Out of the box quick builds to wind down between a couple of big projects I was doing late last year.
Older but updated Tamiya kit of the M2A2 Bradly supposedly as it appeared in Desert Storm. In reality it is a much later version but since I wasn’t doing anything specific with it I really don’t care what version it actually is.
All in all a very well detailed kit for it’s age and looks good out of the box even if the stowage (included) appears to be held on the sides by magic or fridge magnets or something. Normally I would at least add attachment points and straps but that would defeat the purpose of a 100% out of the box build so hovering Alice packs it is.
Annnnnd here is the second down and dirty out of the box.
It is a very old kit from 1975 when they were motorized and considered as much toys as anything. The new boxings do not come with the motor or other parts though.
That said it is still beautifully detailed even by today’s standard and the molds have held up really well. The commander figure is about the same vintage and was originally from a kit I built in the early '70s. He just got a new coat of paint.
The Bradley came out pretty nicely. Good job on it.
This version is not supposed to represent one used in Operation Desert Storm (1991). It is a later version updated after ODS from lessons learned there. It had more armor and other improvements added. The kit represents one used by 3ID during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Tamiya wasn’t totally off. This version was called an M2A2 ODS, meaning it had the post ODS updates. The decal placement instructions also say it is from 3ID in Iraq, 2003.
What surprised me most was the Stug. Even after almost 50 years and probably hundreds of thousands of kits made, the molds still produce perfect parts. There was not one bit of flash nor a misaligned seam on a single sprue
Yes, ODS implies it is the post Operation Desert Storm version. During Desert Storm we still had M2/3 and M2A1/M3A1 Bradleys and very few M2A2s. Some units still had M113A2s and M901 ITVs and hadn’t fielded Bradleys of any sort yet.
That was a war we really hadn’t prepared for and showed up with what we had.
Nice work tcoat. That stuff brings back memories. I have not built a tank since I was a teenager and did not build many then, but I remember building the Tamiya Sturmgeschütz IV and their original Panther tank. Both fun builds.
I love building Tamiya kits. The only issues I have with them concerns first, the suspensions on most of them.The old kits have motorization holes, second, rubber band tracks, and, third, molded-on details. But, they are fun to build.
When I was stationed in Germany in the late 80s, I found an old hobby shop in downtown Mannheim. Lots of old, dust covered kits. I found a lot of old motorized Tamiya kits like the M113, Panther and a few others in odd scales.
A little over a decade ago, I sold those kits on eBay and made about a grand over the course of a month. These were kits I paid maybe $10-15 a piece for (exchange rate was $1=2 DM).
I think the highest one went for like $200 and was a Tamiya 1/50 scale Crusader to a collector in Connecticut. I think I paid less than $10 for that kit.
Used that money to buy more up-to-date kits and collectors got some highly coveted kits.
I spent a couple of months training with the 28th Transportation Battalion in Mannheim but I was 19 years old and not looking for hobby shops at that point in my life!
