Thursday, April 24, 2014

Scale Military Modeller International 05/2014

For the build I used the Academy M2 kit #1335 which provided a good starting point and as with any armoured vehicle the project began with the wheels and hull. Here I filled some holes on the sides and bottom which were originally designed for some motorization pieces. I then switched out the rubber band tracks for a set of AFV Club individual link tracks that give a much better appearance, since the M2's were kept with tighter track tension and this is better achieved with individual link tracks. I then moved onto the upper hull which went together easily, but left several large gaps around some of the pieces. In order to fill in these spaces I used pieces of stretched sprue softened with glue and then simultaneously added some weld beads. The rear door and turret went together nicely but the kits 25mm gun barrel was replaced with an aluminum one from RB Models. The kit antenna mounts were also rebuilt using round plastic stock, copper wire, and a piece of steel wire dipped in CA glue to represent the plastic cap on the end of the antenna. The armoured side skirts were next and I altered these with pieces of bent brass rod along the upper edges, as this is where the crew mounted some of their personal gear. Plus I removed the rear bottom piece of skirt from each side as again this was common practice for M2 crews. The personal gear along the side's skirts came from the Verlinden's 'Bradley Stowage Set' and Tamiya's Modern US Military Equipment Set. Each piece was modified by adding lead foil shoulder straps, or in the case of the rucksacks, filling in the rear of the rucksack with Magic Sculpt and adding canteens, entrenching tools and spare ammunition cases to give them the individualized look. The duffel bags also received lead foil straps on the backs and on the front so that no two bags looked the same.

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