Hi all. I'm finishing up some long "on the shelf" projects and one of them is the 1/24 Italeri Land Rover. I'm having difficulty in locating any photos showing the Land Rover Series III kitted out for a combat patrol.

In particular I'm looking for anything to tell me how exactly these vehicles were outfitted and some reference as to what they would typically carry in a combat environment either by SAS or by regular army units. Have found quite a few photos of "ordinary" Series III vehicles but haven't found anything remotely like the vehicle as depicted on the box art. Also any photos of gun mounts and additional armament would be great. Any help would be appreciated!

Jim
LSA

I think that kit was intended to depict a wire patrol Land Rover, as used along the Inner German Border in the days of the Cold War. They were manned by regular army units and were very different to the long range Panthers used by 22SAS.

You might find it worth looking along those lines.

As far as I'm aware, the SAS made the jump straight from Mk IIa Pinkies to Defenders in the mid 1980s so they never adapted the Series III to their needs (despite a couple of so-called SAS vehicles being seen on the ex-military show circuit).

The 1/24 Italeri kit is typical of a unit-modified recce vehicle used by infantry regiments (especially the Paras), with a GPMG fitted in front of the passenger seat.

As such you can stow them pretty much with what a 3-4 man recce team would carry on short partols rather than extended missions.

It's 1/35 project, but the link below may be helpful as a starting point.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/110741/message/1391581090/BAOR+Recce+Land+Rover

Regards,
John

Thanks for the information guys! I genuinely appreciate it. It looks as though I can use a fairly wide variety of weapons and equipment to outfit one of these vehicles without fear of being incorrect. One of the sources I looked at referred to any particular vehicle's outfitting as being "mission specific" so that does tend to give a large degree of latitude.

One other question that I thought I might ask is about the presence of WWII British metal ammo containers. I read somewhere a while back that many of these boxes soldiered on well into the 1980s. Do you think that a few of those would be out of place for use in outfitting one of these Recce Rovers?

Thanks for your assistance!
Jim
LSA

Never say never...

Whilst it isn't necessarily common to see such items, squaddies are not above making private purchases from the surplus market or re-purposing old containers if they find them useful - especially older metal ammunition crates.

John

There are designs of metal box which were in use in WW2 which continued in production post-war. Any specific type in mind?