Hello!
I finished building and priming AFV's M1130 Stryker TACV, out of the box. I was looking at some photos taken from Prime Portal. NOTE, THE PRIME PORTAL PHOTOS ARE GETTING OLDER NOW. MANY OF THEM OF ARE OF INITIAL PRODUCTION/PRE-DEPLOYMENT VEHICLES, SO ARE NOT ACCURATE FOR A DEPLOYED OR GENERAL PRODUCTION VEHICLE.

First: I noticed that there are a lot of strings used to keep the stowage in place.
I'm not going to add stowage on my model, as I just don't want to spend money for resin sets, which I'm not very familiar with, but I would like to be a bit more accurate. I've seen a lot of triangular spare PE parts which seem quite suitable to attach the strings, but how can I make them, at least for the jerry cans and the pioneer tools? How did you make yours (I've seen many modellers did)? YOU CAN MAKE THE STRAPS BY CUTTING PAPER AND ROLLING IT. I LIKE TO USE PE SCRAP FOR THE ENDS AS THESE ARE STRAPS THAT HAVE METAL "CONNECTORS" AT EACH END. MOTHER ROLLS HIS AROUND A PENCIL TIP TO GET A GOOD START.

Second: always looking at the photos, it seems that there is an Olive Drab strip running all around the model. Is it common on every Stryker? I thought to represent it just by painting it with Olive Drab instead of NATO Green. What do you think? YOU MIGHT BE TALKING ABOUT THE M-I-L-E-S STRIP THAT IS SEEN ON MANY HOME STATION VEHICLES. THESE ALSO HAVE ROUND LASER NODES ON THEM. THESE ARE ALWAYS SEEN ON VEHICLES THAT ARE ON MANUEVERS.

Third: wheel access rings. my references show them attached (at least on the TACV version) only on the front left wheel, close to the driver's big hatch. Again, are the rings compulsory on ALL the wheels or does it depend on operational/maintenance reasons? IT DEPENDS ON THE TIME FRAME. OLDER VEHICLES HAD THEM ON ALL WHEELS, AND NEWER VEHICLES SINCE ABOUT 2006 HAVE THEM ONLY ON THE FRONT LEFT WHEEL. MANY CAME OFF THE OLDER VEHICLES AS WELL, SO ON THOSE OLDER VEHICLES SOME WHEELS WOULD BE MISSING THEM.

Fifth: smoke generators on the RWS. I still have to install the "cartridges". The instructions show that they could as well not be installed. Is the shape of the launchers provided correct or shall I add the cartridges too? I SUGGEST DRILLING THEM OUT TO REPRSENT THEM AS EMPTY SINCE MOST OF THE TIME THESE ARE NOT PRESENT UNLESS IN IRAQ, BUT THERE ARE TIMES WHEN THEY LOAD THEM ON MANUEVERS.

Sixth: long antenna on the left side. The drawings on the box show it attached to the fuselage with a cable. Where is the cable fixed? And how does the joint with the antenna look like? And where do the cables at its base end up? Do they go to the UHF coupler on the left side? I DO NOT HAVE MY REFERENCES WITH ME AND CAN NOT ANSWER WITHOUT REFERRING TO THEM. MAYBE SOMEONE ELSE CAN...

Seventh: Blue Force Tracker. The box provides it in resin, a material I never worked with. I manage to break a small corner section while cleaning it. Is it common to all the Stryker TACVs? Also: there is a photo of the tracker on Prime Portal, showing a couple of cables starting from it. Where do they end up? Other sub-question: the instructions say to paint it in yellow, but WHICH yellow? YOU CAN GET AWAY WITHOUT USING THIS. IT WOULD BE AN OLDER VEHICLE PROBABLY THOUGH, WITH THE WHEEL RINGS ON ALL WHEELS.

Eigth: periscopes. Unfortunately, I closed the vehicle before adding the ones underneath the RWS, and I also primed them. I was planning to paint them black and add some clear plastic sheet once dry. Is it correct to paint ALL the periscopes (also those of the driver's hatch) in clear red or do they feature different red-blue-purple shades? IT IS UP TO YOU ON THE SHADES (I SUGGEST NOT USING BLACK). DEPENDING ON THE LIGHT ANGLE WHEN VIEWING THEY CAN BE DIFFERENT COLORS.

Nineth: there is a vnil part in the kit, and it' used to represent the cover to the closing device on the driver's hatch. I already attached it and not primed. Which colour? Olive Drab or black? A LIGHTER GREEN THAN THE VEHICLE COLOR. IN REAL LIFE THIS IS A VINYL WEATHER COVER TO PREVENT RAIN FROM GETTING IN BEHIND THE HATCH WHEN IT IS OPENED.

In the end... a small request: has anyone got the famous water and soda boxes by Gino Quintiliani?
I think it's all for now... If something springs to my mind I'll post it!
Thanks for any answer!