Bradley Stowage Kits for your Group Build Project

 

  

Once you get you Bradley built and painted, you might want to give it some stowage.  Pictures show various amounts of duffle bags, sleeping rolls, back packs, tarps, spare road wheels, ration boxes, etc.  Since the M2 Bradley was home to eight guys, they need a lot of stuff and not much room inside. The M3 has less crew, but even less space due to the extra anti-tank missiles it cares. 

One thing I have noticed in today's kits that differ from my early days of Monogram Tank kits in the 1970's is that most manufactures are loath to supply stowage outside of a few extra Jerry cans. If your kit is lacking in this area check out the following aftermarket items with my comments.

1/72 Scale

There are two good sets by Legend. 

The first set is for the Revell M2 (LF7203) but would be helpful with any Bradley in this scale. It is a little light on stowage items, but does come with a PE set. Unfortunately, the PE part for the bottom of the turret basket did not really fit my Revell kit. And as a replacement part, if you plan on putting anything in the turret basket why put this in when it won't be seen?  The side stowage cage may test your PE skills. So I give this set a B Grade due to having fewer resin parts.  This item is available from Spruebrothers or on eBay for about $8-$9.

The second set (LF7205) does not list a kit, but the Dragon kits are most likely the one it was meant for. Many of the parts would still be useful on any M2A2. There is no PE with this set, but lots and lots of stowage items. To offset no PE, this kit has a large part which represents the large side basket full of stowage. No need to assemble the frame as in LF7203.  I give this set an A Grade. You can find this on eBay or Spruebrothers and the cost is $12 or so.  

The Legend sets are well molded and have great detail. Not a single air bubble in my two sets. It will take some heavy sawing to remove the  the pour gates  as most are rather large compared to the actual part.

1/35

Verlinden set 1969

This set is out of production and Verlinden is out of business so  you'll have to search eBay.

It contains a very robust PE fret with  two side baskets and one large side stowage cage. These will take some work in bending/folding/soldering/gluing, but should be easier to work with since the PE is much thicker. The resin parts contain about anything you have see riding on the outside of a modern armor vehicle (except for an Igloo Ice Chest). It includes Infantry and Tanker helmets.  The Jerry cans are the water version. My set was purchased used from eBay and a few pieces had chips from rattling in the box. But there were NO air bubbles, the pour gates are small and all the parts look very nice.  I give this an A Grade. Expect to pay $24 or more.

Legend

Legend makes several  Bradley related items including road wheels, ERA blocks and stowage  in 1/35. While I have not seen these in person, I would say  they are  worth buying as all the other types of  Legend items I have bought have been very good. Be warned, the cost of some of these sets can be about what your kit cost.  It may be worth hunting eBay for the Verlinden set.

-Bob Walls

If you have Group Build photos or updates feel free to email them to IPMSRICHMOND@GMAIL.COM

Four Bradleys and a Second Cousin

My efforts so far on our Bradley Group Build. I have started with four 1/72 kits. One by Dragon, two by Trumpeter, one by Revell.  All have  the turret and hull completed with a base coat of their primary color.
 
The Dragon M3A2 still has some ERA blocks to be added to the hull. The kit has no interior but has some nice detail.

The first Trumpeter is a M2A2.

These two versions  both look very similar and the only real way to tell the difference in real life is the interior and the rear top hull hatch.  Both are painted in desert sand.









 The interior on the Trumpeter kits are nice.

The next  Trumpeter is a M2, one of the early versions of the Bradley.  This one will have a MERDC camo pattern. The base coat is  olive to be followed by a dark green plus black and tan "squiggly splotches".

The final one is a Revell  M2A2 which will have a Nato three color paint scheme; Green, red brown and black. This was the standard European NATO pattern during the Kosovo deployment.

Finally a British Cousin to the Bradley, the Warrior. Manufactured by the same defense company.  Notice the family resemblance?? This is the Revell 1/72 Warrior painted in .

If you have not grabbed a Bradley kit, there is still time. The 1/72 Trumpeter kits are very nicely done and readily available. I'd pass on the Revell Bradley kit, unless it is all you can find. It is okay, but not up to the Trumpeter and Dragon.  The Dragon kits are hard to find and a little pricey. I have not seen the Zevezda 1/100 scale kits. I hope someone grabs one and builds it.  Ron Craig, sounds like it was meant for you.

Bob Walls

Bradley Group Build: Additional Reference

Another site, courtesy of Bob Walls. Good interior photos at the bottom. Make sure to give it time to load.

US - M2A2 ODS Bradley IFV

Additionally, Gene Rasmussen sent the following interior pics of an M3A3:

Chazz's Bradley: Part 6

Chazz's Bradley: Part 5

Chazz is going to beat us all to the finish line! He makes some good points: this is a group build for the CLUB . . . so choose a Bradley kit and get to buildin'!

Chazz's Bradley: Part 4

Chazz is trackin' right along:

Chazz's Bradley: Part 3

Looking good, Chazz!

Chazz's Bradley: Part 2

And the saga continues:

Chazz Klanian's first effort with armor. He may not be taking this Group Build seriously! :-)

Don't worry Chazz, when you come up one road wheel short, we can tell you where to look.

More Bradley References

Thanks to Bob Walls for uncovering this gem. While this is an article on "accurizing and detailing the Tamiya M2A2 IFV kit," there are a LOT of good reference photos applicable to all models.

http://vodnik.net/pages/m2a2/m2a2-p1.htm

Save this date: Saturday, February 24, 2018

The Old Dominion Open model show and contest has reserved our normal last Saturday in February to hold our annual show.  Same location as always, Henrico Hall at the Richmond Raceway Complex. Plans are underway and more details to follow. Don't miss this show if you want to see models, buy kits and supplies and just have some fun with fellow modelers.

Our Club Newsletter, "Spare Parts," Now Available Here

This will be the repository for the monthly issues of our club newsletter, "Spare Parts."

All of 2017's newsletters are available now, including May. Simply click the "Spare Parts" link at the top of the page.

How to Eliminate "Floater" Wheels

From member Glen Martin:

Here is a way to insure that all your road wheels on your armor project will touch your tracks when you put them on.  When putting on your roadwheels to the under carriage bogey assemblies, use a plate glass base.  A section of plate glass, about a 1/4 inch thick, will keep your wheels vertically perpendicular to the base, while keeping the bottoms of the wheels on the same flat horizontal plane (surface).  This helps to eliminate "floater" wheels by having one too high off the track.  You can pick-up a piece of plate glass from a local glass store, pretty cheap for what you need.

Thanks, Glen!

IPMS Richmond Bradley IFV Group Build

Check out the images on Prime Portal of a Bradley Walk Around. Get exterior and interior shots. For the armor buff there are hundreds of subject some with multiple pages of photos.

Check this link.
Prime Portal Bradley Walk Around.

IPMS Richmond's next meeting is Monday, May 8th. We have a Demo on airbrushing by Grex Airbrush Company's rep "Bear" Andersen.