My latest build is of a US Army M270A1 MLRS launcher undergoing maintenance.

I am starting with the excellent Trumpeter 1/35 US M270/A1 model (01049).


I will be building it with the cab tilted forward showing the engine, transmission, fan, radiator, etc. I will be adding the engine, transmission, radiator fan, and other engine compartment parts from the Meng M2A3/M3A3 Bradley interior sets. It will look something like this.


So far, I have started by cutting the floor of the cab out of the larger plate that also makes up the forward parts of the fenders that go over the tracks. I carefully cut the floor plate out and then cut away the rear section behind the notches where the rear wall connects. The area with red "X"s below can be discarded. Next, I cut the rear and side walls of the cab off below the raised line with bolts. I discarded the cut off part.



I also boxed in the back of the cab that is below the bolt line. There is about a 1/4 inch of the back wall exposed that has to be covered up.



Next I prepared the hull and rear engine cover. I added torsion bars to the hull and the Meng final drives. I also added a boxed in fan below the air intake vent.



Here are the Meng engine and transmission. I had already taped up the transmission for painting. Surprisingly, it only took a little bit of trimming to get the Meng engine and transmission parts to fit in the Trumpeter hull.



Here are a few of the other parts. There is the Meng radiator fan, a hydraulic reservoir, the air cleaner box (made from an M60 side-loading air cleaner), and the removed shift console.



I am currently painting all the parts up and will install the engine/tranny and all the other parts soon. More pics later.

Very nice! Im definitely looking forward to this build. I wasnt aware that MENG made a 903 Cummins, I'll have to find one of these.

Does the Bradley have the 903 too?

Gino-- another masterpiece! Play on===this is fantastic workmanship
Stay safe
DJ

Thanks guys. It has been fun so far. I have wanted to add the engine compartment to an MLRS since I saw the Meng Bradley engine.

Dustin, both the MLRS and Bradley use a ‎Cummins VTA-903T 8-cylinder diesel. Most of the other engine/drivetrain components are the same as well. The engine/tranny/compartment parts are all from the Meng Bradley kits. They are really nice.

Work continues. I have pretty much completed the engine compartment. I just need to add a few decals and run a few wires here and there.

Here is the rear engine cover with it's fan and shroud for the radiator in the center; fuel filler pipe, and air cleaner and intake hose on the right.




The lower hull with the engine, transmission, intake fan, and battery box. If you notice, the whole shift tower is attached to the transmission and does not pivot with the cab. There is a square cut-out in the cab floor that this fits into as it closes. You will also see a rod and gearbox across the front of the hull. This is the cab lift mechanism.





With the rear engine cover in place.




This is how it will look with the cab in place.



More to come as I move on to the cab interior.

Not one for doing things by halves are you Gino! Looking fantastic.

Thanks Peter. I do like to add a few pieces to make them more interesting.

Dang Gino, you’re a model building machine! Looks great, as always and will be following 😎👍

Thanks James. I have more time now with Covid. I am still working less, so I might as well make good use of the extra time.

I am still plugging away at the build. I have completed the cab interior. I added a few parts from the Royal Models MLRS Update set.



From it, I used the seats with seat belts; hoses and filter apparatus for the NBC system; and a few other smaller PE and resin parts. I also added a fire extinguisher from the spares box between the seats and a HALON fire extinguisher on the left side of the front wall. The rest is from the kit, to include all warning placards.

Here is the completed cab interior.






Next up is the completed engine compartment with placards added and weathered. I also added a HALON bottle on the front right as well.



Cab doors and the side engine compartment door interiors.


I have also completed the LLM (Loader/Launcher Module). I added the internal lifting hook/hoist mechanism that attaches to the rocket pods from ones left over from a Dragon M270 kit. For some reason, Trumpeter deleted these. They are needed if you do not have the rocket pods uploaded. They are hard to see, but they are in there. Trumpeter has all the other internal parts included and nicely molded.


You can see the internal hook/hoist mechanism in this pic hanging from the cables below the booms, just above the rocket pods. These hook onto the pods to lift them up onto the booms, then the booms retract to load them into the LLM.


The LLM overall.


Lastly, I will be adding the APU, A/C unit, and weapon mount from the Dragon M270A1 kit to make this a pretty current M270A1.


I am planning on making it a vehicle from 6-37 FA (MLRS), 2ID in South Korea in NATO camo. It is just about ready for paint. More to come later.

Following with interest.
Another fantastic piece of work!

Very Cool Gino! All those little placards really brighten up the interior.

Looking sensational Gino.

Thanks gents. I think the placards are too big. They all wouldn't fit as shown in the instructions. Six were supposed to fit across the front wall above the driver's window. I placed some where they looked good. I like how the interior and placards turned out though.

This build is continuing on the new forums. You can continue to follow along here.