Howdy All-

Just started my latest project. The Orochi M3A3 Bradely CFV, the Deluxe kit. Got a discount on it so I didn't pay full price. Besides, I thought it would make into a nice kit and I couldn't pass it up. As to the discount...don't be afraid to ask for one when in your local hobby shop...if you don't ask, you won't get one. My tip for the day.

Ultimately I'm planning on a diorama of this kit with the Meng M2A3 Bradely IFV (with interior) and some figures. The Meng kit will have the hatches, engine, and back open to display the interior and engine. The Meng will be disabled and the crew working on it and some troops deployed in a perimeter with the Orochi kit driving by. I'll probably have it in a semi-urban setting. At least that is the plan so far and I reserve the right to change on the fly.



Here is a brief in-box review. I'll call out additional 'Pro's and 'Con's as I come across them in the build. Opening the box, all sprues are individually bagged. Except for the road wheels/suspension sprues as there are two in that bag. A nice looking set of metal tracks was provided with pre-cut pins. A nice looking brass barrel for the 25mm cannon. There is a PE fret with some grills for the engine I'm guessing. Decals look good too. Not too thick and look like they will conform to the model with little difficulty. There is one rubber piece and I'm not sure where it will go. First 'Con', it was folded and there is a crease in it that is not supposed to be there. Don't know how this will effect the build yet. Didn't see any flash. There are some ejector pin marks but I think those will be hidden and not a problem. Overall I'm impressed with the quality of the kit and it looks like it will be an enjoyable build.

Before I begin, let me preface this whole project by saying I'm not concerned with the accuracy of the kit, or the Meng kit, or the diorama in general. I'm pretty new to Armor and have not done any research for this project. I purchased the kits because they caught my eye and I thought I could make a nice diorama out of them. By the way, this will be my first diorama too...

So feel free to comment, question, and or offer up suggestions as I progress through the build and diorama.

-Mack

Started work...

Had to sand down the front hull plate attachment points as it did not sit flush. Added some of the suspension for the road wheels.



Constructed the idler and drive sprocket wheels. The drive sprockets were encircled by sprue with multiple attachment points. A bit difficult to get free and clean up. Managed to do it with out breaking anything. Couple of the points got trimmed a bit in clean up but they still look ok. Started working on the road wheels. 4 pieces to each wheel. 48 total pieces!! Not sure if that is standard on most kits. Each piece was attached to the sprue with 4 attachments. Needless to say, there was a lot of clean up.

Got a bit more work done...Vacation is almost over so the build progress will most likely stall a bit as I try to find the time to get back to it.

Finished the front hull. Looked better in the dim light last night. Needs a bit of filling and sanding to get it right. I left the 'U' tow connectors unglued as they snap into place and don't appear as they will detach without some effort.



Working on the upper hull, the instructions say to put a couple of foot stirrups on. Was a bit confused about this as there are not attachment points. Watched a video on the Bradley live firing and saw them. Now I know where to put them and that they angel out a bit.

Worked on the back hatch and finished it too. The fit was a bit off sandwiching all the layers together. Black plate, inner door, outer door, outer plate. Just needed a bit of sanding to get it to fit together.



Overall I'm highly impressed with this kit!!

Looks like it is coming along nicely.

I wouldn't be overly impressed with the kit just yet. It is soft on details on the side skirts and the TOW box and CITV are overly simplified and missing details. It is on-par with the older Tamiya M2A2 kits.

Wait until you start the super-detailed, state-of-the-art Meng Bradley. Meng's are awesome kits. It will put this one to shame.

Thanks!!

Good to know that I have a better kit to look forward to. This should give me some great practice for when I start the Meng kit.

Agreed Gino the Meng Bradley is a ripper
: ie: great kit

Michael

Was able to get back to the work bench, aka dining table, and pretty much finished up the upper hull.

Started the session with building the front armor and brackets.







Everything went fairly smoothly. I did have some difficulty with alignment as the pins didn't seem to match up with the holes for them. Don't know if that was induced by me having parts slip during gluing or just the kit having misalignment issues. Either way, it all went together and I think it looks good.

After I had the front armor on I, I built the rear hatch, front lights, and attached the recovery gear and a couple of other minor bits.









As you can see in the picture, one of the parts cracked on me. That particular part was to insert a clear piece into the tan piece and then attach the PE. Got the clear part cleaned up, at least I thought I did...took a bit of force to insert it, but it looked ok after it was in. Glued on the PE and all was still good. Then I attached it to the hull and glued it. I'm using Tamiya Extra Thin glue. Set it down to admire my work and noticed the crack. Well, looks like I'll be adding a bit of filler to hide the crack.

Next up is the turret assembly...

Started the turret assembly. Built the main gun sub-assembly.




Then moved on to the smoke grenade tubes.



Finally put the three together to finish the bottom half of the turret.





I'm making some good progress but hit a snag...I'm getting into a lot of the clear parts. So far I've skipped those steps as I can insert them after painting and before I marry the upper and lower hulls. But now the turret has a bunch. I can mask them now before painting but its getting crowded on the top of the turret (according to the instructions) and I don't know if I'll be able to get to the masks without breaking something later...

Any tips or suggestions??

Nice build so far. As you asked for a suggestion, mine is to give the same elevation to the coax MG and the 25mm gun.

Olivier

For the periscopes, I install them all before painting and paint over them the hull color. Then I paint them black, a coat of clear red, and a couple coats of clear gloss. This represents the anti-laser coating well. I don't think the see-through periscopes look realistic. When you look at an armored vehicle from a distance, you can never really see into the periscopes. They just look like glossy dark-red/purple lenses if anti-laser coated, or dark green, thick glass lenses for older ones w/out the anti-laser coating (which I substitute clear green for as opposed to the clear red).

Thanks for the feedback!!

Olivier, thanks for pointing that out about the barrels. I didn't even notice that. It's those little details that bring a build to the next level.

Gino, thanks for the suggestion. Makes total sence to me. I'm going to give it a go on the periscopes. Should look great when done.

Another key note about the elevation of the main gun and coax. If you model the TOW in the firing position, it also elevates with the main gun and coax as well.

Good to know. Thanks for the tip!!

I have not built the Meng Bradley so I can't really comment on it's quality but this kit seems nice enought to me

Good job so far!

I've made a bit of progress. Haven't had as much time at the bench as I'd like...but don't we all have this problem.


Been working on the upper turret half. It's coming together nicely. Took heed of the previous comments and now the gun and co-axel machine gun are aligned. Also glued in the periscopes and will be painting over them with the black and then the clear red.

Didn't take any pictures this time but took a break from the kit to do some figures for the 'Figure Campaign' which will be used in the diorama I'm planning to do. The figures are not painted but I placed them around the kit and you can see the turret that is almost completed.



I still have to assemble the tracks, the tow missile launcher, and a few other bits but it's coming along. Then paint and weathering. Looking forward to it!!

coming along nicely! looking good!

Finally made it back to the bench and got a bit of work done on the turret. It's pretty much a mini kit on its own.



It's starting to look more like a turret as I add on the armor and other bits. I'll be gluing on the shield last as it will just get in the way during painting and on these I want the glass clear. Still a big hole on the other side as I need to build the tracking system and the Tow missile.



Just realized how great a camera is for pointing out all the flaws I didn't see while building. I thought I was looking pretty closely with my magnifying visor with plenty of light, but I didn't see the ejector pin marks until I put up the photos here. Looks like I'll be trying to hide them with some equipment.

Back to the bench for a bit to try and finish the turret. Still have to do the tracks. They are Orochi brand metal links with precut pins. I'll post them when I get to that part of the build.

Your build is coming along nicely, keep it up!

Finally got back to the kitchen table (AKA the Modeling Bench) and finished the turret. It's pretty impressive looking with all the bits on it:










Next up, the tracks. Here is a shot of the Orochi brand of metal tracks and the pre-cut pins that go with them:




Finally, just to see it put together as a whole...minus the road wheels and tracks:







Can't assemble just yet. Need to finish the tracks, prime it, and tidy it up a bit first. Then I'll paint it in pieces, lightly weather the bottom and wheels, and then assemble it as a whole. Then it's just touch up here and there and finally get to the fun stuff...weathering.

Good progress and seems like nice kit, am I right?

Thanks.

I'm happy with the kit. Couple of fit issues here and there but overall pretty minor. Also a tiny bit of flash on a few of the parts. Haven't gotten to the tracks yet to give an opinion other than they look good in the bag and I like the precut pins.

I recommend the kit. It's been a fun build for me.

Got stalled for a bit waiting on the Ultimate Burnishing Liquid and the Quick Wheel masks that I order to arrive. They finally did!! Now I can do the tracks on the Bradley(s) and begin painting.





The plan is to use the one bottle of liquid to do both sets of tracks. Those for the Orochi kit and aslo for the Meng that I'll do later. After watching the video, the guy left the links in for 12 hours. He said that they were more than useable after an hour. So I figure that I can do one set for an hour or so and then drop the other set in the same liquid and get another hour or so out of it. We'll see...

That is of course as soon as I can find the time to get back to the bench...AKA kitchen table.

Got some time at the bench today and got both sets of Bradley tracks done using the Ultimate Modeling Products Burnishing Liquid...

I had watched the product/tutorial video and was prepared to spend a couple of hours burnishing the tracks. It didn't quite go as planned. I was done in about 20 minutes with both sets!! And I only used 1/2 a bottle. In the tutorial he used Fruil Tracks and I an using the Orochi brand. I've got a couple of sets of the Fruil Tracks for a Tiger 1 Early and Elephant I've got in the queue but really haven't even looked at them to compare the metals. I just assumed that they would be the same, white metal. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it and burnish those tracks later and be able to compare.

On to the photos...

Here are the components I used.



Here are the tracks right out of the bag. I did see a small bit of flash on a couple of the tracks, but it seemed a rarity.





I dropped the tracks in the bowl.



Covered them in the burnishing liquid until just covered. 1/2 the bottle. Then added distilled water of just about an equal amount.





Put the lid on and shook the tub pretty good for 2 minutes to get a good coating over all and in all the nooks and crannies.



Let it sit for 5 minutes.



At 10 minutes I checked the progress...



The tracks are now black!! Not quite what I was expecting. Not being an armor expert, I'm not really sure what color they are supposed to be, but I'm guessing not black. Not a problem, I'll use this set on the Orochi kit and work with what I got. Now I put the tracks in a bowl of distilled water to negate the burnishing liquid effect form getting any darker.



Took the second set of tracks and dumped them into the same burnishing liquid. Shook them for 2 minutes like the first set.



This time I checked them at 5 minutes and they looked like I thought they should. Pulled them out of the burnishing liquid and gave the same water bath.



Here is the burnishing liquid after both sets, about 15 minutes of metal in the liquid. Don't know how potent it still is but it looks as if you could do another few sets.



And finally, both set drying on a paper towel. Easy to see the difference in color.



In conclusion, I'm happy with the result and will most certainly use it again. And not just because I bought 3 bottles and have it on the shelf. I actually did like using it. More so on the second set but over all I'm pleased with how it works and the ease of application. Next time I'll be checking the results at shorter intervals. I also may do them in stages by leaving some in longer to get a better mix of colors on them. I mean that I'll just be putting a few in and then every couple of minutes putting a few more in.

Anyway, hope this helps if anyone is toying with a possible purchase. Just let me know if you have any questions on it and I'll try to answer as best as I can.

Began assembling the tracks. I built them into 10 link sections as I didn't know exactly how long to make them. Ended up with 16 sections and some spare links and pins. The tracks went together without much of a struggle. It was also my first time with metal tracks. I liked how the pins were already cut to length. The pins all have a slight bend to them which I'm guessing is to help keep them in place and not work loose. A few just slid right in but the majority took a bit of twisting. I twisted the pin and the links together and the pin would slide down to the next joint. Not difficult at all. It took about 15 minutes each for the first few sections, but then I got into a rythem and it ended up taking a just few hours to complete.

On to the photos...

The tools I used.


Beginning assembly.


A completed section of the tracks.



The finished sections.

Sorry for not seeing this thread sooner!
I'm just finishing Orochi's 1/35 M3 Bradley.
The problem with the co-ax mg is obvious - it's not glued in the correct place! There's what *looks*like* an ammo magazine, but note that it has no details for shape, like the ribs and curves on an AK47 magazine....
....and it is perfectly rectangle shaped. That's to fit in the slot in the other piece.
Ah, I'm just hashing up this explanation. It's easy enough to see, but hard to express clearly in words.
Trust me, even *I* had to look at it, and wonder.
I wondered why Orochi bothered to mold the "ammo magazine" on a gun where it wouldn't be visible. Then I realized it was a glue locating point! What's harder, though, is getting the gunsight linkage to be workable! You probably already got some answer to your questions, and this would have made more sense, if I had gone home and gotten the actual instruction sheet, so I could list the part #'s.
I was VERY impressed with the kit, and can't wait to see what Orochi releases next!