So, enough conjecture about the best way to get about getting an M3A2 ODS Bradley. I decided to move on with my idea of removing the roof armor. I started off by gluing some 120 grit sandpaper to a 1/4 plate of steel.
If all goes horribly wrong I can still splice in a section from an unused Bradley hull. The dimensions are identical, and any splicing would be hidden by the new angled armor plates.
Qapla’! Worked like a charm. It took about three minutes with that sanding bar. I finished it off with some sort of foam emory board I purchase at a beauty supply store, Total time was less than ten minutes. Probably closer to eight,
As you can see all of the roof armor around the hatch is completely gone.
A standard M3A3 on the right for comparison.
Using an Academy hull as Gino suggested was never going to be an option for me. I’ve gone that route twice before - you can see in the very first photo in this thread how I had to cut off the sideplates to remove the swim barrier stowage. Then you have to put them back on. It’s too time consuming to ever want to do it again, especially with the number of new kits you can use.
And then of course you have to fill in the notch in this front armor plate
And fix everything wrong with the rear end:
Then you still have to transfer an assload of parts from another kit, putting them on incorrect swingarms, and hope everything works out. I’m satisfied with the course I chose and am certain I saved several hours of work. Besides that the bolt detail is very soft on the Academy kit due to how they molded the hull. The Meng bolts are very crisp.
So, the hard part is over. Now all that’s left is to finish building most of the kit as is, although I will need to go with different side armor plates. Plus the lower armor mounts are of the older angle iron style rather than the cast ones so, I’ll use my PE set for that.
Add the old triangle track from the MLRS, the work platform, and the frontal armor, the MCD, and some bits and bobs, and it should be a pretty standard build.