Meng M3A3 w/Busk III

[M1Carbine]

Hi all;

Been a minute but have been back at the bench recently. This time is Meng's M3A3 offering. Have not built a lot of Meng's kits so this will be interesting. Only thing I would be able to make a slight comparison is the Orichi kit from some years back. Taht was a fantastic build and won several awards with that beauty.




So far no real issues with the kit. starts off with the Road Wheels and suspension as usual.









Then its off to the suspension arms. Pay extremely close attention here as you can get crossed up a bit.....well at least I can. All of it is fully functional which is a nice addition.











Ounce this is completed its upper hull sections/plates. No issues here although some of the alignment holes were a bit undersized but that took a sec to remedy. A lot of the PE is done at this phase as well.













I left the hatches functional so that I can paint, then add the vision blocks afterwards. Tracks are up next. I want to get those sorted first before moving on to the turret so those will be the next shots up. They are click type so we will see hwo these are going to fair.

Thanks all

-Bob

[dupes]

Great start! I'm not sure if I've built a Meng kit or not yet. Hmmmm.

[handiabled]

Bookmarked! Looks great so far

[stikpusher]

You’re making rapid progress so far! Does this kit have the anti slip areas molded into the appropriate areas?

[Leon]

This is looking good Bob!

[M1Carbine]

Dupes - Not bad kits, some oddities but nothing harsh........So far

Handi - Thank you

Carlos - yes it does, fine textures and where they need to be

Leon - Thank you

-Bob

[406 Silverado]

Off to a great start on this one Bob!! I always get a kick out of watching your builds come together bud and this one outta be another real good one to follow along with.

[Medicman71]

Very nice! I really like Bradleys.

[deafpanzer]

Almost missed this! I have same kit and I hope its pretty good too. I am tempted to build it soon because I have seen many video clips of Bradleys kicking ass in Ukraine even against the tanks.

[M1Carbine]

Joe - Thank you buddy

Mike - Thank you my friend

Andy - Hey brother, it was a bit of a challenge.

[M1Carbine]

Hi Everyone!

My apologies for the long hiatus. Work in the way as usual but I have been able to get some time at the bench in between the insane amounts of chaos.

The build went along but be fair warned, cleanup is a pain in the donkey!

Side skirts were next up and again be warned. The cleanup here is tedious. Raised injector pin marks need to be completely dealt with or the panels will not sit correctly at all. even then there will be some alignment issues.









I then finished up some of the rear door and bits







Next was the turret. This thing was one of the biggest pains in the caboose. There were fit issues at every turn. I took it slow and one day at a time but was so frustrated I got no photos of the build stages.









After all that was done it was time for the tracks. Well get ready for.......you guessed it. Days of clean up. They are click together tracks but don't believe the hype. They will click alright, then any manipulations of them the fall apart in sections. I left them in separate lengths, attached, and glued. These were a freaking nightmare. Get aftermarkets!











After all that it was several days of painting, chipping, weathering and so on. I have to say this one exhausted me. Finished shots are in the completed thread.

Thank you all for tuning in

-Bob

[kyledehart5]

Good grief Bob!! Looks like this one tried to put you through the wringer. Those track bits are insane!! Nice work forcing it all to submit.

[M1Carbine]

Kyle - at times a 5lb sledge was getting close to use.

-Bob

[handiabled]

The tracks look as exasperating as dealing with one of my kids.... way to persevere

[deafpanzer]

Yikes! it surprised me that Meng has allowed those two things to happen... huge pin marks and tracks not sticking together. Thanks for the head up and I will definitely get aftermarket set when I build mine one day. I saw your completed build and I fell in love with you! Oops! i meant your Bradley!

[M1Carbine]

Handi - i kept hearing Col Kurtz “The horror”

Andy - those were on most of the parts. Well I love you too Andy…..lol

-Bob