M6A3 Linebacker, Bradley M-SHORAD build

I have been working on a new conversion for a little while now. I have thrown together a concept M6A3 Linebacker, a.k.a Bradley M-SHORAD (Mobile - SHOrt Range Air Defense). So far, this is a concept vehicle by BAE that the US Army hasn’t bought…yet. I hope they do because SHORAD systems are woefully lacking in the US Army.

The actual vehicle.


It uses the .30mm chain gun from an Apache, Stinger pod, and all sorts of sensors and jammers.

It is a franken-Bradley of sorts. I used the Academy M2A2 OIF kit as a base, added the Magic Factory M-SHORAD parts and CITV (left over from their M2A4 and M2A2 ODS respectively). I also added some extra parts from a few Orochi M3A3s sprues I had bought, Jacques’ 3-D printed suspension and a few other of his detail parts, and some scratch parts.

You can see up top I added the additional A3 hull armor plates from some modified Orochi parts. For the added armor around the base of the turret, I used the tops of a couple interior turret walls from a Tamiya interior.

I used the Magic Factory A3 ramp and Jacques’ tail lights. I also cut the Academy rear plate wings off and flattened it out, along with cutting the hull top to fit. Lastly, I added my own angled plates behind the rear stowage boxes.



On the turret, I added the Magic Factory M-SHORAD parts. They fit the Academy parts perfectly. Most of the needed parts are all on the C sprue. A few common parts are from the Academy kit. The CITV also fits without issues. I made the added turret top armor by tracing the Magic Factory kit part onto 0.020 styrene sheet and cutting it to fit. I also used the new GPS, newer hatches, and some other detail parts from the Orochi sprues.




Here it is all together.

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Daaaaamn! That looks awesome, Gino! :+1:t2:

:beer: :cowboy_hat_face:

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Holy Crap, that’s awesome!

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Since it’s a concept, what color scheme do you have planned? Great building so-far BTW.

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Very impressive Gino!

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A lot of work to depict a surprising version.

I don’t know at all about LINEBACKERS. Is this version in service ?

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Thanks guys. I thought it would be an interesting type to build. I am enjoying it so far.

Not sure yet. I am planning to mark it as an in-service vehicle, so probably NATO camo or overall sand.

Nope, from above,
“…this is a concept vehicle by BAE that the US Army hasn’t bought…yet.”

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Looks very cool with the Rada radar panels and the UAV jammer/soft kill system. I´m looking forward to see this one finished

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Excellent build and very impressive use of the different kit parts to meld it all together… Top work.

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Awesome kit-bash!
Ken

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Wow, everything just seems to mesh so well! :smiley:

It’s not easy kitbashing and having everything come together so nicely. Awesome job!

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I really like where this is going
. Great work

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Thank you gentlemen. It went together pretty well. The kits are all about the same size, so no issues with combining them.

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This is a thing of beauty. I really like it, excellent work.

Since the war in Ukraine is proving that there is definitely room for M-SHORAD vehicles we will be seeing western countries fielding new equipment.
The Bradley is proving its worth too as a platform (not that it had not done it before) and what it can achieve when used effectively.

Looking forward to more progress :+1: :+1:

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Excellent build Gino

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Thanks gents.

A little more added.

I have added the tie-down blocks on the sides of the hull from an old Eduard PE set, now OOP.

Here is a shot showing Jacques’ 3D printed suspension parts. They are very nice, highly recommended.

I am also thinking about finishing it as a sand-colored vehicle on rotation in Europe that has the temporary green paint. Something like this.


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Looks mighty fine, Gino! :grin:

Mighty fine, indeed!

:beer::cowboy_hat_face:

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Thank Richard.

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Nice work Gino, I like the Temp green scheme, a digital camo scheme would be cool but you’d be hard pressed to pull it off with all the different surface elevations.

Cajun :crocodile:

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I’m pretty sure I’d go blind bending all those tie-downs or bat-crap crazy or maybe both! :crazy_face:

:beer: :cowboy_hat_face:

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