aftermarket kit used in the MEAO.

Since we are getting so into it, does anybody else get annoyed by the title of this thread? Could a mod change it to ASLAV kits and conversions?

Ray,

what can I say ? You are a legend !!!

What do you think of the Trump box art ?

Cheers

Paul

Remember....that's only an artists' painting for the box art........it's not the kit.

I don't put any weight on the quality of kit by the box art.......OMG....there are no retaining chains on the grenade launcher covers on the box art......BLASPHEMY!!!! Haha.