LAV3 Monument program

[rob love]

CFB Shilo purchased one of these monument LAVs, which I had the pleasure of dressing up a bit before it went to it's dedication ceremony. Looks better than the standard slabside monument version. The site is still awaiting permanent fencing around the vehicle, but for now the ropes at least define a boundary.

Shilo lost 20 members to the Afghanistan conflict. My hope was to re-construct the LAV in such a way as to invoke memories, both good and bad. Several of the speakers at the ceremony said exactly that.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Well done Rob.

[Wayne Hingley]

Much more interesting than the stripped down versions. Great work Rob!

[Perry Kitson]

Great job Rob.

You certainly are a credit to the military community! Both officially and for this hobby.

[rob love]

Thanks for the compliments, but I am certain any military collector would have been thrilled at the task.

A lot of it is "hollywood": that is to say it looks good from 20 feet. I really did not like the flat plate that replaced the mantlet. It made the area very boring. First step was smoke dischargers. The originals are 76mm, but being considered a weapon in the CF, and the majority of the parts being either accountable or NDHQ controlled, I had to make them from scratch. These are less than 76mm. The size was dictated by what I could find for the rubber caps. In the end, the rubber caps from the single pin slave cables became smoke discharger caps.

To add more depth, I built a dummy C6, as well as the mount for it. I used what few parts that I had for the FN MAG58, and added whatever else would work. The flash hider, for instance, is off a FNC1, the cocking handle is Bren mk2. The rivets on the receiver are simply there for show...the receiver is made up of steel plates welded together and the rivets are put through their holes and welded from the inside. In the end, I was still not happy with the look of the turret, so a strip of scrap camouflage net was painted at the last hour (literally) and placed across the mantlet.

The M36 MLVW I have at the shop was used to pull it the two blocks into position. For some reason the Shilo stag posted a video if it's arrival, and showed me jockeying back and forth trying to get it onto the right spot. There are stands that have to be installed underneath, and they have to match the steel plates placed in the concrete. Most people could not understand why I was going back and forth. CE had already warned they would not have time to repair the grass if I tore it up the day before the ceremony. I also had to run over a reasonable size lilac bush to get it there. The old saying "you can't kill a lilac" proved once again to be true, as it retook it's shape immediately after being run over by an MLVW and a LAV.

[Peter Duggan]

Guys,

Fort McMurray now has a LAV3 monument as well. While not to Robs standard, it is a good symbol of Fort McMurray's rebuild, as well as a tribute to our veterans. Jack Cross's Chieftain continues to grace the Legion's compound.

Peter


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[rob love]

That LAV was basically what we received.

I read where one town in Alberta wanted to bring in one of the LAV monuments, and the estimates were it was going to cost them $150,000 by the time the landscaping was done. The city decided to back out, so the private group has told the city all it wants is the patch of land to put it on, and they would handle every thing else.

I think I heard there was some vandalism to the Ft McMurray LAV involving a bucket of paint. Always a shame when things like these are desecrated.