AFV Club M1130 Stryker Command Vehicle

[nicely11b]

Hey everyone! After finishing up my build of Lonesome Polecat, I decided to give myself a change of pace and build some armor.  I'm not a huge armor builder but I've dabbled with it and I've wanted to build a Stryker for a while now.  When I originally bought the kit, I planned to build it in a diorama with some contractors in Iraq, but then I found photos for one of the sets of markings that came with the kit and decided to build that one.  

So as the subject line reads, this is the AFV Club M1130 Stryker being built as a command vehicle and I'll be finishing it as this vehicle.

As with most armor builds, at least ones I've done, the actual assembly goes pretty quick.  Everything gets thrown together and then primer and paint.  I've been working on it for only a few days and the lower half of the hull is complete.  

The suspension fit really well.  It all pretty much snapped into place.  Though there was some flash on some of the skinnier pieces that had to be carefully removed.

To mount the shields for the rear wheels, these tiny standoffs are needed.  Thankfully, AFV Club provided extra on the sprue as I lost 3 or 4 of them while trying to separate them.  And though the assembly was rather fiddly, it looks very nice installed.  To glue the PE to the hull, I used Gator Grip.  It was my first experience with it and it worked beautifully.  Very sticky, dried fast, and cleaned up easily.

[TRM]

Nice change of pace!! Off to a fine start too!

[Tojo72]

AFV makes a nice Stryker,looking good.

[Leon]

Looking really good so far!

I built the 1132 Engineer squad version with the SMP and it was a nice build.

[bish]

Nice start on this, good to see one of these.

[wbill76]

Pulling up a chair to see this one come together. Nice start!

[nicely11b]

Thanks, guys. This thing is going together so well so far. A few things are irking me, namely the sprues bouncing around for subassemblies, but its going well.

[nicely11b]

Small update from yesterday's work.

This thing is going together so fast.  The fit has been great so far, minus one small spot on the back of the commander's cupola.  The surface detail is really nice, though all of the individual armor plates are a bit of a head scratcher.  It would have made the molding process easier, but adds a lot of unnecessary steps to the build.

Fit of the port side equipment rack was a little tight with the box that's in there, but some pressure and Tamiya Extra Thin kept it in place.  Again, nice detail on the racks.  The tool station under the equipment rack will be left empty, as this particular vehicle was in my reference photos, so the holes will be filled and straps added.

Starboard side equipment rack went together just as well as the port side, without the fit issue caused by the box.

Though the vehicle was displayed with all of the hatches opened up, I don't have an interior for the kit so it will be buttoned up.  The hatches that have been installed have all fit perfectly and, with care, all line up nicely in their frames.

This has been the only troublesome area so far.  The armor plating on the back of the cupola has to fit behind the piece that is standing up on the left.  If you don't glue the piece standing up far enough back, you can't glue the armor plate in the right position.  I messed up the surface of the plate a bit trying to get it into position, but it's not beyond repair.

[Leon]

Nice progress! Sometimes I think AFV over engineers their kits. I had the same issue with the armor plate.

[nicely11b]

Thanks, Leon. This particular issue could have been avoided had they instructed us to install the armor plate first. I guess I could have test fit better.

[deafpanzer]

Looking good... so many molded details and they looks pretty impressive!

[nicely11b]

Small update today. I've been struggling with how to do the periscopes on the driver's hatch and commander's cupola, so I decided to experiment with some foil from party noise makers and different coloring.  

I settled on the gold foil, colored with AMMO's Crystal Color red and a coat of future.  Then cut to size to fit the periscopes and glued in place with Gator's Grip.

And this is the effect that I'm going for.

[Leon]

Great idea for the periscopes! They look good.

[wbill76]

I'd say you found a pretty good formula there to recreate it. Nice!

[bish]

That's a nice job on those periscopes. I think you nailed it.

[nicely11b]

Thanks, guys! Hopefully they'll still look the part once paint is down.

[nicely11b]

Finally got some bench time this afternoon and put some work in on the front end of the Stryker.  The headlight assemblies were 5 or 6 pieces each, and the assembly was a bit tricky, but I was able to figure it out.  It was actually easier to mount the base pieces to the hull and then start building up from them, instead of building the whole assembly separate as the instructions direct.  Also started putting the protective frame for the lights on the port side of the hull.

The insides of the lights were painted with Model Master Chrome Silver.  The headlight lens will remain clear while the night lights were painted with AMMO's Crystal Color red.  I'm pretty impressed with how the crystal color went down on the clear parts.

Also put paint down on the hatch where I tested the periscopes, using Mr. Paint NATO Green.  The Strykers are actually CARC Green, but NATO is a close enough match.  And once I add some fading and weathering, the differences will be negligible.  The Mr. Masking Sol pulled up a little bit of the Crystal Color on the periscopes, but I'll touch that up at the end incase anything else needs fixed.

[Leon]

A nice afternoons progress!

[nicely11b]

After a busy week, I finally found some time at the bench the past two days.  The hull halves are about ready to throw together so I got around to building the turret for the commander's cupola.  With the M2 mounted, there are over 45 parts in this subassembly.  Again, a bit over engineered, but the finished product looks good.  I need to check my references again, but I believe the smoke dischargers were empty during the event in which this Stryker was photographed.  So I may be hollowing out the tubes.

Also got the lower half of the hull primed.  I probably should have primed before adding all the suspension as some areas were hard to reach, but I think I have it covered well enough that any missed areas won't be noticable.

[Tojo72]

I feel your pain on bench time,making nice progress.

[deafpanzer]

The MG and eyes look pretty cool!

[nicely11b]

So the Stryker has been dragging a little bit, but progress is still being made.  I buttoned up the hull today while in the process of opening up the tie-downs on the stowage rack.  I've been trying a few different methods to make this work.  Initially, I cut off the molded tie-down and replaced it with stretched sprue.  It worked, but it is difficult to keep the hole open while gluing.  I then tried using a .2mm drill in my dremel.  This has given me good results so far though I've broke most of my drills.  There are also a few places where I can't reach with the drill, so I'll have to do those ones a bit differently.





 

[jsteinman]

Smashing!

[Leon]

Nice progress and rework on the tie downs!

[nicely11b]

Thanks, guys!

[wbill76]

Kudos to you and the necessary sacrifice on the drill bits. Will make the stowage you add look that much more realistic.

[nicely11b]

Just a quick update today, but work has really taken away my building time, so any progress is nice.  Since the kit is basically together, I've been working on adding details, namely the webbing and now the wiring on the exterior of the vehicle.  I still have a few tie-downs to redo, but most spots have been done. 

I began to add wiring to the antenna and other sensors, as well as the commander's turret.  It's my first real experience using lead wire, but I'm really happy with how it's turning out.

[TRM]

Fine work on the wiring!! She's taking shape nicely!!

[Tojo72]

Nice detailing.

[Leon]

Nice start on the wiring!