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Armor/AFV: Softskins
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Left hand drive Land Rover in British army?
Vodnik
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Warszawa, Poland
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 01:11 AM UTC
I will soon build Revell (Italeri) kit of Land Rover 109 Series III. I bought FiringLine details set for it and have general idea how I want to build it, but I just noticed that Revell/Italeri Land Rover is left hand drive vehicle... Did British Army use any left hand drive Land Rovers 109 (BAOR maybe)?

If not, then I will need to rebuild the dashboard and move other details...

I have found some photos of left hand drive Land Rovers in British Army colors, but all of them show de-mil vehicles in private hands, so it is not certain if they were really used by British Army, or were just painted to resemble British military vehicles...

Please help!

Rgds,
Pawel
greatbrit
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 01:24 AM UTC
hi vodnik,

i would say not, but dont take my word for it.

ive certainly never seen one, mikeli125 is the one to ask, he's serving TA.

off topic slightly, what are firing line like? any good?
and also where can i get one of the italeri/revell landies, i thought they were OOP

cheers

joe
Vodnik
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 02:12 AM UTC

Quoted Text

i would say not, but dont take my word for it.


Steve Brady at Missilng Lynx wrote that BAOR used quite a lot of left hand drive softskin vehicles and some of them were even used later by UK based units. He personally crewed left hand drive Bedford truck in UK in late 70's (Royal Signals). I would however like to have firm confirmation on left hand drive Land Rovers.


Quoted Text

off topic slightly, what are firing line like? any good?
and also where can i get one of the italeri/revell landies, i thought they were OOP

Firing line products look great in the box/bag, but I haven't started building anything yet. Land Rover set includes nice big photoetched fret and cleanly molded white metal parts.
My Revell kit was on my box pile for quite some time, so it is possible that it is indeed no longer available.

Rgds,
Pawel
mikeli125
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 02:14 AM UTC
the army as loads of lefthand drive landrovers and trucks ect all the DROops wagons in my sqn are lefthanders same with the rovers too this is due to the fact that loads were brought back from Germany and stuff in war stock, most 90's and 110 are LHD not so sure of the wolfs though we seem to get the cast offs from regular units even these will have LHD transport on the DROPS wagons there are caution lefthand drive plates on the rear m/guards these can be pressed or more than likely applied with a template,piece of sponge and white paint
Vodnik
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 02:23 AM UTC

Quoted Text

the army as loads of lefthand drive landrovers and trucks ect all the DROops wagons in my sqn are lefthanders same with the rovers too this is due to the fact that loads were brought back from Germany and stuff in war stock, most 90's and 110 are LHD


Thanks a lot! That's exactly what I wanted to know.
So my 109 will be 1980's BAOR vehicle - no need to rebuild the dashboard :-)

Rgds,
Pawel
mikeli125
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 05:06 AM UTC
you got me thinking as you could do it as an early 90's(we still had one in 93 and an air portable in 95 as ser 3 landrovers were still about, you should think about doing it as a gulf war one or a range warden one for BATUS
as these have red doors and bonnets, remember to paint the back diff white normally the oil type is either painted on or stenciled on it should be OMD(oil mineral detergent 30)
for the rear diff also when painting them most were hand painted by units or touched up with brushes so most have/had brush streaks over them the 90 at our unit has an old unit emblum still on it thats been painted over I'm not sure if your doing an FFR version if so the back area were painted in red lead to stop the battery acid rotting through the floors the wheels are practially all handpainted so unless your going doing one brand new I wouldnt spray them,
if you want some stuff for FFR fittings give me a shout I've got some line drawings lying around, oh easy way to tell if the real Landrovers are ex-MOD see if they have a small hinged door 1/2 way back on the body if so this is were spare fuel cans are stored and as far as I'm aware only done for the MOD
Vodnik
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 11:21 AM UTC

Quoted Text

you got me thinking as you could do it as an early 90's(we still had one in 93 and an air portable in 95 as ser 3 landrovers were still about, you should think about doing it as a gulf war one or a range warden one for BATUS as these have red doors and bonnets

Actually I like the way they look in standard green/black camouflage, so will probably paint it this way. Firing Line detail set includes a PE frame structure and sort of a "basket" rack to install over the top of the vehicle. Their instructions suggest that it was used in the Gulf. I saw a few photos of this rack on hard-top Landrovers (not Gulf War ones), but not on soft-top. Do you know if it was indeed used on soft-top ones? If it was, was it Gulf War only idea, or were such racks used with soft-top 109s also in Europe?


Quoted Text

I'm not sure if your doing an FFR version if so the back area were painted in red lead to stop the battery acid rotting through the floors the wheels are practially all handpainted so unless your going doing one brand new I wouldnt spray them,
if you want some stuff for FFR fittings give me a shout I've got some line drawings lying around,


I just realized that I know nothing about FFR, but FiringLine detail sets includes very nice antenna mounts, so it would be a waste not to use them. But I don't have any British radios and I have no idea how radios are installed in the vehicle... I do not plan to super detail the interior of my model, but I probably should add something to look like radio equipment anyway, as it is probably visible through the windows.


Quoted Text

oh easy way to tell if the real Landrovers are ex-MOD see if they have a small hinged door 1/2 way back on the body if so this is were spare fuel cans are stored and as far as I'm aware only done for the MOD

Are you sure this door was fitted to all MOD Landrovers? I think I can see it on the right side of the body, behind passenger door, but only on some photos. On other photos, which definitely show active duty MOD Landrovers (including one photo taken in Bosnia, showing British Army 109 Ser III in IFOR markings!), this door is missing.

Cheers,
Pawel
mikeli125
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Posted: Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 12:53 AM UTC
Pawel,
as far as I'm aware the racks are only used on Hardtops although you can remove
the rear door and roff and swap over to soft top I think but not 100% sure that this was
a gulf war 1 mod by a signal unit which was given the ok to be used on most wagons
but its not fitted to everything its mostly used for holding the cam nets and stuff, as for
radios I cant take any pics of them as we dont have them but I can take some pics of the mounting racks this weekend just because its fitted for FFR doesnt mean that
they are always used in that role the FFR would need to be fitted with a hardtop as I dont think that they are softtops incase water leaks in also the canvas gets repaired and you can see sticthes in them were the holes have been the canvas webbing straps which secure the back flap down on the door wear a lots and are often frayed or are almost white
at the edges at the end of the strap is a brassend which is secured with 2 rivets the paint is ofen off this showing the dull brass

As for the side door most have them but not all do best bet would be to find a land
rover webiste and ask there

Vodnik
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Posted: Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 02:52 AM UTC

Quoted Text

as for radios I cant take any pics of them as we dont have them but I can take some pics of the mounting racks this weekend just because its fitted for FFR doesnt mean that they are always used in that role the FFR would need to be fitted with a hardtop as I dont think that they are softtops incase water leaks in


If you can take some pics of radio racks, that would be great! I have a few photos of soft-top Landrovers 109 with radio antennas installed on one or both sides of the engine hood, so it looks that despite the risk of water leaks, such versions were used.

Cheers,
Pawel
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