This has been a work in progress now for well over 15 years. I stopped building it because I messed up by spraying the turret with Tamiya Acrylic thinned in error with enamal thinners - it was such a mess, i just boxed it up and packed it away in a very dark corner. Well I unpacked it again and feel it now needs to be finished so I have started it again by completing the hull.
The hull looks good. Nice job on the MERDC camo. One correction though. The poles above the shovel that you have painted as wood, and the ones on the left rear that you have as red/white aiming stakes are neither. These are support poles for the flotation collar when raised and are aluminum. They are usually painted forest green or overpainted with the MERDC as it was applied.
This one is actually the M3 Bradley because you have used the blanked off side firing ports. The M2 kit came with an interior (crew compartment only) and the firing port weapons. I’ve got a partially completed one I started in college in 1986 just before I left for active duty. Still sitting in a box 31 years later!
Here are some photos of the poles you mistakenly painted on an M3 I used to have. I’ve seen them in the plain green new equipment comes in or painted as part of the vehicle camouflage too. Only time I ever saw them used was when we learned how to erect the swim barrier at school. It was a fairly useless feature that was done away with very quickly. Other than laying them out for vehicle inventory, they were excess stuff.
The hold downs are thick rubber bungee type straps and the paint often flakes off of the black rubber straps. You can notice it more on the bottom photo.
Looks cool JJ, I really like the MERDC scheme there too, great job on it.
And thanks for the help there Gino and Rob, I can use that advice myself.
One question though, should the MERDC scheme be a soft edge or hard? Looks like JJ went with soft like Rob’s photos but when you squeeze it down to 1/35th would it look more hard?
Either is correct. Some were spray painted, others were painted by the crews with brushes. It depends on how you want it to look.
MERDC schemes were often hand painted over a sprayed base coat, but could also be entirely spray painted as well. Depends on what the unit has and the “skill” the 19 year old crew men have. Hand some kids a bucket of paint and paint brushes and you get mixed results.
The pictures I posted are of a depot painted vehicle in the 3 color NATO scheme. That’s why it has a softer, spray painted appearance.
That hull looks extremely good. I love it!
Toshi
Thanks for the info guys - appreciated but i’m just going to leave things as they are because to start spraying the camo again now is just too much like hard work but the input is greatly appreciated. Turret is pretty much done now just got to add some bits and pieces and i’ll call it done.
JJ, that’s some really sharp work there! [Y]
I’ve been known to cheat and throw some camo netting or foliage over problem areas but I don’t think that would work here since you’d be blocking travel of the turret.
Rob, Gino: Thanks guys!!! I’ve seen both hard and soft edge on models and wasn’t sure which was correct. I’ve looked at some of the trucks at our local National Guard Armory but wasn’t sure that would apply to anything earlier though. I’ll admit I really like what JJ has done here over the hard edge look.
It’s never too late to fix it. It would be very easy to slip a piece of post-it paper under the poles and repaint them dark green. That way you don’t need to worry about messing up the MERDC paint job.
The turret is looking great too. I did notice the barrel of the coax MG next to the 25mm barrel is missing though. It should stick out of the protruding piece to the right of the main barrel. You can see it clearly in the below pic.
Thanks Gino, that’s one of the items still to go on. As for the poles - call it just being a dumb…s but I think i’m leaving them as they are.
That camo and paint look great.
Well that’s done and dusted and in the display case. I may get back to the incorrectly coloured poles at a later stage but for now it’s done.
She looks good to me, just love how the camo came out. Even with those little issues I’d be proud to have something that well built and painted in my display case.
Thank you, appreciated.