In 1967, the Soviet Union introduced a new class of military vehicle — the Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) — when it displayed the BMP-1. Not just a troop carrier, the BMP was armed with a turret and sophisticated weaponry. The U.S. responded with the M2 Bradley IFV, developed in the 1970s, with production starting in 1981.
Since then, the Bradley has undergone extensive upgrades: Besides the addition of explosive reactive armor (ERA) to the turret and hull, the Bradley Urban Survival Kit (BUSK) was often fitted to M2s fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While there have been several fine Bradley kits over the years, Meng has released a superb kit of the M2A3 with BUSK III. It features not only excellent exterior details but a complete interior as well. Interior parts are molded in green plastic; the engine parts are dark gray and the hull is tan. The hull and turret have a delicate antiskid texture molded in place. Three small photoetched frets hold screens for the hull and air conditioners, brackets for the turret ERA blocks, and a mask for the road wheels and track pads. Three clear sprues (one tinted green) provide all of the periscopes, light lenses, and glass for the commander’s turret. Decals are provided for three vehicles, as well as lots of stencils and placards. The large instruction booklet features clear assembly diagrams, and extensive detail-painting instructions are provided, but only Vallejo paints are referenced in the instructions.
Building the Bradley starts with running gear that features an actual working torsion-bar suspension. To allow the suspension to flex, the shock absorbers are made of small metal tubes. You should note that the inner shock part (A17) only fits on the suspension arm one way. If yours doesn’t want to snap onto the arm’s pin, try turning it around. The suspension works well, but I found it very delicate; I broke a couple of torsion bars while handling the model, requiring that I glue those arms in place. I left off the running gear until painting was complete.
I assembled as much of the interior as I could and still paint it, using a lightened Tamiya cockpit green inside. When going back to add the parts that were painted separately, make sure you follow the instruction steps. I had a hard time installing the fire extinguishers (parts M24 and P32) because I added the turret bulkhead first instead of following the instructions. Nonetheless, I was impressed with how well everything fit inside.
Before gluing the top half of the hull in place, I added all of the exterior details so I could paint the outside with a 1:1 mix of Tamiya buff and wood deck tan and still easily mask the openings in the hull to protect the interior paint. Before adding the rear plate to the lower hull, I attached all the exterior parts so I could fill the location holes and ejector-pin marks on their inside faces (because they are visible through the open top hatch). There seemed to be a slight warp in my upper hull (even before adding the exterior detail), which required clamping when I glued the upper and lower hull halves together.
The individual-link tracks are some of the nicest I’ve seen. They only require a bit of cleanup where they were removed from the sprue, and they have no sink or ejector-pin marks. They snap securely together; while there are about 20 extra links provided, I didn’t need to use any of them. Meng suggests 80 links per side, which is a little loose, but when I went to 79 the tracks would pull up the front and rear road wheels. So, I stuck to 80 links per side.
Once the tracks were in place, I added the side skirts. Remove ejector-pin stubs from the insides of the side skirts (parts C7 and C8) so they fit snugly to the hull.
While the turret is a complex assembly, it goes together smoothly according to instructions. The TOW missile launcher can be put in either the stowed or deployed position. I left off the commander’s protection system until final assembly so I didn’t have to mask the glass.
You are given a choice of filled or empty ammo storage bins for the back of the turret basket, as well as smoke-grenade launchers that can be empty, loaded with no caps, or capped. While the kit’s hinged hatches work well, they are so delicate that I broke several while handling the model during painting and final assembly. So, I had to glue the hatches in place. But because I wanted to show off the interior as much as I could, I built it with all hatches open.
I spent about 43 hours on my Bradley. There is a great deal of detail to it, and photo references indicate even more is possible. I couldn’t find any dimensional data on a Bradley fitted like the kit with all its side armor, air-conditioners, and turret antennas, but the measurements that I could make matched other published sources well.
This kit is clearly aimed at the experienced modeler. Already, Meng has announced an M3A3 version (with interior to be sold separately). I hope Meng has a whole family of Bradleys on the horizon.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the November 2014 FineScale Modeler.