I was thumbing threw a Concord Publication I have and came across an article on an Australian unit serving in Iraq, in it were pictures of ASLAVS and of what I could see off the top was the newer wider type of tires. Besides the tires, which I think Hobby Fan has, what else would I need to do to convert the Trumpeter kit into an Australian ASLAV? Any conversion sets out there?

Mahalo,

Kurt

SouthEast Hobbies aconversion set. Look just over halfway down the page.

For the Italeri/Revell LAV, but says will fit the Trumpeter , with a little uncertainty around the turret areas.

ASLAV has many other changes that are Aussie specific. Just changing the wheels won't make it an ASLAV. Maple Leaf Models has the conversion pieces, but is closed till Nov. You can still see pics of the parts on their site though.

Actually, I was thinking of the wrong company. Mouse House Enterprises out of Australia has the ASLAV conversion. It is designed for the Italeri/Revell kit, but can probably be fitted to Trumpeter's too.

Mouse House ASLAV Conversion Set


EDIT: Guess that its the same set Pave-Hawk was referancing too.

It is. Southeast hobbies have a secure order form whereas MHE doesn't, which is the only reason I linked to them instead of directly to MHE.

I have the Mouse House ASLAV conversion and it is a good basic starting point for the conversion but it isn't perfect.

You need lots of knowledge of the vehicle or lots of good reference material because the instructions are not the most detailed.

Kurt,

The above is correct but there is also a little bit more to it. If you go to the Mouse House Enterprises website (http://www.mheaust.com.au/MHE/Catalogue.htm under Mouse Armour item MA112) you will see that they have a conversion for the Trumpter kit, it will only be a matter to time before this arrives at Southeast Hobbies.

There are also two detachments of ASLAVs in Iraq at the moment, one in Baghdad and one in the Dhi Qar Province, both detachments come under Operation Catalyst. However, those in Baghdad are part of the security detachment (SECDET) for Australian government personnel, while those in Dhi Qar are part of the Al Muthanna Task Group.

The Al Muthanna Task Group (also known as Overwatch Battle Group-West (OBG-W) went to Iraq at a much latter stage than the initial SEDET. As such DMO (the Defence Material Organisation) designed some bar armour for the task group ASLAVs. This also required modifications to the exhaust, side and turret stowage bins. After some time in Iraq it was decided to remove the bar armour from the hull of the ASLAVs, however on some recent images it is possible to see full bar armour as well as several veriations of the armour partially removed.

There are also ASLAVs currrently in Afghanistan under Operation Slipper, these also have some operation specific modifications (externally these mainly relate to stowage and should be an easy modification of the MH conversion). Also the ASLAVs that served in Timor-Leste from September 1999, were the then current spec (I believe Phase1 rather than the initial delivery version).

In order to get a better idea of the above it may be worth visiting (and spending some timat at) the Austrlian Defence Department's website (http://www.defence.gov.au) and follow the links on the right of the page to the operation of interest and then the links on the left of the specific operation's page to the images and video section. In the Operation Catalyst section there are a number of overhead shots from when the task group ASLAVs were being shipped to Iraq and this should provide some useful reference for the location points of the bar armour and it's mounts. Also although these images are "in country" shots if you download the hi-res images they also can contain enough detail of the vehicle for modellers.

Also the task group works with the Japanese so there are a few (actually only two that I can remember) images of ASLAVs and JGSDF LAVs on the website.

Anyway I hope the above helps.

Little_One