combat Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Really cool build and very tidy details! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crushkill Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) She’s looking great!! Really capturing the look. One thing (take it for what it’s worth), our 240’s get ABUSED in those turrets, so they’re almost more silver than black. They’re also probably getting close to 30 years old at this point 😂😂 Edited February 20, 2018 by crushkill Crappy spelling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrancisGL Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Welcome back to the hobby again, very well detailed the work so far ... Cheers Reilly 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carius Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Wow, stunning build. I love the interior details. Cheers mate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 18 hours ago, crushkill said: She’s looking great!! Really capturing the look. One thing (take it for what it’s worth), our 240’s get ABUSED in those turrets, so they’re almost more silver than black. They’re also probably getting close to 30 years old at this point 😂😂 Thanks for the tip, I had painted the 240 with Vallejo's metal colours but the gunmetal tends to come out a bit dark. I had found in other situations that rubbing the painted part between the fingers brought out more of a silver finish. Unfortunately the part is rather fragile so I didn't want to handle it too much. I'll try a couple of other metallic shades and see if I can get a bit of a patina going on the barrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 Thanks for the kind comments. Went back to the hull and fettled the rear hatch into place. Two of the hinges were swallowed up by the carpet monster, usually they're caught by the fibres of the blue and white cleaning cloth but these parts had clearly other ideas. Tried to find them with bare feet which usually works but no luck. Found a part in the spares box that was close enough to one of the hinges but after a couple of attempts at the other one had to give up. I'll cover up its absence some other way. Spot of track bashing next. If I remember rightly it was 80 links per track so I made up four sets of 40 so that they would be manageable. A couple the links fell apart and had to be replaced from there spare links (Meng supplies plenty). I just hoped that it would all hold together particularly once the side skirts are fitted. Painted them with a steel colour first and then splashed them with track wash. That leaves the metallic steel colour on the horns. I must say once that had dried I had the feeling that they're less likely to fall apart, due to the wash filling up the linkages. Looks like I might have a bit of luck here. Meng provides a piece of brass to act as a mask for airbrushing the track rubbers; five at a time. Seemed to me to be a lot of faffing around so did the rubbers with a brush which was quite easy. By the time there's a bit of dust on them it should all look okay. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crushkill Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) Just do some flat silver dry brushing on the 240 and it’ll look perfect. Also, we normally paint our tools entirely tan, which obviously wear off into black on the edges. As far as tracks go, we run 80 on one side, 82 on the other. They’re always offset. When they’re brand new it’s 84, but after a little bit of use we “short-track” them and take off a few. Feel free to disregard my input, but it’s rare to see guys build the Brad so I love to throw in insight when I can. Edited February 21, 2018 by crushkill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) 8 hours ago, crushkill said: Just do some flat silver dry brushing on the 240 and it’ll look perfect. Also, we normally paint our tools entirely tan, which obviously wear off into black on the edges. As far as tracks go, we run 80 on one side, 82 on the other. They’re always offset. When they’re brand new it’s 84, but after a little bit of use we “short-track” them and take off a few. Feel free to disregard my input, but it’s rare to see guys build the Brad so I love to throw in insight when I can. I have to ask, its been gnawing away at me all morning, why the asymmetry of 80 versus 82? Really appreciate the input. I'm looking forward to see what this looks like when its finished. Its quite a beast size wise. Edited February 21, 2018 by Reilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 It took a while but I finally managed to get the ramp in place. It has to fit at five different points. Unfortuately it won't stay closed on its own even though its designed to click into place. That's been currently solved with a universal closing system (I'll paint it black later for added authenticity). Again Meng excels in detail. Just compare the brackets for the towing cable to what normally would be delivered by Tamiya. In the latter case that would be little lumps of plastic and Eduard would provide a brass replacement set. Tracks have now been assembled with 2 links extra on one side (thanks Crushkill). Lighting and some of the frontal BUSK fitted. The carpet monster stole the RHS headlamp so that needs knocking up from something else. Sorry, not a great picture. I'll put up a better one later. Now time for the rest of the BUSK system. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 (edited) Fitted the airco units and then started on the side skirts. Trying to fit them to the hull has a bit of a fiddle. While I was trimming and scrapping to get a decent fit the turret housing broke and somebody in the back chucked out one of the fire extinguishers. The following picture was taken the day after the night before when both sides had been completed. I had to remove the one on the LHS as the fit was terrible, spent a good hour or so with the Dremel taking a few latyers of parts of the hull. The observant among you will no doubt have noticed that the drivers hatch has gone awol. That wasn't part of the plan; the whole lot fell off while I was trying to fit the airco units. At least the track hasn't fallen apart.....yet. After an attack with the Dremel the side skirts are now in place and fit properly although not using the Meng fittings. The drivers hatch was repaired, unfortunately the engine cover will never fit. Should have made that one fit at the start when there was room to work with knives and files without damaging other parts. End of the day I'll leave it open. Gave the tools a coating of tan but may need to darken it a bit. Couple of other views of the hull. Front lamp now repaired in the field with a lens somebody has scrounged. It was lying around the bench and I'll probably find out where it came from later. Edited February 26, 2018 by Reilly 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrancisGL Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Interior job looks fantastic, very detailed... Cheers mate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted March 12, 2018 Author Share Posted March 12, 2018 Finally completed most of the Bradley. The hull and turret together for the first time and a bit of weathering. With a bit of dust around the tracks it should look like some of the ones on my photos. Just need to add three antennas. Oh, yes, and the M242. Realised that I'd forgotten to revive what was left of the Meng version while I was taking the pictures. Need to bodge one up from something else. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crushkill Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Looks awesome!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 On 3/17/2018 at 9:14 PM, crushkill said: Looks awesome!!! Thanks Crushkill. Now adding the antennas and final touches. Hope to have it finished soon. I need to look around for some decent figures but that may take a little longer and I'll leave them for an eventual diorama. Cheers John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 I know nothing about the Bradley but this looks very, very cool. Top work John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripaman Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Very nice John weathering looks top notch. Regards Richard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 Thanks for the comments. I'm almost there. Antennas fitted and a 242 made up from a combination of a Tamiya barrel and the Meng muzzle Just putting together some of the stuff that would normally lie around. After that I need to clear my photo bench and make some decent pictures. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrancisGL Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 It looks very interesting, with so many artifacts around the turret ... Cheers Reilly 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 Ok, this Bradley is considered done. When I started the thread I was going to do a comparison build with a Tamiya Bradley. That's on the way so the story will continue for a bit. I also knocked up an M113, for no other reason other than it was on the shelf but it makes a nice comparison size wise. Here's the Meng Bradley: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) Now the M113A2. Its supposed to have a bunch of packs and stuff dangling from the sides and I've still to find something to simulate the straps to hang the sacks on. I guess Tamiya thought they were fitted magnetically. The kit is a straight forward bash out of the box with no added extras. Will do for something in the back of a diorama sometime. The figure came out of a Tamiya Abrams. And finally a comparison between the Bradley and the M113, the Bradley being a sizeable beastie. Edited April 10, 2018 by Reilly 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) And now for the Tamiya Bradley. Its an M2A2 ODS version. Its taken an effort to get this moving as I lost interest when comparing it to the Meng effort. Even given all the fitting problems that the Meng kit threw up the level of detail is streets ahead of Tamiya. I had a set of Eddie's brass for this one. I haven't replaced all the parts that Eduards give but at the end of the day I added a fair bit. Here's the hull before I put on the first coats of primer and paint before adding the brass grills and exhaust system. Edited April 12, 2018 by Reilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 Finally some progress o the Tamiya Bradley. Wheels and tracks fitted along with basic paint job on the hull. I used the rubber bands provided by Tamiya. Had to soften them up a bit as they were bent to the left. Fine if you want to go round corners but not much use on the model. As the tracks are covered by the skirts decided it wasn't worthwhile going for any of the aftermarket stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 All brass bits added to the hull and side skirts added. Didn't bother replacing the ladles on the sides. After looking at the Eduard effort decided that with a bit of paintwork the Tamiya ones looked better. Sometimes PE is a bit 2-dimensional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 Time for the turret. Eduard provide about 50 grab handles which is just as well. I still haven't mastered creating four folds in a piece of metal that is roughly the size of the end of the tweezers. I'm convinced Eduard are secretly sadists. After perseverance I managed the requisite 12 grab handles with most of the rest being binned. Quite happy with the results, now hope I don't lose half of them when I use the airbrush. Next job is the bins for the ammunition cans. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reilly Posted May 6, 2018 Author Share Posted May 6, 2018 Some minor work but turret nearing completion. Need to find more time to work on this and push it to the finish. Turret bins completed. Time to put it all together and paint it up. Had hoped to complete the sighting mechanism on the front of the turret but had a minor paint explosion with the airbrush due to bad drills on my part. Need to sand down some of the paint job and start again. Shouldn't be too much and being a little rough it should add some patina to the overall effect. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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