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06/24's modern armour workbench


06/24

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Well I enjoyed posting my first ever tank WIP with the Tamiya MkIV Male, even if the finished result wasn't quite good enough to go into Ready for Inspection.

Having enjoyed building my first complete kit for years, I have been inspired to try something completely different, in the form of Meng's super detailed cavalry Bradley.

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Meng M3A3 BUSK III by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Interior kit by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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This is in a different league to my previous kit, with a massively higher parts count. You certainly get a lot for your money:

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A real box full! by jongwinnett, on Flickr

Searching online so far has found relatively few photos of the real thing in this configuration, but I have learnt that the U.S. 8th Army Bradley's have been updated to this standard, although I haven't seen any photos with the large side reactive armour blocks. I'm undecided if I go for a sandy coloured one, or NATO three colour camo, perhaps with sand coloured reactive blocks.

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Having separate instructions for the interior and the main hull is going to get confusing I think. If anyone has built the earlier M2A3 release and could share the instructions which combine the interior and exterior build I'd be very grateful - Although I think there is a scan online which I can refer to.

Anyway, construction begins with the wheels. The road wheels are each formed of four parts, (5 including the polycap) which gives very crisp rim detail. The down side is the four sprue attachment points to clean up on each rim, and my cutters must be getting a bit done, as the plastic chewed up a bit as I snipped.

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Each wheel had multiple attachment points to clean up by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Clever parts breakdown for the wheel rims by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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So far, fit is superb. by jongwinnett, on Flickr

I forgot to take photos of the idler and drive wheels, the latter feature a separate outer tooth ring, which is very delicate and which I found difficult to clean up.

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i have this kit marked as a future build' so you have my attention :popcorn: .

regards oz!.

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Cheers Oz, good to know someone is watching!

Not much progress today, as I was away on business. However, I did mange to shoot the idlers and drive sprockets I missed yesterday:

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Drive and idler by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Slight damage repair needed by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Done by jongwinnett, on Flickr

And I've made a start on the suspension:

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"Working" shock absorbers by jongwinnett, on Flickr

The suspension parts were slightly misaligned on my sprue, so needed some cleaning up, annoying when they'll be all but invisible on the finished model.

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It's been enjoyable so far. Slightly surprised that there's been a bit of flash to clean up, more than I might have expected for what is regarded as a state of the art kit. Nonetheless it seems to be going together well so far and fit of parts has been generally good.

Bracing myself to try some extra detailing inside, cable runs principally. Need to fill a couple of ejector pin holes first, and smooth out where there were some mouldings to remove inside the hull walls.

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this is looking really good.

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Thank you. I'm enjoying it a lot.

Looking at photos I've concluded that interior of the rear compartment, particularly the seats, isn't quite representative of what seems to be the current fit. The kit seats have a spring frame underneath, and the seat back is framed to the rest of the seat (pictures further up the page). However the real thing sems to have dispensed with the spring frame and the rear seat cushion is now fixed to the sidewall:

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M3A3-3 by Jaye_Wolfe, on Flickr

I'll need to see what I can find to modify the kit parts.

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The amended parts lack the finesse of the kit parts, but should suffice, I hope?

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Amended crew seat 1 by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Amended crew seat 2 by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Crew seat by jongwinnett, on Flickr

What do you think? I could perhaps refine it with brass strip instead of the plastic angle, but the plastic was to hand.

Now I've posted the photos I can see the seat back needs to be lower - nothing is fixed in place yet so it should be simple enough to lower it. I'm going to add a representation of the hinges that seem to line the wall as well.

Edited by 06/24
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Excellent progress and a mighty fine looking kit!

Will be watching rest of the build with interest.

Regards

Pete

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After my disappointment with the paint finish on the MKIV Male, I decided to shell out for an airbrush and am now going through a steep learning curve. However, in true stupid fashion, I'm practicing on the Bradley, not a scrap kit. Fingers crossed, so far it seems ok:

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First attempts at airbrushing by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Even without detailing, the engine and transmission look good with a coat of paint by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Fighting compartment starting to look busy by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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The modified rear seat by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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The credit goes to the kit designers. Rear seat aside, all I've done so far is stick bits together in roughly the order shown in the instructions. It's a very detailed kit, but so far has been one of the most straightforward builds I can remember.

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  • 1 year later...

you should do im 4 days into a build and though i am really enjoying it i am a little disappointed at the amount of extra flash and clipping required of the sprues. have to say made a few mistakes building it and its fiddly in places but im lease with the build to date. about to start the turret sections. But this is only the fourth model i have built. so not doing to bad.

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  • 2 months later...

So, to re-cap, the state of play when this build stalled was:

29019759626_e1f38b9b68_c.jpgHere's where we left off by jongwinnett, on Flickr

On re-examining the build so far, the first thing that struck me was the Tamiya paint (XF-71?) I had used for the interior "Sea Foam Green" looked too dark and blue. So tonight’s progress consisted of a spray of Humbrol 90, which to my eyes gives a closer match. Compare the shot of the closed up hull with the real thing on the previous page.

28976649791_e7defb83b2_c.jpgThat's better by jongwinnett, on Flickr

28766586200_74233bac63_c.jpgThat's better by jongwinnett, on Flickr

One pleasant surprise is that my bodged seat changes look better than I remembered, so much so that I’m happy to call them done and move on.

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