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Bradley M2A3


Reilly

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Another Bradley, but not in the same league as Gremlin's recent effort. I wasn't sure whether I'd bother putting this up and considered waiting until I'd finished and then gently prod it round the door with a long stick and leave quietly hoping that nobody would notice. Before this I'd just finished the Meng Abrams which, in my opinion, is a bit of a dog. I wasn't sure if this was going to be the same in which case I'd probably not bother and kick it into the stash somewhere but I thought it would be fair to give Meng a second chance. I'm happy to report that apart from a couple of minor niggles its going together rather well with the parts fitting like they belong to the same kit. 

 

Here's the start. There's an M113 from Tamiya on the bench as well as the Bradley hull on its back waving its legs in the air. The Tamiya kit was an old moulding with a couple of extra sprue thrown in which are basically bergens, ammo and jerry cans and a dog to hang around the external parts of the vehicle.  Although the Bradley has an interior I'm not sure how much will be visible once I'm finished. 

 

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Thought I'd start on the wheely bits first as well as the track assembly. The wheels have separate tyres which I thought was to make painting easier (see later). Being Meng the fit between the road wheel and tyre is so tight that no adhesive was necessary. They're on for good! I've seen various negative comments about the tracks but with me being cheap I thought I'd give them a go. I can always bin them later if it goes wrong and order up some of the ones that Gremlin used in his build. Thankfully there are enough links in the bag to compensate for the ones that don't fit or are too loose. I might need to glue a few links before this is over just for some additional strength. Time to get them into paint along with the rubbers from the M113. As most of the M113 track is hidden under the side skirts the rubbers will be adequate enough.

 

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My choice of track may yet be my undoing. Here's the start to the hull interior.

 

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Time to add some grease an overall wear and tear before I go any further. Next steps is the engine, oh, one has just been delivered.

 

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Of course it wouldn't be one of my models if I hadn't screwed up somewhere. Thought I'd completed the wheel assemblies but that wasn't the case. At the bottom of the box was a piece of brass that the helpful people at Meng thoughtfully included for use as a mask for defining the extent of the rubber. Pity they didn't mention this in the instructions which were rather unclear about the extend of the rubber. I did have my reservations when I was putting them together. Oh well back to wheel painting.

 

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I've now discovered that there is a considerable warp on the lower half of the hull. With the back plate and some tensioning I should be able to fix it. I ran into a similar problem with the Meng Cougar when closing it up. This time I'll make sure the hull fits together before fitting the interior. That way I should be able to use the necessary clamps without damaging parts. I'd say with Meng it pays to build sub assemblies, continually checking for fit, before discovering that that serious fettling is required once everything has been glued down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Reilly

 

Glad to see you back and I thought that Abrams turned out just fine.

 

Be careful with the swing arms on this kit as they are very very delicate.  I broke mine 3 times and even tried super gluing some reinforcement to the backs to stiffen them up but finally gave up in disgust.  This one ended up in the bin beside the

Meng Panzerhaubitze 2000.  Meng's kits seem to be hit or miss, the Tiger II was excellent but some of the others not so much. I have a Meng 1/35 Soviet T-10M in the stash and the tracks look like another nightmare effort.

 

Looking forward to see how this turns out and yes none of us are in the same league or even the same ball park as Gremlin.

 

Lloyd

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Thanks all for taking a look.

 

Crushkill: I followed Gremlin's thread; what a result! Thanks for the offer of help. Feel free to pitch in anytime. I have a few pictures to work from, they're a bit vague in parts but I was hoping to add some of the larger details that Meng has missed, at least in areas that are visible. I was tempted at the weekend to go for the other Meng Bradley. It was on offer at a local show. It's two kits, with a different exterior and interior compared to the complete kit. I also have a couple of Tamiya Bradley's and might be tempted to knock one together for comparison. They're not in the same league as the Meng kit in terms of detail. 

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Hi Reilly,

nice start of the build. Lloyd is correct about the suspension, it is very delicate and in view of removing the wheels a couple of times during the build I added some very thin cement to the joins to make the suspension "solid".

Adding a Tamiya Bradley build to the blog would be interesting, big development curve between the two versions.

;)

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Right here's the choice fo the Tamiya Bradley. I have both the Tamiya ODS version and an older version with an interior of sorts. Here's the line up:

 

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(The MM113 is still kicking around the bench because part of it looks like it was sprayed with fake tan. Needs a bit of correction before finishing.) I\m going for the ODS version. Its the one on the RHS and I'll return the older Bradley which comes in European cammo to the stash. Basically they're both the same kit with a few extra sprues thrown in the later kit to take care of the extra armour. Here's a comparison between it and the Meng hull. If ever the expression chalk and cheese was appropriate.

 

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I added the rear of the Meng hull, some gentle heat and various clamps to take the warp out of the Meng hull. It worked rather well. Quick check to ensure that everything is going to fit as required. No problems.

 

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Engine and drivers compartments almost complete. A few odds and sods still required.

 

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I had dry brushed the seats to give them that bum on seat look but it looks like the brush was a maybe a little dryer than I'd anticipated. Time to move on the turret housing and aft sections.

 

In the case of the Tamiya Bradley there is no internal detail so its just a case of assembling the basic box and fitting the externals. In the photo below I've fitted the front armour plate which needed a rather odd ridge at the front of the hull removed. It now fits as intended. One advantage of the Tamiya kit is that it can take a fair amount of punishment without bits flying off. I'll seal up the rear next but leave the top hatch hinged. That way I can rescue any of the little men later should they inadvertently fall inside the hull. I had some Eduard brass for the ODS version. I won't be using all of it as I don't see any need to cut off parts which Tamiya has actually moulded rather well to replace them with brass just for the sake of it.  

 

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Edited by Reilly
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On 10/31/2017 at 4:20 PM, Gremlin56 said:

Is it the photo or my imagination or is the Tamiya hull shorter than the Meng version?

Nice work Reilly,

:yes:

 

I measured them both last night. Its a trick of the photo. They're both the same length. The Meng turret fits the Tamiya hull. Had a look at your end result in the other thread. You've set the bar high. Not even sure I'll see it let alone get close. I like your answer to the anti-slip.  On a lot of the pictures I have there is anti-slip on a number of the other panels. Not sure yet how I want to do that, probably Mr Surfacer. The Tamiya model doesn't have any anti-slip so that will take a bit of work. Bit of experimentation called for I think. I did some previously on the Tamiya Abrams with mixed results.   

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On 10/31/2017 at 4:23 PM, Soeren said:

Beautifull,... And they include a wheels mask. Why isnt that standard in all kits already :wtf:

Couldn't agree more. Wheel painting is not one of my favourite tasks. Either masks or separate tyres please. I was pleasantly surprised by the mask for the track rubbers. 

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2 hours ago, Reilly said:

 

I measured them both last night. Its a trick of the photo. They're both the same length. The Meng turret fits the Tamiya hull. Had a look at your end result in the other thread. You've set the bar high. Not even sure I'll see it let alone get close. I like your answer to the anti-slip.  On a lot of the pictures I have there is anti-slip on a number of the other panels. Not sure yet how I want to do that, probably Mr Surfacer. The Tamiya model doesn't have any anti-slip so that will take a bit of work. Bit of experimentation called for I think. I did some previously on the Tamiya Abrams with mixed results.   

Some anti-slip comes from the factory, some from BUSK upgrades, and other from the units.  I’m willing to argue no two units have the same layout of anti-slip. As long as you get the top of the TOW loader hatch, and front of the hull (to include driver’s hatch) you’ll be fine.

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23 hours ago, crushkill said:

Some anti-slip comes from the factory, some from BUSK upgrades, and other from the units.  I’m willing to argue no two units have the same layout of anti-slip. As long as you get the top of the TOW loader hatch, and front of the hull (to include driver’s hatch) you’ll be fine.

Thanks Crushkill. That will save me a bit of work and let me focus on the areas that really need it.

 

Cheers

Reilly. 

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Right that's the lower hull finished for the front end interior.

 

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Have started on the rear deck and the turret enclosure but no pictures yet. Meng provide a couple of brass panels for the interior of the turret basket. They also help with a bit of plastic upon which one is expected to produce the inverse camber and bend. Without the bend the brass is too large to fit the cutouts. The mould provided is essentially useless as it doesn't account for the springbuck associated with the bending of metals. I bent the brass freehand and forced it into the space provided and then proceeded to try and massage it into shape. The results weren't great but does look better when painted and should pass once everything is assembled.

 

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That interior looks real good Reilly. The engine and trans look like they are in service and driven hard just as they should.

 

Don't you just love some of that photo etch that's so small you can't pick it up, so stiff you can't bend it, so soft it falls apart in

the tweezers or cutting it off the sprue and worst of all flies over you shoulder never to be seen again???

 

Lloyd

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On 11/5/2017 at 11:17 PM, BlackMax12 said:

That interior looks real good Reilly. The engine and trans look like they are in service and driven hard just as they should.

 

Don't you just love some of that photo etch that's so small you can't pick it up, so stiff you can't bend it, so soft it falls apart in

the tweezers or cutting it off the sprue and worst of all flies over you shoulder never to be seen again???

 

Lloyd

Best way to find that missing piece of brass is to take off socks and shoes. Not recommended but you'll find it in under a minute versus an hour crawling over the floor with a high power light. Bit like Lego. 

Edited by Reilly
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On 11/6/2017 at 7:02 PM, Gremlin56 said:

I had an issue with those mess turret screens. It's thin PE, too thin to risk heating it up with "Creme Brullé " torch, but as Lloyd mentioned it's very springy.

Luckily they vanish into the hull :thumbsup:

 

On 11/7/2017 at 1:36 PM, Mr Bowcat said:

Ahh yes, the mesh. Pain in the backside that was. Luckily (as Gremlin said) you can barely see it once the kits together.

 

Your build looks great Reilly, good work on the engine. :)

 

Once I got the paint on it looked a lot better. As you say its buried in the turret housing. I like the idea of the Creme Brullé torch. I've been using a small soldering iron or a larger hot air blower (held at a considerable distance). 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Slow progress at the moment. But some parts have been completed. I started work on the turret. Given that it recesses in the hull I want to know that when I fit the top of the hull that it will all match up. I've been caught out before. Good news is that it all fits like a dream without any fettling. A lot was due to removing the warp from the hull by first adding the rear. The result so far.

 

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I'm going to leave the rear ramp open as well as the turret cage and the front engine cover. I added a handle to the turret door and was going to add more detail alongside the turret, first aid box etc but once the top half of the hull is in place there is a monitor which hides all this, including the extinguishers. I was tempted to install the monitor on a swing arm on the other side but decided to leave it as it would be hard to see anyway. Still a lot to do on the floor and add some assorted kit.

 

Next was the turret. I painted the outside of it and the hull as this will be more difficult once the periscopes have been added. I'll be able to vary the shades on the assorted plates that are bolted on for a more realistic look. 

 

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Haven't added the coaxial MG yet as its a bit fragile and I'll probably break it if added too early. I had wanted to add some of the cabling for the radio but couldn't identify the sets. Its not one of the newer Sincgars sets. Asked a mate who worked for Harris if he could identify the ones in the model but that was a meh. There are some aftermarket radios and I thought about them but I expect I'd need to also change the antenna and they're not really going to be seen once the turret is assembled. I added optics to the sighting scopes with Microscope Krystal Klear and they look rather neat. Unfortunately they are equally invisible once in place. That was the decider to adding any more detail to the interior. 

 

At first glance it doesn't look like there is an anti-slip layer on the hull but looking more closely it is there so it should collect a bit more dirt when walked across. Next step is to complete the turret structure, upper hull interior at the rear end, add seat harness, periscopes and some of the cabling.

 

 

Edited by Reilly
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/24/2017 at 7:01 AM, Gremlin56 said:

Looking good Reilly, nice and neat. I had more or less the same dilemma with this model: interior detail is excellent but you will not see much of the work you put into it once it's sealed up.

;)

Thanks Gremlin. I think I'll be keeping the rear open so that its possible to see inside. Meng does surprise sometimes with what they chose to detail. In some cases I would say there are decals missing which would be visible and yet there are decals for parts that will never be seen again. Case in point extinguishers on the right of the turret housing are nicely detailed yet are no longer visible and the two hanging from the side walls are expected to hang there without any form of retaining system not to mention the decals which would have been easy to add to the sheet. Okay I know that its a minor detail and I'm probably bordering on rivet counting but its just one of a few.

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I've completed the basic turret assembly. Here's the base and cage. I added the coaxial machine gun last so as not to break it while fitting the other parts.

 

 

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Up to now its has gone relatively smoothly however fitting the upper half of the turret required a fair a bit of work. The position of the coaxial machine gun prevented this or more accurately the inside of the turret upper at the front was too thick and prevented the two halves mating properly at the rear. After attacking it with the dremel, various knives and files I had a fit allowing the machine gun to move freely as well as having the two turret halves meet at the rear.

 

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Job done. Trying to clamp the various parts was almost impossible given the contours. Fingers work best but there are times that I wish the cement would set a little faster. Now time for the armour and various gubbins. Throughout this part of the construction I used the Tamiya Bradley body as a support. Still work to do on the interior but here's what it looks like in the Meng hull.

 

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