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Tamiya M2A2 Bradley in progress
USArmy2534
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Indiana, United States
Joined: January 28, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 02:16 AM UTC
Tamiya 1/35 M2A2:







I swear the lights are really orange. Real lighting or not, they look red, not sure why?



During decaling, the C32 decal snapped out of my grip and is lost forever (or until I complete the model...whichever comes first) So in a mass of panic I scrounged through all my other spare decals and decided to split the two other front ID numbers and add the C from the decal sheet of a finished Italeri M1A2. This was very risky because if I screwed this up, I was SOL with no other ID decals of any kind. Luckily it all worked out. I plan to carefully paint over the yellow background.



Gloss overcoat is still present in some areas and limited weathering has been applied to certain parts. Also the "1" in the "13 set of decals on the door is a replacement because the original "1" crumpled into a ball of nothing while I was trying to set it. Oops.



The strap is paper painted OD. Stowage is a mix of Verlinden resin, kit supplied, and Tamiya accessories



A lot still needs to be done, mainly in the painting area, but it is progressing. This is currently on the backburner as I work on getting my MP campaign (shamless plug) up to the stage that this is so I can weather at the same time. I will probably add the figures too.

All comments and critiques are more than encouraged while I am still thinking about it.

Jeff
HeavyArty
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 02:54 AM UTC
Looks like it is coming along pretty well. You missed the vision blocks above the ramp though. Spare track block on the front deck should also have a black rubber rectange on it. Antenna bases, and antennas, once added should be dark green too. The red/blue on the vision blocks looks too bright. I first paint mine black, coat with a thin coat of clear red, then a couple coats of gloss. They replect light and change color from diferent angles, just like the real thing. Circular openings on TOW launcher should be flat black, they are rubber end caps on the missiles. Locking handle on the rear troop access door is in the open position, it should be turned 180 degrees to be in the locked/closed position. Some of your gear is off in color too, for example, the sleeping bag in the front of the left storage bin should be black, they are in a black bag, and only come in black. Gear and rope should not be on top of the top troop hatch either, it can not be opened to reload the TOW if it has gear and rope holding it down. Front turn signals look too orange. Try getting some Testors Model Master (or other brand) Clear Amber for turn signals, it looks much better. Looks like it is on its way to being a masterpiece. A few tweaks and it will be great. Good job so far.
Splinty
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 03:35 AM UTC
One small thing, U.S. troops rarely leave their pioneer tools(shovels, picks etc.) bare metal as they almost immediatly rust. In most cases they spray paint them flat O.D., black, or desert tan. Also the old A.L.I.C.E. rucksacks are never issued with the Camo pattern, although they can be purchased that way. The military issue version is always plain olive green.
I've always liked the Tamiya Brad,one of the decal options are from my old unit. 2/7 INF out of Ft. Stewart.
HILBERT
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Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 03:39 AM UTC
My first commend, nice build en painting.

I do not think you have not done the weathering, have you?
If you have, weathering should be more.

Like what Henk said, you have to paint the bagage.
Also I agree with Henk because the headlights are to bright.

The digging gear (or what it is called) is often not so shiny. (maby this will change when you have done the weathering.)

great build so far. Is it in a diorama??

Greetz Hilbert
USArmy2534
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Indiana, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 03:52 AM UTC
Ok, here we go!


- Do you happen to have any images on hand of the track block? After a brief search, I couldn't find anything. If not, I can easily do a more extensive search.
- I am not sure if I can reach all the way down with my paint brush to get all of the sleeping bag, but I will try.
- The pack on the rear is glued down , but I can remove the rope and try to remove the pack.

Joe:

Quoted Text

One small thing, U.S. troops rarely leave their pioneer tools(shovels, picks etc.) bare metal as they almost immediatly rust. In most cases they spray paint them flat O.D., black, or desert tan.


Thanks. I will change that.


Quoted Text

Also the old A.L.I.C.E. rucksacks are never issued with the Camo pattern, although they can be purchased that way. The military issue version is always plain olive green.


We will just say the squad got a group discount from an internet site. The packs are glued down and some are in places hard to reach with an airbrush, but I think I can get a few of them OD. My objective here was to contrast the constant OD color of the gear. I will definitely change that on my other projects!


Hilbert:


Quoted Text

Like what Henk said...Also I agree with Henk because the headlights are to bright.

- Henk?
- I have not started the weathering overall. Only a little bit of weathering has been done on the gear, as much is put is places that are hard to apply weathering to.
- As for a dio, not immediately. In the long-term future, I hope to add a lot of what I have been doing into a convoy style dio. Maybe


Thanks for everything. Everything said has been very helpful; I have a pad of paper and a pencil next to me jotting down notes. Thanks and keep 'em coming.

Jeff
Epi
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 04:18 AM UTC
Jeff,
If you can wait till tomorrow, I can take a picture of the tracks on my Bradley (the real thing, not a model!)

Rucks, leave them. Slowely, the camo rucks are creeping into the inventory. I know some of my guys got issued camo rucks with frames and camo straps, now thats the National Guard.

I agree with the Pioneer tools. I just had my guys repaint or tools for our inspection and we painted the metal flat black and the wood parts olive drab.
Darktrooper
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Delaware, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 05:27 AM UTC

Quoted Text

One small thing, U.S. troops rarely leave their pioneer tools(shovels, picks etc.) bare metal as they almost immediatly rust. In most cases they spray paint them flat O.D., black, or desert tan. Also the old A.L.I.C.E. rucksacks are never issued with the Camo pattern, although they can be purchased that way. The military issue version is always plain olive green.
I've always liked the Tamiya Brad,one of the decal options are from my old unit. 2/7 INF out of Ft. Stewart.


Wrong. I was issued in Basic and in my last unit Camo Alice packs. The three colors on the camo rucks are the same as the 3 color nato camo pattern.
HeavyArty
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 07:54 AM UTC
Agree with Epi an sAJ on the rucks. They are issued in woodland camo as well.
Burik
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 08:43 AM UTC
Jeff:

I like the model. One of these days I am going to do an OIF Bradley. Do you plan on doing pin washes around detail? Usually this is done before the stowage is put on. That woud help pop out the detail and give it more of a scale appearance. I know you said you did not start the weathering yet, and maybe this will be part of it.

You might want to place a coil of razor wire on the front hull. This was/is a common detail on Bradleys in Iraq. Crews put the wire ontop of a large square of plywood.

I suppose this is a Bradley from 3rd ID in OIF1? If so, the rack would be on both sides of the Bradley. Also, the jerrycan racks seen on some M1s would be on the Bradleys too, ie, if they had the storage racks they had the jerrycan racks. You could always say they fell off though. Also, only 2nd Brigade had the racks. That would be 3-15 Infantry. I think you have a 1st Brigade vehicle marked up. But that is nitpicking (I guess someone has to do it ) The racks definitely make the Bradley look cooler.

Are you still a student? With limited resources this is a heck of a build so far.

Bob
USArmy2534
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 12:12 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Jeff:

You might want to place a coil of razor wire on the front hull. This was/is a common detail on Bradleys in Iraq. Crews put the wire ontop of a large square of plywood.


I think I might give this a go. We'll see what comes up


Quoted Text

I suppose this is a Bradley from 3rd ID in OIF1? If so, the rack would be on both sides of the Bradley. If they had the storage racks they had the jerrycan racks. You could always say they fell off though. Also, only 2nd Brigade had the racks. That would be 3-15 Infantry. I think you have a 1st Brigade vehicle marked up. But that is nitpicking (I guess someone has to do it ) The racks definitely make the Bradley look cooler.


I agree, it really make the Bradley stand out! Are you saying that only 2nd Brigade had the side stowage racks? Ok, in that case, these are on loan. As for both racks on both sides, in the Verlinden set I was only provided with one large stowage rack (and given the trouble it was folding it without that big PE folding set, one was enough). It also came with 2 Jerry can racks that fit 3 cans each. The first Jerry can rack looks like it survived a rollover it is so bad. The other doesn't look to bad, and I am still debating putting it on as that would deplete my spare Jerry cans. Oh well, parts are meant to be stored on the vehicle, not in a box!


Quoted Text

Are you still a student? With limited resources this is a heck of a build so far.


That I am, and that it is. The Verlinden set was $25-$30 on top of the kit (a gift, but $30 nonetheless) which is great just on its own. I really need to cut down on my AM purchases.

Jeff
Burik
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Posted: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 12:39 PM UTC
Yes, the Verlinden kit is a disappointment in that they only give you the one rack. I think when it came out there was not a whole lot of agreement on these items in the first place, so I don't fault them that much. One can copy it I think well enough out of something else whether it be plastic or thick card. I have the kit also and I botched the jerrycan racks too! See MY PHOTOS for my two racks on my Abrams. I decided to scratch them after I botched the Verlinden one.

So then are those the decals that came with the kit? For anybody that wants to do a 2nd Brigade Bradley with the racks that would be 3-15 Infantry. Their battleboard number would have been in the '40' block of numbers (Jeff's shows '13' for example).

By the way, Jeff, your "borrowed" theory would not be totally out of line. Of course, it would be whole vehicles that would be traded or borrowed. I have photos of a 1-64, 2nd Brigade tank with 3-7 Cav markings on it. And another photo of a pre-war tank that was traded from a completely different unit and so it has "some" markings from that unit, but mostly markings of 1-64 (they did not feel like repainting non-essential markings like the Qatar dock markings).

Oh, and for variety you may want to consider painting the frame of the CIP green. Many vehicles for whatever reason showed this and the accordian/corrugated CIP itself was sand colored.

Anyway, looking forward to your finished Bradley. Looks cool.

Bob
USArmy2534
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Posted: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 02:49 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Oh, and for variety you may want to consider painting the frame of the CIP green. Many vehicles for whatever reason showed this and the accordian/corrugated CIP itself was sand colored.


Would this be a NATO Green or OD?


Jeff
Epi
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Posted: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 02:56 AM UTC
NATO Green Jeff.
sgtsauer
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Posted: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 10:43 AM UTC
Splinty, I have to respectfully disagree with you on the alice pack issue. I have several soldiers in my unit ( I am the Supply NCO) that have camoulfage medium rucks. I will say I have never seen an issue large ruck that is camouflage. Also, the rucks that are Basic Issue Items with radios (i.e. PRC-119 SINCGARS) is basically a medium alice pack that is camouflage and has a hole in the top flap for the antennae to go through.

Jeff,
If you need pictures of a Bradley track link, I have one in my garage that I brought home from OIF 1. If you want, I can email you a few pictures. It has some rust on it but may still be of help.
Splinty
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Posted: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 05:38 PM UTC
Guess I'm a little behind the times about the rucksack thing. I'm recently returned from Iraq myself, but I'm in a Guard Signal unit these days and we jumped straight from green A.L.I.C.E. rucks to the new M.O.L.L.E. rucks. My days on a Bradley were in Desert Storm.
USArmy2534
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Posted: Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 02:33 AM UTC
Brent, if you have pictures of the track link that would be great. What I am looking for is the triangle that Gino was talking about that is on the front link that I apparantly am missing. I would like to see what it looks like to see if I can scratchbuild it. If not, don't worry about it.

[email protected]

Jeff
HeavyArty
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Posted: Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 03:17 AM UTC
I am talking about the rectangle of rubber that is on the back side of the link, around the guide horn. It is molded on the Tamiya link, its outline anyway. All you need to do is paint the rectangle black. You can see the outline on the link in your pic below, the bolt for the pad is in the center of the rectangle.

USArmy2534
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Posted: Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 04:50 AM UTC
Oh ok. I will change that.

Jeff
HeavyArty
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Posted: Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 08:31 AM UTC
If you want to add some more detail to the spare track blocks, the smaller rectangles on either side of the center one, are actually bolts with rectangular washers that hold the track block to the hull. They go through the slots where the sprocket teeth engage the track. These should be painted the same color as the hull.
sgtsauer
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Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 01:24 PM UTC
Gino, You are so correct. That looks nothing like an individual Bradley link. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I included that photo. Thanks for the correction. I have removed my post with the incorrect photos. I have a piece of Bradley track around here somewhere. I'll dig it out and post the right pictures.
HeavyArty
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Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 03:01 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Gino, You are so correct. That looks nothing like an individual Bradley link. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I included that photo. Thanks for the correction. I have removed my post with the incorrect photos. I have a piece of Bradley track around here somewhere. I'll dig it out and post the right pictures.


Guess I will delete mine as well then.
 _GOTOTOP