Part three of our news release on Voyager covers the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. Voyager has released two new Photo etched sets for this vehicle aimed specifically at the Tamiya offering in 1/35th scale.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Darren, just for clarification purposes do I see four sets here based on the above photo as well as the additional photos? It looks like I see the basic set, the fender skirts set, as well as a weapons set and an antennae set?

It seems these sets are a long time in coming, and I wish I didn't sell my Bradley...

Yes there are four sets on the model and images for each of the sets is in the report.

The biggest problem with Voyager is the misleading photo of the model with additional sets added.
The second biggest problem is finding all the sets at one vendor. It turns into an Indiana Jones adventure looking for the Holy Grail getting them all together.

I agree Dave.
I know the feeling, it's been months to get only 2 sets for a Trumpeter kit. I just gave up.
Anyway the Bradley looks stunning, a resin interior and some tracks too..

I would pick the gun for sure but I have to keep focus on building and shrinking my stash now...

Question on the Warlock/Duke antennas- were they used on Bradleys with the style of skirt Voyager is selling or only with the new skirt and air conditioned Bradleys? The only pictures I seem to find only have the new skirts and only have either the Duke antennas or the thimble one, not both.

Jason,
You are right, there should be a Duke or thimble shaped antenna on the vehicle, not both. The confusion comes in due to there were US Army units under the USMC's control in Western Iraq. Since the Army and USMC used different Counter IED systems, the decision was made to equip the Army forces in Western Iraq with the USMC's Chameleon systems, hence the pictures of Bradley's sporting the Chameleon’s thimble shaped antenna. The USMC has since switched their Counter IED system to one that used the same antenna as the Duke, so you will see pictures of USMC M1A1s with the thick rod antenna (105C) normally called the Duke antenna.

The skirts that are shown are the normal, spaced armor skirts that the Bradleys had installed in non-combat locations. When a BFV arrived in Iraq, it was outfitted initially with BRAT (Bradley Reactive Armor Tiles) to the upper hull sides and the front slope of the Brad and had the Counter IED system installed to protect the crew. Later, the A/C units were added to the same process, in place of those usless ration boxes which normally the first thing that got smashed or broken in the field...

HTH

John

On a side note, talking about the side skirts, the supports provided by Voyager are the earlier, "L"-shaped ones.

The later models look like this :


Academy's OIF M2A2 Bradley have them.

Frenchy

Hopefully Voyager will tackle anti sniper shields fitted in front of the turret crew hatches.

Whilst these sets are nice, theres been some pretty decent Bradley detail sets on the market for a while. Eduards etch sets are still very good. Legends also make a PE and resin detail set for the M2A2 which has many useful parts. Voyagers side skirt parts look rather useful for an early M2A2 as Tamiya got this part totally wrong.

I just recieved my Voyager skirts today. OK, so the difference in skirts is how they attach? Hopefully that's it, as that part seems to be hidden by the ERA. Do all Bradleys that have Chameleon or Duke have the air conditoners too? I was hoping to do an M2A3 using Legend's ERA and M2A3 conversion plus the Voyager skirts and hopefully one of the anti IED systems. Not having a lot of luck with Google images

also, I noticed that some of the Bradley's now have an additional ERA set over the skirts

No, the A/c units are not linked to Duke or Chemeloen systems. I have seen very few with the A/C unit installed. None here at Ft Steart have them and we just got fielded new M2A3s last summer.




Yes, the ERA was installed on most Bradleys in Iraq. Verlinden, Blast, and Legend all make ERA Sets for them. I have the Blast set and it is very nice. The legend set looks good too. Verlinden's set is pretty bad and missing the rear parts and some others. It is less detailed than Blast's and Legend's sets too.

I agree with Rob that there have been a few good Bradley sets already available. I personally prefer the Legend sets.

The last piece we need is a good resin interior for them. Hopefully there will be one on the way soon.

Thanks Gino, that's what I was hoping for.

Here's a 4th ID M2A3 training at Camp Buehring in Kuwait back in October 2010. :



Here are some other pics I had already posted here (in 2009 ! ) :









I agree with Gino about A/C units. I've got a lot of Duke-fitted Bradleys pics (and only two with Chameleon, BTW) and 99 % of them don't show A/C units...

Frenchy

Frenchy- great pics. The top one has the additional armor over the skirts I mentioned. Are all the M2A3s with Duke and ERA sand colored? Any pics of the ERA/Duke without the A/Cs? Or are those boxes on either side of the rear door something else?

No, the color depends on what unit they belong to and where that unit is regionally aligned. For example, 3ID, 1 CAV, and 4ID are all aligned with SE Asia and have sand vehicles. 1AR, 1ID, 2ID, 101ABN, 82d ABN, 10 MTN, and 25ID are all aligned for Europe and/or Korea and their vehicles are 3 color NATO camo. Vehicles are not usually repainted sand when they deploy to Iraq or A'stan either.

With that said, I have only seen the ERA and Duke parts in sand, but I'm sure if we were fighting in Europe, you would see dark green for these parts too.

Here is a NATO camo Brad with sand ERA and no A/C units.

Nice, thanks- I really appreciate it. I will grab that pic when I get home tonight. So it wouldn't be unrealistic to build one like that and add the Duke antennas then as long as I made sure any markings were from the units you mentioned?

You've got it. I have plans to do one the same as well...along with all the other projects I have planned....someday.....

I know the feeling! Thanks for all the help

You're welcome Jason

These other large pics should interest you as well...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the4id/6018036696/sizes/o/in/set-72157627376386678/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the4id/6017485143/sizes/o/in/set-72157627376386678/

http://bemil.chosun.com/nbrd/files/BEMIL085/upload/2007/03/%20070122-F-M2A3%20Bradley%20Fighting%20Vehicle%20in%20Baqubah%2C%20Iraq.jpg

Frenchy