Hi Guys,

I am looking at building a NZ LAV III, I understand that most of the kiwi Lav's have their bolt on armour removed, & that the exchausts & wheel hubs are different?? As I am looking at showing it with the whole underside showing which is the best detailed kits to start with & what else will I need to make and do to make authentic one?? I am normally a WWII guy so have no real idea or reference material.

Any & all help would be very gladly received

Ta Mike

Hello Mike,
first off, I wish you a Happy New Year 2012.

For your model, you're right the exhaust is of the US Stryker type and not the Canadian LAV III one. There are also some differences betwwen a Canadian LAV and a NZLAV in the way the various brackets are fitted to the sides.
As a base you can use either the Trumpeter LAV III and make the mods. The advantage is you get the turret which is ready to look like a NZLAV one. The drawback is you have to modify the exhaust.
Or you can start from a AFV Club Stryker with a Real Model conversion. The advantages are you will have a better donor kit and finer resin parts. The drawback is certainly the price.
Concerning the bolt-on add-on armor, the NZLAV have it when deployed so it is not necessary to sand it off your donor kit.

I advise you to make a search through the site with the words NZLAV, you'll see some models with pictures of the WIP.
There is at least one walkaround at Prime Portal that may help and I have a small one myself on my site.
Enjoy your project!
Olivier

There were pictures on the site a good wile back showing the prototypes from trumpeter whether or not it will make it to production I don't know?

Kia Ora ( Hello) Oliver,

Happy new year to you & your family too!! Thank you very much for the info I have had a quick look on that site you mentioned & will go back & look a lot closer!! IF I was to try to remove the bolt on armour as I know back home they remove it to save extra wear & tear on the mechanical parts, which whould be best?? Depending on out come will decide the real models conversion set purchase!!

Kapi ( Thanks) Mike

Thanks Scott I will have a nosey

Cheers Mike

You are correct, at home the armour is removed. The kit Trumpeter does have the bolt on armour molded on, but it also includes un-armoured hatches (listed as 'not used') so you are some way towards de-armouring it. It also has the correct pattern hubs included. As for the exhaust, it's pretty easy to mod, and if you get one of the Stryker PE sets, they come with the correct shaped mesh grill, so you can use that as a template, and add it to your scratch built exhaust and your good to go.

Be aware that on deployment to Afganistan, the Kiwi LAVs are fitted with the suvivabliilty kits from the LORIT upgrade, including the turret and rear hull armoured screens, the belly armour kit and the front hull mounted spare wheel bracket.

Currently there is no from the box answer to either of these. I'd stear clear of the Black Dog LORIT set, while the stowage is fantastic, the add on armour screens are terrible, and mine came with the front spare wheel bracket broken into several pieces. I've got the Real Model LORIT conversion for the trumpeter kit on order.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for that now i have some idea on were to start, I know last time I saw one of our lavs before moving over here that we never had the armour on them, would just removing the bolts on the armour on the trumpter kit & drilling out the holes surfice to make it look unarmoured??

Thanks Mike