I started on an M88A2. I bought a built AFV Club M88A1 at a swap meet a few years ago with the intention of using it and the Legend M88A2 Conversion set.
Here is the conversion set and a review of it at the old Armorama site.
So far I have added all the major plates that go onto the sides, front, and rear of the hull. I don’t know if I placed the side panels wrong (too far forward), but I had to add a 1/4 inch piece on both side between the front and rear side plates. They look to be right at the front and rear though.
Gino, the thing is you didn’t write it was started or even completed… That’s why I wondered - I assumed you just bought a kit at a swap meet, not a completed model to rip it up. But I bet now it’s going to be better. Good luck with it!
I have pretty much finished construction on it. I went with the full USMC M88A2 w/M1A1 Abrams CWS and extended exhaust stacks. It will be similar to this one, with the IED jammer antennas too.
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Here it is so far.
On the below pics, I added a couple things Legend missed, or they were later features than their example had. The rear lights are swapped out with NATO tail lights and there are smaller turn signals added next to the front lights. Not sure why they didn’t add NATO turn signals to the front, but they didn’t.
I built it so the boom still raises and lowers too. Legend would have you glue it all solid. I just had to rework the rope anchors at the top of the boom and not glue the lower attachment points solid.
Here is the M1A1 CWS added. I used a Dragon one left over from their M1A2 kits.
For the exhaust stacks, I used ones left over from the AFV Club M35A1 “Nancy” guntruck. The M35A1 has an older exhaust that runs along the frame and out between the rear wheels. I added the flappers and a few other details to them.
On the side skirts, they did come up short. Instead of trying to graft a piece in them cleanly, I left the rear skirt piece off and drilled attachment holes for it. I have seen a few pics of M88A2s without them, so all is good. You can also see the missing pioneer tool box with mesh covering that I scratched up.
The tracks will be AFV Club indi-links. The rear sprockets are resin ones I picked up somewhere with mud release holes already molded in them.
The road wheels will be left over Takom steel wheels from the USMC M60A1 ERA w/Dozer kit. It includes both the steel and aluminum wheels.
Here are other pieces/parts that will go on it after painting.
Lookin’ good! Why is there mesh over the pioneer tool frame? What paint scheme do you have in mind for this one? Good luck with your build and have a nice day
Hi Pawel. Thanks. I haven’t decided on color yet. Still deciding. The tool rack being covered is probably to keep the tools from catching on things. The whole vehicle seems more streemlined. I’m not sure though. You can see it well here.
From dusty memory (my last Amphib stuff was in '91) the 88s always went ashore last, usually in the “tail” of the lift ashore of the armor. Their bulk limited which landing craft they would fit withiin. So, there’s not a lot of side-to-side room once you get one inside an LCU(L)–(and you want them really close together on an LCAC). So, keeping things tight and compact is a boon.
That big Masterlock Padlock is a common feature, too–very necessary to make sure your tools remain yours.
Clean and streamlined are also both words for easier vehicles to load into RoRo (Roll-on/Roll-off) ships, too.
That slight, so very slight, nose-down attitude is going to be difficult to model well.
It will have to be “enough” to be seen/apprciated; but not so much as to look like broken suspension components.
I’d bet money it’s less than a millimeter over the length of the kit–that’s les than 1/6 mm around 0.006") per roadwheel, which is a very fussy attention to detail that only the best of uas are likely to get “just right.”
Here is this week’s update. I have painted it in NATO Green with some selected parts in sand. I am using the one below as inspiration, but not as a direct copy.
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I added a sand “Valhalla” name above the doors on the sides. I also used a USMC serial number, a left over Marine Combat Chevron, and a shield for the 3rd MarDiv (Marine Division).
Here it is so far. I still need to dullcoat it, add the tracks, color all the lights and vision blocks, add some more details here and there, and weather it.
I know it is a late response but FYI - you didn’t do anything wrong.
I had one of these conversion kits and all of the resin armor panels had shurnk in one demension or the other. After about a month of communication with ledgend, they sent me a whole new set, and I still had the issue you mentioned.
While the conversion kit was pretty complete, the engineering was bad
