A little background
The M2 Bradley is an American IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments.
The Bradley is designed for reconnaissance and to transport a squad of infantry, providing them protection from small arms fire, while also providing firepower to both suppress and eliminate most threats to friendly infantry. It is designed to be highly manoeuvrable and to be fast enough to keep up with heavy armour during an advance. The M2 holds a crew of three: a commander, a gunner and a driver, as well as six fully equipped soldiers.
The M2 Bradley was the basic production model, first fielded in 1981. The M2 can be identified by its standard TOW missile system, steel laminate armor, and 500 horsepower (370 kW) Cummins VT903 engine with HMPT-500 Hydro-mechanical transmission. A particular design requirement was for the vehicle to keep up with the M1 Abrams, which it was intended to support. [Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Bradley).
In the 1985 timeframe of Team Yankee, the M2 Bradley would have been in service in limited numbers.
The Bradley IFV is a hotly contested subject in Team Yankee groups, especially amongst the US players (myself included). Battlefront leaving then out of Stripes, confounds most to be sure, given their popularity. But putting that aside 3rd party manufacturers seem to be plugging on regardless, bringing us to the Skytrex 15mm Bradley Kit.
The Kit
The kit is a multi-part resin and metal kit. Upon opening the package and laying out the components, my first thought was immediately -wow-. The quality of the mould on the hull and track sections is impressive, getting towards a plastic mould level of quality.
There is some flash to clean, as to be expected. But mould lines were extremely thin, and fill between the track wheels could be pushed out rather than cut out, it’s that thin.
Fitting the tracks to the hull required minor trimming to get a snug fit, but this only took a few seconds. A quick dry fit shows just how well cast the parts are.
A few dabs of glue later and we have the finished model. The metal components also fitted snugly without any effort or trimming
Final Thoughts
This is the first time I’ve had a Skytrex kit and I have to say I’m really impressed with the quality.
Sytrex expect the Bradley kit to retail for around £8.50 inc VAT to the UK market, or just over £7 Ex VAT internationally. For a resin / metal model of this quality the price seems about right.
Next step is to apply some paint and give them a spin on the battlefield with some custom rules!
I’m collecting Americans, and disappointed that BF went to the trouble of making a Sgt York model, which looks horrible and never went into production, over the Bradley M2 & M3, for which there is massive demand. I guess they have to be close to the LAV in stats, with movement much like a M1?
Graeme that was my thoughts. The biggest arguments I’ve seen is over the pts value.
The M2 Bradley was deployed in quite large numbers from 1984, starting with the 3rd ID in VII Corps (Southern Germany) and the 2nd Hell on Wheels AD in III Corps (Northern Germany). The latter unit only had one brigade forward deployed in Europe but there was a full set of Abrams and Bradleys in POMCUS sets for the other brigades flying in from the US. The 2nd AD ‘fought’ the Brits using this new equipment in Exercise Lionheart ’84, but took very heavy ‘casualties’ from the 2nd Bn Staffordshire Regiment in particular.
The M3 ‘Devers’/’Cavalry Bradley’ was in widespread use in the 2nd and 11th ACR during the 1984-85 timeframe, and I think also POMCUS sets were in place for the 3rd ACR from the US.