If only AFV Club would update their M88

The very information sheet you posted seems to indicate there’s more to it than that. Plus the boxes, as mentioned, and possibly some added ECM.
The only way we’ll know what’s going on underneath is for someone to crawl underneath and take a look. :thinking:

The data sheet only talks about the pneumatic suspension.

The basic changes look to be what I have listed. The added boxes and ECM stuff will most likely be vehicle or unit specific and will change over time. They are easy to add or delete as needed. They are also likely test equipment as well since the vehicles are just now being tested. No telling what the final version will look like.

You are correct that a good walk-around would be great though.

Trips to Carson and Cervezas planned upcoming. Possibly Sill.

Comparison of upper hull


A tiny bit more complicated than “only” adding a road wheel.

Needs someone to crawl around and get some “upskirt” photos …

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A gentleman never looks under a skirt. Thank God I’m no gentleman.

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We are all grateful for your sacrifices :+1: :smiley:

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Yes they are. They are molded onto the AFV Club hull.

I never said it would be that easy.

Here is the AFV Club hull. If you grind/file/sand off the molded on road wheel arm mounting points, you would be left with a smooth hull. If someone were to make resin or 3D printed pneumatic road wheel arms and mounts, you could glue them onto the smooth hull in the proper locations to have the 7 road wheels per side.

With the above, the extra road wheels on each side, a larger engine cover, along with a Legend M88A2 set would give you an M88A3.

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78ton

The M88A2 supposedly weighs in at 63.5 tons.
Where do the extra 14 - 15 tons come from?
Pulling capacity depends on the pullers weight so it obviously needs to weigh more
since the M88A2 was too light.

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Heavier engine and transmission, maybe some steel plates in the bottom of the hull?

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Two are being evaluated at YPG, as of 30 April. And four at APG. I don’t know if there are any at Ft. Cervezas yet, but there is a job posting for a service technician who can work on all three models. MY projecrted trip there is 4 June. Ft. Carson trip is 30 May,

From Army.mil:

Currently, the operational M88A2 cannot perform single-vehicle recovery operations for the modern Abrams tank. Instead, two vehicles must collaborate to lift and move these tanks when they become disabled, which comes at the cost of efficiency, logistics and increased complexity on a battlefield.

To overcome this limitation, BAE Systems introduced the M88A3 Hercules Heavy Recovery Vehicle. This advanced variant builds upon the proven M88A2, enhancing performance, survivability and responsiveness.

I can attest to this. This one rolled over in northern Iraq and could not be recovered by the one A2 there:



Note dried mud on the side. Had it not been for Big Al, one of our terps, putting his weight behind it, they’d have never righted it. Dude never missed a meal, except the time I made ham and beans.

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:grin: :+1:

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The M88A2 has been on my wish list for years, and now the A3 is. But I want it in styrene, preferably by Meng or RFM. If they can kit the Assault Breacher (and every variant of the Tiger down to the one Michael Wittman stole a shovel from on May 5th 1943), they can kit a Hercules.

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Lovin that camo, beats monotone sand!

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Yeah, what’s up with that camo on the A3? It’s like a strange cross between NATOflage and overall sand. The road wheels look like they were cobbled together from a NATO camo tank and a sand one. And the brown doesn’t look like standard NATO brown, but it could be the light. Is the Army testing out a new camo pattern? They seem to be trying different things with different vehicles, so it’s getting hard to keep track of what’s what.

I know several Asian manufacturers in person. Believe me, you really can´t look inside their heads when you talk them face-to-face. I think that Robert S. and Robert G.will agree. The late Mr.Tserng from AFV Club made his money with police gear. And Meng Models owner looks like he is a “daddy´s child”. Means they don´t have to look for sales numbers. As for European ARV´s, Hobbyboss already had the Leopard 2 in their portfolio, so they decided to make the ARV and AVLB version too. As for HobbyBoss Leguan, they made an advanced prototype, like they did with their EITAN kit. Believe me it´s not EASY to get close to a LEGUAN, let alone an EITAN.

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The only ones I’ve actually met are Chan Lee and Raymund Chung. I know Raymond’s goal is to produce relatively well detailed models at an affordable price point. He knows some models will add more detail which, let’s face it, a lot of us do matter how well detailed the kit is.

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Ah yes, Raymond Chung. I met him and Silvia at Nuremberg Toy Fair some years ago. Great kit on MRAP subject and a great Bradley kit. BTW I measured the Bigfoot track for Bradley for him.

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Was not Raymond Chung owner of Kinetic & Panda models?

Thanks Gino. Yeah I found out after I bought the A1 kit that we got the A2. I asked a question on the now defunct Aussie Modeller International forum which led me to believe the A2 had longer booms. Your response makes me think they’re not so much longer, as just a different shape or cross-section

CEO of Kinetic only.