M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 10:50 pm

The turret cage is mostly completed and temporarily put in place. At this time, it is not glued to the bottom of the hull.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture11.JPG (174.41 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture11a.JPG (199.64 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

From this to that.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture12.JPG (196.97 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

In parallel to the lower hull, the upper hull is calculated and transformations planned.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture13.JPG (188.19 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

Molded on reinforcement braces at the back need to be removed with the Dremel, done outside in the wind and with an N95 mask.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture14.JPG (215 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

I did four interior lights with LEDs, three for the main compartment and one that will go into the turret basket.

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View of the upper hull interior, with bolted-on armor plates, turret rotation gear and its shield, and lights. The shield dimensions are calculated to fit the rim on the turret cage top.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture16.JPG (148.85 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

First view of the interior core components. The turret cage is still loose at this time so that's why it is still showing some gaps. Later in the build, it will be firmly glued to the bottom of the hull. Notice how the upper lips of the cage fit below the turret rotation gear guard.

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View with the lights on.

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Left side. Looks empty now but it will be filled with racks, shelves and equipment later. Temporary braces were added for the wiring.

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Continuing on following post

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 10:55 pm

Close up on the turret cage. It will be interesting to see the turret basket rotating inside it. When the cage is glued on place, the fit will be perfect between the cage top and the rotation gear guard.

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View of the right side where the TOW anti-tank missiles rack will be located, with 10 missiles.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture21.JPG (161.38 KiB) Viewed 1630 times

Overview of the model as it stands today. Next step is to finish the interior with all the details.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture23.JPG (193.39 KiB) Viewed 1630 times

A 1/16 Bradley interior under construction, a rare sight.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture24.JPG (158.64 KiB) Viewed 1630 times

Regards, Louis

tankme · Post by **tankme** » Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:01 am

I'm jealous...

BarryC · Post by **BarryC** » Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:13 pm

tankme wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:01 am I'm jealous...

Me too!!

Barry

MonsieurTox · Post by **MonsieurTox** » Tue Nov 29, 2022 6:13 pm

Nice interior !

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sat Dec 03, 2022 11:12 pm

Hi everyone, thank you for your interest.

Here is a progress report on the interior detailing.

I did a lot of research. It is very easy to get confused because all the M3 interiors i have seen in pictures have something different, sometimes very different. When looking at a picture, it is important to determine which model it is, M3, M3A1, M3A2, M3A3 and soon the M3A4.

Comparing the shelves on the picture below between the M3A2 and M3A3. We can see that the shelves are a totally new design and were simplified. Having less smaller metal plates flying around when the vehicle is hit is probably a good improvement. Also notice the difference in the seat design, the one on this M3A2 looks like a field modification. Even the Meng kit M3A3 is showing a seat from another earlier variant. As some Bradley were upgraded and some were new builds, there could be factory based differences as well. So, i did my best to avoid mistakes but there could still be some.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture1.JPG (86.2 KiB) Viewed 1566 times

Close up on a M3A3 Interior. Left side.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture2.JPG (86.16 KiB) Viewed 1566 times

The equipment on the right of the turret cage is another area where there were small differences but is fairly consistent between variants. Notice the large display screen, allowing the crew in the rear compartment to get operational data.

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Notice the left seat that can be raised with a new mechanism and is overall simplified compared to the seats of other version. I have not seen any picture with the Bradley with its full load of TOW missiles that would be on the right. I have to rely on the Meng kit for positioning and deciphering all the bracket arrangement. I understand a platform on the right bottom behind the Jerrycan rack might be for a Javelin missile.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture2b.JPG (107.14 KiB) Viewed 1566 times

Meng kit M3A3. The shelves are accurate but i believe the seat is of an older version. I decided to base my model on the pictures of real M3A3 i could find on the web.

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Scratch building the shelves was easy.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture3.JPG (68.01 KiB) Viewed 1566 times

Notice the box at the bottom left that will have the ramp opening push rod coming out of.

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Under the floor, there are a set of ammo compartment. I determined that a raise and removable platform is put on top so that the crew is not directly sitting on the ammo, but i am not sure. Again, many vehicles shown on picture did not have this raise platform, but the Meng 1/35 does have it so i went with it.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture5.JPG (158.2 KiB) Viewed 1566 times

The scratch built seat of the model as seen in M3A3 pictures of the real vehicle, but not on the Meng kit, which i think probably made a mistake, but not sure.

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I populated the shelves with equipment boxes seen in pictures and some on the Meng kit. These are not the radios because the radios are located inside the turret. I did my best to reproduce what i saw in the few pictures available.

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Continuing on following post

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sat Dec 03, 2022 11:27 pm

Another view of the shelves

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View of the equipment on the right side of the turret cage on the Meng kit. I used the 1/35 a lot to determine the items, including what seems to be a ventilation duct going down and around the bottom of the turret cage. Got to start with those two gas bottles at the top.

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Material selection for scratch building of gas bottles, one basic large rod and an overlaid tube to reach the required dimention, then some filing is done.

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The bottles are created in 30 minutes.

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Care is needed is determining size and position as everything else that follows depends on it.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture12.JPG (155.74 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

The completed area, mostly a 1/16 reproduction of the 1/35 Meng kit, with adjustments based on pictures of the vehicle.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture13.JPG (124.49 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

Going to the TOW missile storage area. View of the Meng kit.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture14.JPG (135.43 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

Need to create 10 TOW-2 Missile containers. For some reasons, all the pictures look a bit different. There must be a lot of different TOW models.

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: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture16.JPG (59.93 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

The core of the TOW missile containers are 10mm wide aluminum tubes with thick walls, 300mm tube length purchased for a few dollars from Ebay China. A prototype is made.

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Continuing on following post

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sat Dec 03, 2022 11:47 pm

I have some experience with TOW missiles, i built some TOW missile containers for the build of a M113 with Tow launcher a few years ago. I pretty much reused the same method. The small cap at one end is a Lego pin that need to be chopped and glued on the metal washer. The Lego logo is then sanded smooth.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture18.JPG (177.47 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

Once satisfied with the prototype, a small assembly chain is created.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture19.JPG (290.37 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

Ten TOW 2 missile containers are created in about 6 hours of work in total. I kept the detailing simple as most other details would be hidden when the missiles are on the rack.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture20.JPG (375.61 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

The core component is a 10mm aluminum tube with metal washers of 3 different sizes, and a 2mm thick plasticard ring for the rubber pad at one end, plus a couple of plastic rod for the connector in the middle.

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: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture22.JPG (275.85 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

I completely relied on the Meng kit for the rack design. The rack components were scratch build with 4mm plasticard and carved with a Dremel drum sander.

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It takes a lot of dry fitting to make sure everything is perfect, or almost. Otherwise, there could be trouble because everything is built on top of something else.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture24.JPG (289.94 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

After 4 hours of work, the 1/16 Tow missile rack is ready and compares well to the 1/35 kit.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture26.JPG (311.94 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

It fits well inside the vehicle. The room is pretty tight inside the vehicle. Any deviation that would make the missile or the rack too big, and it won't fit...

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Continuing on following post

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sat Dec 03, 2022 11:52 pm

And here is a view of the current interior. It is not completed yet but looking good. I am satisfied with the results so far.

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I gave the Bradley the honour of a full load of TOW missiles.

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The model as it stands today. I still have to finetune the stand. Next step is to do the Jerrycans and stand on the bottom right, then the display screen for the crew of the rear compartment, and then i will be able to move to the turret basket.

: M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build; Capture34.JPG (157.86 KiB) Viewed 1561 times

Regards, Louis

BarryC · Post by **BarryC** » Sun Dec 04, 2022 1:25 am

Fantastic work Louis!

Barry

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M3A3 Bradley US Cavalry Fighting Vehicle - RC 1/16 Build

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