Project:M2 Bradley

Alright its time for a new project. Finally got some time to start on my M2 Bradley. I probably have mentioned before, I purchased the Bradley together with the Merkava 1 tank and probably my last modern American armour I'll get(focus on Mid East Nations now on). It's by the company called Academy and the parts looks good unlike the one by MiniHobby(the plastic looks cheap). I had some prior experience with Academy product so I'm slightly more confident of its products. I guess it is as good as Tamiya stuff except the figure which comes with the model looks rather not up to 1/35 scale(looks like a Hobbit compared with Dragon figure models).

Anyway the most interesting portion of the construction is the interior part of the build. I have to cautiously airbrush the interior and make it almost just as good as the exterior. It looks rather cute having 7 small seats plus steering wheels for the driver complete with toolbox kits and all. That took twice the time to fix and paint as compared to my Merkava 1 but I guess it is well worth it considering it looks quite good when fully completed.

A different airbrushing technique
Before I started, I decide to go for a slightly more rugged and weathered look for my Bradley. This time round instead of totally covering the 1st layer of primer which was flat black, I lightly airbrushed with desert yellow and then applied a lighter shade of desert yellow for the 3 third layer and at all times letting the blacks show on the joints and seams of the model. That made the contrast and lines bolder and made the details of the whole model stand out better. After that I did some highlighting by adding about 70/30 white to desert yellow and painted lines in the corners with a small brush. When done, it looks weathered and pretty much the look that I had envisioned at the beginning of the project.

Ah yes! The decaling was next, though not much to do cause there seem to lack of symbols(no company or platoon number) provided in the package. Maybe need to steal a few from other models that I have. The last thing I did was drybrushing the tracks to make it look used in the desert environment.

The M2 Bradley is one of the latest IFV used the US army today in Iraq next to the LAV. It has ATGM(Anti-Tank-Guided-Missile) on the left side of its turret providing defensive capability against enemy MBT. However i dunno how that will help once the trophy system comes into service around the world. Although the Bradley is one of the pioneers in IFVs it is still vulnerable to ATGM weapons or road side bombs.