Thanks, but I think the COA I’ve chosen will work quite nicely. Having a spare Meng M3A3 as I mentioned is essentially having that sprue, is it not? Plus I get the better wheels, sprocket, and track.
The Meng kit as the base kit will be perfect, with the Academy side plates which are correct for 2003, (minus the weld that need to be removed) as they lack the BRAT mounts. The lower armor mounts are not correct but I’ll be removing them and replacing with PE anyway.
This may be helpful to anyone building Bradley kits. I showed how I doubled up the armor plates on the Magic Factory kits in this thread:
However, building any of the kits with the BRAT installed need not be as time consuming, The BRAT hides the top edge of most of the armor plates, so you need only replace the front and rear plates on any of those kits. These are from an old Meng M2A3. I recently came across the photos but have added some text to them, It really makes a world of difference. It’s SOP for me on any Bradley.
This first photo shows the incorrect front plate removed.
If this is to be a comprehensive list of Bradley items then surely these cartridges need to be included. Plus it showcases one of Jaques’ products actually being used:
As there is no M3A2 ODS available in 1/35, there is another option…
Another option to build an M3A2 ODS looks to be the forthcoming Magic Factory M7A3 kit. The CAD looks as though it is built on an M3A3 hull. If it does come about that the plastic is an M3A3 hull, it can easily be backdated to an M3A2 ODS since all the hull-top armor plates are separate in the Magic Factory kits. The only piece that is molded onto the hull is a small plate behind the driver’s hatch that is easy to sand off (circled in red). You would still need to backdate the turret parts (remove CITV and add full width turret basket), but it is a good start.
The same applies to their Ukranian M2A2 ODS kit. It can easily be backdated to a US M2A2 ODS in the same manner, and it already has all the turret conversion parts.
There are a few areas on the front of the hull to attend to as well for either an M2A2 ODS or an M3A2 ODS. If you leave off the Driver’s Viewer camera parts on the front slope and some of the bars protecting the driver’s hatch, it becomes a standard, new build M2A2 ODS. You would also need to backdate the tracks to T157I “Bigfoot” tracks and sprockets as well.
The areas in red are what need attention. The Driver’s Viewer camera is in the circle and the raised bars around the drivers hatch (red lines) need to be left off. The anti-foul bar to the left side of the hatch (green T) needs to stay, but be mounted on the hull, not the raised bar. The rest looks good.
Thanks, but I avoided the Magic Factory route because of several other things I’ve pointed out in another thread. You still have to drill out the shell ejection port, you have to remove a molded on piece of armor from the roof (which is actually harder than removing the hull armor from the Meng kit because of where it’s positioned.) Some may even prefer the workable suspension on the Meng kit for displaying over uneven terrain. I will grant that the Magic Factory kit gives you quite a few extra PE tie downs, but I’ve got enough of those to last for several more builds.
You have to do some work no matter which route you choose. The COA I chose went well so I’m not going to second guess it now.
Of course, anyone backdating it now has many options available. I suggest not using the Academy kit as in the above post.
Let me know. I might as well give up on mine that I’ve been working on for over six years.
This guy had pretty much everything I’ve been working on - refueler, modified figures, jeep with trailer, deuce. About the only thing I have that this doesn’t is the para-packs. Amazing dio.
My ongoing project when I’m not doing other things:
Back to Bradley builds. I should be getting the Stinger launcher from Model Monkey soon for the Linebacker. Beats the heck out of scratching another one, and should look better.
I received my M7A3 BFIST in the mail today. It looks great. There are two new sprues that hold the new M3A3 and BFIST parts (R and S). The parts are all injection molded, not 3D printed as earlier reported. They look vary nice and are cleanly molded.
The R sprue also has a new rear wall for the turret basket that has mounting points for a fifth ammo can holder, and a fifth ammo can holder on the sprue.
The kit is actually a 3 - in - 1 as well. It has all the parts from the M2A3 kit (minus sprue B for the A4 parts and the M-SHORAD parts), plus the M3A3 hull parts (hull-top rear armor plates and hatch), and BFIST targeting head parts for the M7A3 BFIST. With what is in the box, you can build either an M2A3 IFV, M3A3 CFV, or M7A3 BFIST. If you were to add the B sprue from the M2A3 / M2A4 / M-SHORAD kit, you could build any of the above in their A4 configurations as well.
M2A3 / M2A4 / M-SHORAD instructions to build an M2A3 or M3A3. You need these to build the TOW box parts.
My guess is that Magic Hobby will release either an M3A2 ODS SA CFV, M3A3 CFV, or M3A4 CFV kit soon with what is has in the box and available from earlier kits.
I received a package from Jaques Duquette tonight, with pretty much all of his Bradley related items in this thread over the past few months. It’ll take some time to absorb all of it, but I will say the detail is exquisite. I’m pretty demanding when it come to model accessories, upgrades, and conversions. None of these disappoint. I can’t detect even a hint that these parts are 3D printed. I’ll be showcasing these parts over the next few days on several different bradley threads, so be prepared to be happy.
