Pink Panther Land Rover

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Likwuz

IanS

[mijalo]

Wot Kev sed 

Hear hear!!

[Sunray]

Hi Sunray

The first LWB will have the screen up and doors windows like SWB then I will do the variants first 2 soft and hard top then airborne ,ambulance even snatch for NI are all on the non 110 landrover,s You will be able with the airborne versions drapped in cam net, to do Danish(recoiless or tow) Australian Recoiless, SAS pink panther the list is quite long
Question 1 on Airborne variant who wants them covered in Cam Nets already?
             2 Do you want an Ambulance?
             3 SWB with either Tow or Recoiless

Let me know thanks
Martin

Martin- I do apologise for the delay in comms- blame Leon and his hyper fast mail order who rushed me out essential supplies to turn my castings into painted based kick-ass platoons !

OK,  the key things in crafting a model range are (i) popular that will sell well and (ii) in time context to the existing range. The Falklands British infantry will allow 7.62 SLR/FN armed troops with .58 web to be modelled in a time frame from the late 1960s into the early 1990s. when even third world armies switched to 5.56mm.  
In addition to mature memory, I rely on Terry Gander's Encyclopaedis of the Modern British Army (Cambridge, 1980) which has fantastic scale drawings in 1/76 scale . A bible to those of us you modelled and indeed gamed in that scale

In the British Army, the LandRovers in service  of this era  (1968-1989) were :-

1.  the 1/2 tonne or lightweight (88" wheelbase). Issued to Airborne in 1968.  The Royals, and I can only speak for the Boys from Norton,  mounted the 120mm Wombat on this vehicle.  Never saw this use of initiative outside the Royals.  The lightweight allowed a Puma to airlift.

2. the 3/4 tonne- was the elder brother of the clan and first appeared in a 109" wheelbase.  In service since 1956!   This model was adapted to carry 120mm wombat  and the 81mm mortar - without tilt obviously.   Most units in BAOR had a 7.62 GPMG in a SLAP mounting - often using the tilt frame.  Reccie units began mounting the GPMG to fire forward over driver (not nice!) and the bad boys from Hereford began to mount a fore and aft GMPG and fit the Rover for the deployment. Other units also copied the fore and aft mounting and shed the doors.  

Early versions had the headlights on the grill, but later marks shifte them to the wings.  Civilian versions followed suit.
Unless someone has really fancy rules, the Ambulance is a nonstarter.   A hardtop might have a few uses, and with a little conversion the FV18061 Shoreland could be completed.  I have omitted the 1 Tonne Rover and the FV18067 ambulance.  The former is useful if Pendraken intend to add the 105mm light gun to a modern range.

So,  as our models are for wargames, I suggest
(1) 3/4 tonne (longwheel base) with screen and detachable tilt - just a clean troop carrier
(2) open topped 3/4 tonne minus screen and doors, and with netting. - allow loads of conversions !
(3)  conversion kit packs with extra bits like GPMG , stowage gear, 120mm bat  etc
(4) Air portable open, no doors or screen

But ....its you the guys on the forum that pitch in the real market research !

Sunray out

EDIT: Quote fixed.

[The_Shootist]

On the case of 58 pattern webbing issued troops can i request that sculptors model some with bum roll on top of the kidney pouches and civilian bought day sacks as well, as no where really to put NBC kit etc.

[Sunray]

 When we discussed this range with Phil there was a consensus that we only wanted one iconic Royal figure actually yomping - or if the was a Tom, tabbing with rucksack and  gear.  The logic being that a soldier does not wander past the EFL into the killing ground carrying a Bergus ROC - he dumps it and gets on with the action. 

With the added capacity of the ROC, thet was a visible reduction in belt order.

If you really want authentic Falklands look the experience of one Tom who was there is sobering:

"I started the  attack with 14x 20 SLR mags, a sandbag with 200 rds of ball around my next and another 200 belted for the GPMG -plus a miked bag of L2 and and white phos ...and two  LAWs. .I dropped the bergen at the EFL and from then on was skirmishing in the prone position.  Two hours later I was out of ammo and rummaging through dead Argies for FAL mags"