It is the building of the third U.S. Army Stryker. I made it in July 2015.
I’ll try a derivative type of the Stryker armored car again this time. This type equipped with a 105mm gun is my favorite. Because I produced a regular personnel carrier and a type mounted with missiles in the past, I think the building is not complex.
The assembling illustration of the AFV Club is clear and easily understandable. This manual has many pages, and one 1 page is not such a condensed volume. I felt my work was speedy.
After all, the assembly around the headlight is confusing though the same part has been made in the past. It cannot be helped because a real car is also complicated.
It’s a different order with the assembling manual that I glued the top and bottom parts together when attaching a front bumper to avoid the upper and bottom fitting gap. And at the same time, I needed to have a trial assembling the rear hatch.
(26-June-2015)
After the photo-etched parts of the dustproof filters are installed, the main body is almost completed if I don’t care about handling, small parts attaching because some parts are sticking out.
Something like the belts of these photo-etched parts, I guess, what kind of role they are. It looks like soft material. The strap of the opening panel?
The assembly of the machine gun mounted on the turret is difficult. I needed to assemble the gun parts quickly, otherwise, some were not connected, and it was too late to make minor adjustments. AFV Club kits often have many small parts included. It’s based on high reproducibility.
A combination of the small gun turret and body is terrible, so I opened wider a circular hole in the body; a hook of the gun turret was cut off, and I re-attached the hook from unused parts.
(04-July-2015)
Assembly was almost completed at last. I think the material attached to the top of the antenna is too large. I made it with putty. After all, it’s painted in black, and not so anxious about it.
There is a gun turret in the rear from the center. There seems to be the center of gravity in the rear, too. A long gun barrel goes out of there. It’s a strong impression.
Yes, an appearance from the front is quite good. It will become more accurate after I put clear lights on while painting. The metal gun barrel makes me feel expert working. I like it, of course; there is no remarking point of the accuracy of the parts.
I made two jerricans of the spare fuel, but there was no indication of where to load them on this manual. Because I put two water tanks on the vehicle’s right side, I can’t say precisely, but I loaded the fuel jerricans onto the left rack and attached a unity band using metal parts.
I made metal belts to attach shovels and hammers, etc.
I think it’s strange; I noticed there are not yet attaching rubber tires. Tires are the most appealing point, forgetting it is like pasta without garlic. The next step is painting.
(08-July-2015)
Now a little progress, I painted the primary color RML83 dark green. This color matched the modern AFV green very much.
I sprayed the shade color, fading away expressing. This is the same as a modern airplane I made before. It’ll be adjusted at coating later. I suppose now is slightly much gloss?
It needed detailed painting and light weathering for completion.
(21-July-2015)
The anti-tank gun-mounted type Stryker armored car has finally been completed. A couple of years ago, I watched a Discovery Channel TV program that Stryker was tested in a polar cold resistance test at the Alaskan base. Since that day, I have felt the Stryker proportion is very nice and want to make it sometime.
Because there is more mobility at lightweight than a tank, there is the merit of quickly dispatching to the world in case of regional conflict. Because the gross weight is less than 20 tons, according to the manual of this kit, air transportation is possible by a C-130 carrier.
I have made the personnel carrier and the missile car before. Besides, there are some variations, mortar deployment type, engineer car, ambulance car, car mounted with an anti-tank missile, reconnaissance car, etc. Changing equipment leaves the chassis is only possible, which is quite convenient.
They were dispatched for the Iraqi War, but because the armor was thin, it was easily damaged by RPGs and seemed to have a hard fight. The Stryker’s better strategy is using mobility and moving quickly, even if they have the powerful main gun.
This AFV seems to carry 18 shots, but I wonder if it’s enough.
Because the scoop of the outside was painted red on the illustration box, I imitated it. I made strap belts made of a metal band.
I wonder tail light’s clear red was a little thinner. But darker paint and nobody knew the original parts were clear…
Decals of fire attention on jerrycans are prepared in this kit. It’s sticking very tightly but looks stand out.
I used an anti-reflection coating seal on the periscopes and macrometer. It’s nice accents. Colors changed in many ways from different directions.
I painted the bullet belt of the machine gun with brass and copper as instructed. It is a tiny area, but the excellent point was when it was noticed.
Seen from the rear, it’s quite a simple and angular vehicle. After painting the rear lights, it looks fantastic.
The gun turret turns smoothly, but it’s hard to go up and down the barrel itself. Too hard by force is a damage risk. I judged that this angle of the barrel looks the best.
Regarding the weathering, I didn’t put rust on this modern vehicle. I did only the dust and mud effect this time. Because I wanted to show the feeling that runs about on a battlefield, I strongly performed weathering in spots.
One shot from the front. I think the headlights may shine a little more. The inside of the clear parts was silver-painted, and lights were clouded like mist over. Possibly, this vehicle is dusty, so I can say it’s balanced in total.
I wonder if the point of the antenna is slightly bigger… I think the body color is not a wrong balance, generally.
I want to make it smoother, but I got wrapped up in the simulation game on the way, and it stopped suddenly… I played Fuhrer play in HoI3.
The armored car has different charms from tanks. It’s cool!! As for the striker, I’m enough cause I already made three types. I’m interested in German eight wheels armored AFV. I bought sdkfz223 when I noticed, though it was not eight wheels.
(26-July-2015)
