I have finally started a project I have been thinking about for a while. I thought about backdating a Meng M2A3 or M3A3 back to an OIF 1 era M2A2 ODS Bradley with interior.  I decided on using the M3A3 since it has the headlight mounts w/out the ERA blocks under them and the standard rear stowage boxes on it. 

The Brad will represent one from 3-15 IN, 2 BDE, 3 ID in OIF 1 (invasion, March '03).  These vehicles were drawn from Pre-Positioned (PrePo) stocks in Kuwait and had locally made side storage racks.  They were also older M2A2s that had been updated to ODS standards.  As such, they had a lot of older features, along with the new ones.

I started by taking the rear roof section from an Academy M2A2 and grafting it onto the Meng hull.   I found this easier than trying to sand all the added armor hull plates off the top of the Meng hull.  It also shows that the Tamiya and Academy parts are the same basic size and can be interchanged with the Meng parts with little effort.

I reworked the lower front hull by replacing the kit's newer, one piece armor plate with an older-style  Tamiya, multi-piece armor plate.  I also reworked the final drive covers by removing the second lift ring attachment and adding bolt heads back to them.

I added the old swim barrier attachment bolts (red dots) and hinges (PE) back to the front glacis plate.  I reshaped the mud flap openings to the proper, larger shape too.

I added the older-style flat mud guards from the Academy kit.  I also added the armor plate on the left of the driver's hatch from an Eduard PE set.

Lastly (for now) I also started reworking the interior by replacing the large floor panel and adding two smaller plates for the M2A2 ODS version.

That's it for now.  More to come later.