Hello all, I was unfortunate enough to be part of the first Australian deployment to UNAMIR II in Rwanda back in 1994, when I was fortunate enough to spend some time with the Canadian 3rd Airborne Brigade in Kigali.

The Canucks had six wheeled Grizzlies and I thought I could kit bash a LAV - as much as there wasn't a decent kit of one available at the time - but I later discovered they were very different beasts.

About 16 years later, I naturally grabbed the Trumpeter kit, which I found in a shop in Australia for only $19.

While great value for money, a bit of research found there were plenty of bugs in the kit, and it sat on the shelf in the "too hard" section.

I've had some Veteran issues which stifled my creativity for a couple of years but a few weeks back I dug the AVGP out of the stash to build as a "no brainer" just to get me moving forward again on the model building front.

I'll admit, the big appeal was the white paint job, which would be pretty easy to achieve.

The kit is well engineered and has been fun to build, alas, the seasoned modeller in me was confronted with some inaccuracies which got me tinkering.



I don't know much about the Grizzlies, and while I know there are a few issues with the hull, I can live with most of them, because to my untrained eye it looked fine.

The turret, however, was another issue - it's a clunker! I've spent a lot of time with USMC AAVPs which have a similar turret, and if the kit turret was built "as is" the end of the guns would be well behind the commander! And it just looked "wrong".

It appears the turret has somehow been reversed - because the cupola was separate, it was simple enough to turn it 180 degrees, blank off the existing gun slots and cut new ones in the other end. No doubt the turret's still not perfect, but it does look better:





Here's kit turret unmodified:



More mods were needed to what was going to be an "out of the box build" when I fitted the turret - it overhung the commander's hatch in the hull to the point it could not be opened!

The problem not only seems to be turning the turret around, but that Trumpeter has attempted to produce a generic hull for the Grizzly and Cougar, which mounts a much larger Scorpion tank turret.



I considered moving the existing turret ring back, but it looks too big, the bulge on the hull excessive, and the turret ends up sitting too low:



So much for the "no brainer" build - have gone back to year zero in the turret ring, after re-building the turret:



A first and final request - apparently the kit's is a mish-mash of features - can anyone advise what bits should be left off for a Rwanda 1994 era vehicle?

Thanks for reading - updates coming soon!

Definitely not a no brainer!

This site might have some usefull info on the kit
http://www.network54.com/Forum/169232

Hi Mick, I have the same kit and an Eduard etch set for it, I never realised there were so many issues with this kit. I am following your build with much interest as I thought about having a go at the kit myself. Hope it works out for you on the build and I look forwardto your next update. Regards....Dale

Howdy Mick,

Have fun with your Grizzly build. The Grizzly AVGPs used in Rwanda are the same version as depicted in your Trumpeter kit.

The only exception is that the square TCCCS communications box should not be mounted on the left hull side. They were not used during that timeline. Mount both antennas on the rear hull positions. The driver's wire cutter could be seen mounted up or down in Rwanda.

Markings were limited to UN on the sides, front, and left rear door as well as the CFR plate.

A stretcher was carried on the left hull side using straps on the tie downs along the upper hull.

The Grizzly AVGPs in Rwanda also appear to have the add-on curved crew heater exhaust with metal guard.

Plastic fuel cans were carried on the hull jerry can racks and rolls of concertina carried on the right rear hull side.

Some of Grizzlys had the Airborne Pegasus symbol stuck on the upper right rear hull.

Thanks mate - I distinctly remember the blue and maroon Airborne insignia on some of the vehicles, the stretchers and rolls of barbed wire. I also recal the driver's visor being fitted.

I've acquired some US plastic jerries from an Abrams kit, which will be an Aussie vehicle which didn't use them,

Box removed from front port side of hull, and I'm also going to trim down the frames around the engine louvres. I know there are a few other tweaks needed to the hull but I am not going to be too fussed with them as the end result matches my hazy memories.

Did vehicles of that era have a non slip tread surface?

Although the turret mods sound like major work, they are not really, and sorely needed to get an evocative representation of a Grizzly.

I actually took a few details snaps of the vehicles but those pics are now in the Australian War Memorial.

Thanks for the info!

No worries at all!

The anti-slip surfaces would have been sporadic and for the most part applied by the crew on the glacis plate area and the top of the rear hatches. No slip back then was mixed in with paint and brushed on. With the white paint covering the regular camouflage the white would not have had any anti-slip component added into it.

When anti-slip was applied by the crew it generally followed the two strips of blacks on the front hull.

Just went through the bookshelf and found Concord Publications' UNITAF in Somalia, which has quite a few snaps of Canadian 3rd Armoured Brigade Grizzlies. Interesting, they had been painted white for UNOSOM, but deployed as part of the US-led UNITAF without the UN stencils.

I was with the Aussies in Somalia at Badioa, about 300km inland from Mogadishu, which was a long way from the Canadians at Bardera.

The Grizzly AVGPs used in Somalia had the original M28C gunner's sight on the turret with the external AA sight. The turret also had a wire cutter mounted. The C5 7.62 mm GPMG was used alongside the .50 Cal.

Unfortunately, we have not seen an aftermarket original version Grizzly turret.

The turret was upgraded in '93/'94 with the M36E4 sight replacing the M28C. The wire cutter was removed due to the larger sight housing and drop down sight cover. The C6 GPMG replaced the C5. This is the type of turret in the Trumpeter Grizzly kit and correct (except for the dimension issues) for Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo builds.

Issues from back in 2010:

Here is a little to add, from a review that I did back in Nov for another site:

After looking at the turret, it looks from the angels that is is backwards. After comparing two other turrets from other companies, the trump turret doesn't have the right angles on the body and around the gun ports.

(After comparing three different turrets from MapleLeaf Models and Best value Models, have found that the kit turret , will need to be replaced.)

The front a-frames have what looks like a small bullet. It is designed as a bumper for the a-frame from hitting the ground hard, should be bigger shaped like nose cone( parts A13 &A14) and is missing the steering stops, which would go in front of part A19. They look like small bolts welded onto the hull. Also missing is the hook up for the windshield electrical connection, which would be just left of the drivers hatch.

The differentials are missing the shift cylinders, for taking the Grizz from 4x4 to 6x6.Mounted on the rightside.

Parts A26,38,39 should be hollow , as they are u shaped plates to protect the vent and brake lines.

Parts C7 the mirrors should be more rounded at the corners and face sideways not up and down as they are in the instructions.

To make a Grizzly as the decals that are given, fill in hole for part H13 , the land line connector for field phones, and the 2 holes just to the left for the late version communications box parts H24,25. These parts would be fine for a Grizzly post 2000, when the new comms kit was added.

By the rear air sentry hatches, there should be mounts and brackets for pioneer tools that are missing.

On the door, do not mount part B19,B6 shovel, would have been mounted on top of hull.

Jerry cans, show water type cans. stowage diagrams place them insides as dirt would get inside, should have been fuel type.

Parts H3,H4 the .50cal & 7.62mm barrles will need to be replaced with after market ones that look the part.Turret is missing continuous footmans loops to secure kit and stowage, around the top edge and bottom edge of the (backwards ) turret. Also, missing rear attachment points for dis mounted tripods for the turret guns.


Missing the part in the instructions on how to put the turret together, after part 12.....? Also, how to build the spot light and add the box's & grenade launchers on the turret....

The hull side episcopes will need to be shaved down a bit, they stick out a little to much and they might be off in position on the hull.

The engine grills are to high, will need to sand them down.Also, they look to be in the wrong spot.

Part B10, will not be used, as it was for the Cougar AVGP.

Missing licence plate mounting bolts on the front hull right side and right rear.

Antennas way to short , wrong looking AMU's.

The tire are directional and should have the treads facing forwards, page 15 bottom diagram the tires tread should face the other direction.The whel hubs, for an early version should have a hex nut for a check plug, which was replaced by a sight glass around 1989.

Great work so far,don't forget don't use the kit's MG's, they are wrong.

Cheers

Anthony

Author Canadian AVGP DVD Reference Series

Hi Mick

I was also one of the misfortunate ones to be in Rwanda in 1994. I was one of those Canadians you had just referred to. I spent most of my time in Butare. There was an Australian Medical Company there if memory serves me. We may have crossed paths.

I have also built the kit you have mentioned. There where a few issues with it that have already been mentioned. The turret being one of them. The instructions were kind of vague. So I did look at many of the pictures I had taken of them when I was there. I basically I did as you said and build the turret backwards and reversed the cupola.

I replaced the .50 and GPMG that came with the kit with a medal one. As well as the antennas. Being a Signaller I noticed that one right from the start. One of the guys I worked with there also did a field mod to mount a C9 on the Cupola. Whether it was legal or not I do not know.

The barbed wire was sometimes mounted on the front and a spare tire was normally attached to the right side of the vehicle. As someone had already mentioned there was a stretcher on the left. I did leave the TCCCS box mounted as it came in handy to help support the stretcher. However is was not there in Rwanda as TCCCS was still in the works. The pipes that were behind the middle hatch required a bit of scratch building as they did not come with the kit but were there in Rwanda.

Lastly I did not put on the spot light over the .50 and drivers windscreen as we did not use the.

Cheers Mate and it is good hear from another brother. Happy Modelling.

Mark