Hey all-
I was wondering what this vehicle was. It doesn't look American, almost kinda like British Land Rovers but I didn't think that the USMC would be using British vehicles. Any help would be appreciated.
http://media.militaryphotos.net/photos/albums/Gulf_War_2_Iraqi_Freedom_Marines/aad.jpg
Thanks.
Kyle
EDIT: I created a hot link for the picture instead of the picture itself. Hopefully, it will be easier to load this way for my fellow dial-uppers.

Mercedes-Benz Interim Fast Attack Vehicle G-Wagen.

This replaced the M151 Jeep FAV.

Thanks Peter. Is there a kit out of one? If not, what could I use as a base for the wheels, chassis, etc.?
Kyle

Hi Kyle,
Azimut P4 kit would be the best base as Peugeot got the license to build the French 4WD.
Azimut even issues PE parts like the Merceded star and the headlights grilles to convert the P4 into the Bundeswehr Wolf.
My 2 cents

olivier

Thanks a lot Oliver. I will check that out for sure.
Kyle

Restarting this discussion...

An interesting thing about this Mercedes IFAV.

Photos at the end of my Gallery shows the last USMC M151 FAV, the one with the Humvee ring welded onto modified rollbars and definitely used in 1996, maybe even 1997-1998.

Six were made, but in reality, only four had the surplus Humvee ring on them (two were M151 TOWs and totally repaired to be functional again even though they still look like Kirin "Super Jeeps").

After coming back from tour, Sgt. Ferry saw the new IFAVs in the yard (1996), waiting to replace his M151 FAVs. (He told me not to print this in 2001, so I never did). Now he liked the idea of new IFAVs, but the IFAVs did away with his Humvee ring idea and went back to the darn M151 weapons pole and pintle mount and like 130-degree firing arc, not 360 with the Humvee ring! He thought, "Gosh darn it...one step forward and then another step back!" But what can he do? He was transferring out of the 26th MEU and the IFAVs weren't his FAVs to modify.

There was a report that the USMC wanted to add a Humvee ring to the IFAV (what Sgt. Ferry thought the first time he saw them in 1996, but I don't see any mods on the 96-or-so IFAVs) because the USMC found out the weapons pole can't cover the rear . As you can see, a lot of FAVs are having overhead turret rings now for 360-coverage.

I'm saying this now because I lost touch with the Sarge many moons ago so his dislike is out-of-date.

AFAIK, DML owns Kirin. Why they don't release the M151 "Super Jeep" in plastic or as a conversion is anyone's guess.

Maybe another (cheaper ?) alternative could be using a 1/35 diecast Mercedes Wolf like the ones that have been released by Bub ...



HTH
Frenchy

The USMC IFAVs have a little different rollbar configuration over the bed.

That could be easily fixed with some plastic rod and/or sheet. The Bud model looks pretty good. Where can they be found?

[quote]


One source for Bub diecast models is Modelenium : http://www.modelenium.co.uk

HTH

Frenchy