M3A2 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle

This was the first piece I ever purchased in 1:18 scale and I have never looked at another Joe vehicle the same. When you first see the piece in the box, you notice just how incredibly large and detailed the exterior of this vehicle is. When a Joe vehicle is placed next to this piece of armor, the Joe vehicle is immediately dwarfed. Even some of the Joe aircraft aren’t as large as this beast is.  Not even out of the box yet, the Forces of Valor Bradley has already laid down the law.

The vehicle is covered in rivets molded right onto the vehicle, gloriously weathered rivets. The hull also has some simple stowage molded right on the vehicle in the way of shovels  and spare tracks . I would have liked to have seen these as removable pieces like 21st century does on occassion with their vehicles. A better idea might have been to make the stowage that came with the figures attach in these places, giving kids and collectors more incentive to buy both the vehicle and the figure line. The vehicle also has some molded on ammo cases that line the stowage area on the back of the turret. There is also a cage on the back of the Bradley, near the top crew hatch that looks like ti would be for stowage as well.

The Turret of the vehicle spins a full 360 degrees freely like any other 1:18 scale tank. The Bushmaster chain gun, the vehicles primary armament, can also elevate. The coaxial weapon, an m240, is linked to the bushmaster and elevates with it. Despite being a bit large, it doesn’t detract from the overall look of the turret. There are some covered smoke launchers that reside at the bottom of the turret as well.

The vehicle has numerous areas that don’t open, but they look as if they were designed to do so eventually if Unimax decided to re-release a better version down the road. I hope this the case. With a little bit of retooling this could easily be on of the best 1:18 scale vehicles on the market.