For some years the French Gendarmerie has been willing to change its vehicles dedicated to law enforcement. Recently a tender was issued to retrofit a VBRG (Véhicule Blindé à Roues de la Gendarmerie / Gendarmerie Armored Wheeled Vehicle) and a VAB (Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé / Armored Fighting Vehicle). Some companies answered the tender. As to me I decided to represent the VAB MO (Maintien de l'Ordre / Law Enforcement) retrofitted by OMAT, a company based at Montlouis sur Loire. The latter started on the base of a VIB of the French Air Force fitted with a reinforced dozer blade and a opening in the roof to fit the S365-3 cupola known to be fitted to the VBRG as well as a number of African vehicles. It is a vehicle unique in the world as the Gendarmerie finally decided not to modify and preferred the purchase of 90 Centaures from SOFRAME.

The build: 

Before going into this build I needed to find the documentation about this vehicle. Icing on the cake I was able to see the actual VAB MO and se in details the turret and above all the dozer blade. So I do want to warmly thank the company OMAT. I used the Heller VAB 6x6 as a base because the VAB 4x4 is pretty hard to find. The conversion into the 4x4 version is easy as you just have to omit some parts.
Scratchbuilding was a major part in this project like for the turret and the blade. The interior was made according to he actual one.

The top on the engine compartment was rebuild especially with the two fire proof engine covers. The glasses of the windshield have been remade as well as the wipers.

Two flash lights protected by their cages are installed on the hull roof. Creating the 3 fire ports (outside and inside of course) has not been a piece of cake. The tail lights are resin copies of Heller Leclerc ones. The front position lights are also copies of Meng AMX 30 model parts. The headlights are Heller AMX 30 parts. Their protection has been home made. The rear footstep is made from a PE leftover of a exhaust protection from the Heller AMX 30. Concerning the wheels I chose a Blast reference. Indeed the tread pattern is closer to the actual one. To sum it up, I went as deep into details as my fingers allowed. For the pleasure of the eyes I chose to have the doors open.

The painting:

I decided to depict the prototype as it had moved but with a hull very clean. I used the usual painting methods. No filter, no wash. The base shade is XF-8 Flat Blue. A dry brush has been applied to enhance the details.

The markings:

Necessarily I used the decals from Tchoutchou (a French company) for the Gendarmerie markings and the red and yellow stripes. I wanted to be the most accurate as possible so I applied the actual registration plate as well as the OMAT commercial placard on the blade. To do so I turned to Braille Strike, a Belgian company who make decals on request. Honestly I recommend them to you.