Friend of mine is getting out of the army soon (artillery officer, leaving the army due to injuries) and am going to build him a FST-V based on M2 Bradley. I don’t think there is any manufacturer offering it as a kit, so I’m assuming that I may have to use existing Bradley and do some minor conversion. Any suggestion?
Gino, I think you’ve built one before and any info would be appreciated.
Thanks guys!
Yup, it is called an M7 B-FIST. It is externally a standard Bradley. The only external mods are the addition of two antennas on top of the rear light guards, and the “TOW” box has a flat plate across the rear, as opposed to the one with the holes for the TOW. It now houses electronics and in called the Bradley Armored Box (BAB). Most of the other changes are internal.
Here is mine:
More here: M7 B-FIST
Best starting place is either the Tamiya M2A2 ODS (as I used), or the new Academy M2A2 OIF model. But you will need to change the tracks on the Academy one, they have the older triangle pads that haven’t been used since the mid-'90s. You can either buy the Tamiya ones from thier M2A2 ODS kit, or Fruil and Blast do AM sets.
For basic M2A2 ODS Bradley upgrades and corrections for the Tamiya and Academy kits, check out Pawel’s great article.
Good luck, and let me know if you need any more help.
Thanks for the info Gino.
I just purchased M2A2 ODS version last night and I have one in stock.