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(Brief ) Walkaround - LandRover XD Wolf (TUM) with WMIK

Recently, Accurate Armour added a kit of this spectacular vehicle to their (very complete) range of modern British armoured vehicles. This variant is used by both the British Army and by the Royal Marines. Both configurations are identical, this particular example was presented by the Marines...
The full designation is: Land Rover Defender XD Wolf (TUM) with the bolted on WMIK package. WMIK stands for the 'Weapons Mounted Installation Kit' ... Two distinct weapons packs are offered, the usual with two 7.62 mm GMPGs ('Gimpies') and another using the GPMG and a .50 Cal. Browning. The former is the preferred upload, the latter requires a much larger ammunition load-out.

The version in the photos is unfortunately with the 'bog-standard' green finish. Most of these vehicles are commonly seen in a sand 'over-paint'. This one had just been repainted after some training time in the United States. Painting is done in two ways. The first, and 'neater' is a full workshop spray-job, the second, which is more common, is for the crews to actually paint them themselves - in the best of cases using portable sprays and compressors - in the worst of cases, using whatever 'brushes' come to hand - Scrim net has been known to serve if nothing else is available...

My thanks to a group of Royal Marines (who are based in Plymouth) for answering my irritating questions about all sorts of dumb details!

Jim Rae