Meng 1/35 Bradley M2/M3 BUSK III

[FrancisGL]

These tracks honor their name "Create miracle" ... seem a step forward in the evolution of metal tracks (notes Friuls) ,,, are much more expensive than the Friuls?Nice progress , cheers Julian 

[Gremlin56]

Hi Francis, nice track thingies and no, not too expensive with shipping being very reasonable. Would appear to knock the socks off of the competition though. Thanks for taking a look at the Bradley thing

Cheers mate,

Julian

[Ripaman]

Hi Julian, not been on too much this summer, weather has changed so now back in the saddle and trying to catch up with all the builds, very nice project you got going there, I also like those tracks 

 

Regards

Richard

 

[Gremlin56]

Hi Richard, welcome back Having some difficulty finding build time myself at the moment

[Gremlin56]

17/9 update.

Added a few washes to the interior, busied up the interior with lots kit and fitted vision prisms and safety belts. Nearly ready to seal things up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[longshanks]

Looking very business like Julian....

 

Kev

[Spookytooth]

Hi Gremlin, just caught up with this thread and I am very impressed with the build quality of it.

Add to that the other goodies you`ve got for her and it seems you`re having a whale of a time.

 

I think I will sit back and watch the rest of this build.

 

Simon.

[Gremlin56]

Thanks Simon,

The quality of the kit is very good so makes the build fun. The extras are icing on the cake although the storage space for some of the gear is too small.

You sit back and watch mate

[Ripaman]

As you say the detail in this model is fantastic, and I like the way you have brought it out

 

Regards

Richard 

[crushkill]

Been away for a while, just going through all the stuff I've missed and stumbled onto this build, I must say great work so far.

 

I've been on a Bradley for the last 11 years so if you want any information please let me know.  I've got everything you could possibly need.

[Gremlin56]

22 hours ago, Ripaman said:

As you say the detail in this model is fantastic, and I like the way you have brought it out

 

Regards

Richard 

 

Thank you Richard

 

15 hours ago, crushkill said:

Been away for a while, just going through all the stuff I've missed and stumbled onto this build, I must say great work so far.

 

I've been on a Bradley for the last 11 years so if you want any information please let me know.  I've got everything you could possibly need.

 

Thanks Crushkill, that has chuffed me no end. Glad to hear there are no major bloopers made so far

Your offer of information sounds great. The tracks I bought are too shiny, they look nice and the rubber pad adds to the total effect but dipping the track links into the blackening agent makes them turn jet black in just a very short time. I mentioned before that on several photos of Bradley tracks they look as if they are painted in sand color. How would you describe the color of their tracks.

I am also interested in some real outside stowage photos (backpacks, boxes, spare ammo etc.)

Would be much obliged if you can shed some light on these subjects

cheers,

Julian

[PlaStix]

Your modelling skills just seem to get better and better Julian. Very impressive work. 

Kind regards,

Stix

[Blaubar]

Great project,

couldn't have wished for anything better as a first read after some time off the bench. Amazing attention to detail, as always.

[crushkill]

On 9/18/2017 at 12:31 PM, Gremlin56 said:

 

Thank you Richard

 

 

Thanks Crushkill, that has chuffed me no end. Glad to hear there are no major bloopers made so far

Your offer of information sounds great. The tracks I bought are too shiny, they look nice and the rubber pad adds to the total effect but dipping the track links into the blackening agent makes them turn jet black in just a very short time. I mentioned before that on several photos of Bradley tracks they look as if they are painted in sand color. How would you describe the color of their tracks.

I am also interested in some real outside stowage photos (backpacks, boxes, spare ammo etc.)

Would be much obliged if you can shed some light on these subjects

cheers,

Julian

So the tracks rust almost immediately.  Even brand new tracks are more rust than any other color.  As far as stowage in the racks, we always keep our tarp up there folded up (it's giant, covers the entire turret and painted the same tan color as the track).  We always had a couple jugs of oil and coolant too.  Don't want that spilling inside the track.  A couple boxes of MREs, couple cases of water and usually a personal bag for the gunner and track commander (TC).

 

I'll see if I can dig up some pictures and help you out

[crushkill]

The tracks here are fresh from the factory.

 

After about a year you can see some wear on the track, still see the rusty tracks.

 

Here's a decent angle at the inside of the track and all the chaos it entails.  I'm on the M3 variant which only has the dismount bench on one side.

[Gremlin56]

On 9/18/2017 at 7:54 PM, PlaStix said:

Your modelling skills just seem to get better and better Julian. Very impressive work. 

Kind regards,

Stix

 

Thank you Stix, you are too kind as usual, much appreciated though

 

20 hours ago, Blaubar said:

Great project,

couldn't have wished for anything better as a first read after some time off the bench. Amazing attention to detail, as always.

 

Hi Stefan, welcome back and thank you !

3 hours ago, crushkill said:

 

The tracks here are fresh from the factory.

 

 

After about a year you can see some wear on the track, still see the rusty tracks.

 

 

Here's a decent angle at the inside of the track and all the chaos it entails.  I'm on the M3 variant which only has the dismount bench on one side.

 

Hi Crushkill,

thank you for the photo's, lots of very interesting details of the rear hatch as well. You seem to be giving some maintenance to the main gun.

The tracks look very rusty especially considering your remark that they are fresh from the factory. The yellowish color I saw a lot in the reference books I have must be dust.

I also noticed what looks like a white and blue cooler so you evidently do use bright colored coolers (like Meng suggests) instead of desert yellow specially produced coolers.

Any more photo's are extremely welcome,

Cheers,

Julian

[crushkill]

30 minutes ago, Gremlin56 said:

 

Thank you Stix, you are too kind as usual, much appreciated though

 

 

Hi Stefan, welcome back and thank you !

 

Hi Crushkill,

thank you for the photo's, lots of very interesting details of the rear hatch as well. You seem to be giving some maintenance to the main gun.

The tracks look very rusty especially considering your remark that they are fresh from the factory. The yellowish color I saw a lot in the reference books I have must be dust.

I also noticed what looks like a white and blue cooler so you evidently do use bright colored coolers (like Meng suggests) instead of desert yellow specially produced coolers.

Any more photo's are extremely welcome,

Cheers,

Julian

Yeah, we've got the gun on the ramp applying some lube before firing, if you notice I've got on latex gloves because the lubricant we use is super cancerous, we jokingly call it "cancer in a can"

 

As far as coolers and things, those are all personal coolers that the crew purchased.  The Army will provide us water cans but anything other than water and MREs is in the crew to provide.

 

The yellow color on the tracks in your references is surely dust.  The dust in Iraq is like baby powder consistency and coats everything, for years.

 

I'll have to dig through my hard drives and look for some good photos for you. What type of track are you building?  Peace time (or stateside) or a combat set up?  

[FrancisGL]

Super-detailed fighting camera, the harneses are very real look...

Cheers Julian 

[Gremlin56]

On 9/20/2017 at 7:40 PM, crushkill said:

Yeah, we've got the gun on the ramp applying some lube before firing, if you notice I've got on latex gloves because the lubricant we use is super cancerous, we jokingly call it "cancer in a can"

 

As far as coolers and things, those are all personal coolers that the crew purchased.  The Army will provide us water cans but anything other than water and MREs is in the crew to provide.

 

The yellow color on the tracks in your references is surely dust.  The dust in Iraq is like baby powder consistency and coats everything, for years.

 

I'll have to dig through my hard drives and look for some good photos for you. What type of track are you building?  Peace time (or stateside) or a combat set up?  

 

Cancer in a can, doesn't sound enticing I should have realized that coolers were private purchased, makes for interesting splashes of color on the model though. The tracks are finished and there is quite a long length of spare left to experiment with. Have an idea how to weather them now thanks to your photos. The kit provides markings to build three different Bradleys:

1. 1st battalion, 68th armor regiment, 4th infantry division Kuwait 2003.

2. 3rd infantry division, Iraq 2005.

3. 2nd squadron, 3rd armored cavalry regiment, phase III of operation Iraqi freedom, Baghdad, 2005

 

Not sure how accurate this information is and how it translates to your question regarding the peace time/combat/Stateside/foreign deployment state of the Bradley, having a non military nautical background myself.

Hope you can give me some pointers

[Gremlin56]

14 hours ago, FrancisGL said:

Super-detailed fighting camera, the harneses are very real look...

Cheers Julian 

 Hi Francis,

thanks mate, i have been informed that the harnesses should be a more subdued red/brown instead of the "racing car red" color used, too late to change now though.

Cheers mate

[Gremlin56]

P.S. The kit specifies 80 of the plastic track links per length. Anyone using or planning to use R-models metal and rubber links instead of the supplied links can bear in mind that 76 links per length fit very snugly and that the track pins don't snag the armor/ERA plates despite sticking out slightly further. The R-models set includes plenty of spare track links and an even greater number of spare track pins so don't get upset if you bend a couple of pins while fitting them.

[crushkill]

6 hours ago, Gremlin56 said:

 

Cancer in a can, doesn't sound enticing I should have realized that coolers were private purchased, makes for interesting splashes of color on the model though. The tracks are finished and there is quite a long length of spare left to experiment with. Have an idea how to weather them now thanks to your photos. The kit provides markings to build three different Bradleys:

1. 1st battalion, 68th armor regiment, 4th infantry division Kuwait 2003.

2. 3rd infantry division, Iraq 2005.

3. 2nd squadron, 3rd armored cavalry regiment, phase III of operation Iraqi freedom, Baghdad, 2005

 

Not sure how accurate this information is and how it translates to your question regarding the peace time/combat/Stateside/foreign deployment state of the Bradley, having a non military nautical background myself.

Hope you can give me some pointers

My vote is 3rd ID, I was in Iraq with them from 2007-2010. Stuck in an instructor position right now, ready to get back in the fight.

 

So, since you’re building it in a combat configuration, you need to basically destroy the outside of it.  Reactive armor is always scratched and scraped up (significant scratches and gouges, not cute silver stuff like on aircraft).  Also bend or break the mud flaps (you can see the damage on some of the photos I posted).  Brads get abused, and often get used for other things than fire support (like knocking down walls).  I’ll get on my hard drive today and dig out some deployment photos.

 

Also, not that it’s necessarily possible, but on the actual vehicle we run 82 tracks on one side, 84 on the other.  If there gets to be too much slack in the track then we “short track” and remove up to 2 per side, so the shortest tracks you’ll see is 80/82.  If you have to remove more than two then it’s not a track issue but something else.

[crushkill]

This is the front of a Brad, you can see how beat up they get overseas.

 

We do keep some ammo in the bustle rack, but usually keep it inside the track because we don’t have to expose ourselves to reload, here you can see a couple cans of 7.62mm in the ammo holders, if I remember right we kept pyro in one can (smoke and flares) because we didn’t want that in the turret with us (Mosul, 2009ish)

Here’s another good look at the tracks, once again this is when they were brand new.

You can see in the bustle rack in this photo, the tarp folded up (behind the TC hatch) and an oil drip pan behind the gunner.

This is in Mosul, early in the deployment and the vehicles are already banged up (notice the multicolor reactive armor and beat up mud flaps) Also a good size indicator of the tarp.  I’d use foil and fold it up then paint it, as a lot of the resin ones (that I’ve seen) don’t quite capture it.  They’re stiff and don’t fold very neatly and there’s are lots of gaps and open space you can’t quite capture with resin, plus with foil you could cut it to the size of the track, fold it up, then just squish it down into the rack (a lot of times we’ll step or jump on it to really get it in there)

[Gremlin56]

Great photos CK, they raise even more questions though. Hope you don't mind me asking

The 3rd ID version it is, lets see if I can get a reasonable model of one of the Mosul Bradleys built using your tips and advice.

First off you mention that there are 82/84 links on a Bradleys tracks. I have come out at 76/76. That means that I either have the tracks too tight (I'll post more photos shortly) or the dimensions of the Meng model are incorrect. Do I need to add a couple more links in this case? I read that the Bradleys and Abram's don't have much sag in their tracks.

The rear hatch (used to reload the TOW) seems to be different to the version supplied by Meng, periscopes in the hatch and not behind as Meng portrays (no quick fix for this though so I'll things as are).

The Skull Indian used on the track guard and turret are great. Is it used on a single vehicle or does it have a wider use?

The tips about the external ammo boxes and tarp are noted, need to think how I'll tackle the tarp.

The Meng version has two huge air conditioning units hanging on the rear of the Bradley, on your photos  I see zero airco's. I also notice one Bradley with the combat identification panels, I have  set as an add on, would I need to fit them?

The Bradley's in your photos have 1 cylindrical sensor attached to the bustle, Meng supplies two.

A veritable mine of information CK,

has me doing a major rethink of some aspects of my build

[Gremlin56]

22/9 update.

Tracks fitted, external add on armor being fitted. Drivers hatch and rear hatch in progress: