Here is the AFC M1128 MGS Stryker



Upon opening the box were are given a HUGE amount of parts all individually wrapped.



There is a total of 14 sprues (one clear), upper and lower hull all in styrene. Also are rubber tires, metal turned scale 105mm barrel with rifling, a small PE sheet, decals and instructions.
Upon examination of the hull sections and about half the sprues through this updated, the quality of the kit is amazing. As an engineer I appreciate well designed things. Everything on this kit appears to be well thought out. There are no voids or sink marks in any of the parts. The injector pin marks are light but thought out so they only appear on sides which do not show on the model. The fit of the parts is near perfect. A test fit of the hull sections leads me to believe no filling or sanding will be required.
As you review the sprues, there is a bunch of parts for the other Stryker models. If you are into Strykers, this kit should also leave a bunch of parts in the spare drawer
The kit is quite extensive and detailed and the instructions contain 42 steps to building this kit. The good part at least up through this update is the parts fit so well and clean up from the sprue so easy that the first four steps to assemble the lower front plates and the drive train went easy and quickly.



After a base coat of Tamiya Flat Black and a first coat of Tamiya NATO Green on the lower section and remaining parts, I then completed the assembly of the lower chassis. Also assembled the wheel hubs and they are ready for paint. To this point I am done with the first nine steps in the instructions with the exception of mounting the tires and wheels which will wait until after final painting.



Next the instructions move to the upper hull. The M1128 like all Strykers has a non-slip coating on the top flat surfaces. Before I do any assembly I masked the upper hull and some hull parts to be coated with Rust-o-leum Terra Cotta surface paint to give the non-slip effect.

Masking all the bolt heads was a chore, punching dots with a Waldron punch.



After the coating and the masking removed, here is what it looked like.



The next 3 steps in the instruction call for the assembly of the side panels. The tools were left out of the tool rack until after painting.



The next 3 steps include mounting the side panels and some other panels including all of the loose parts coated above.



Here is where I will stop for now. The next few step are mounting a lot of detail parts on the upper hull.

All comments are welcome, thanks for looking.

Rounds Complete!!

Looks great Mike. Keep up the good work.

great start to an intreasting vehicle =)

keept it up mate

WOW the terra cota spray really does the trick doesnt it? Nice work

Chris

Very nice!Can you please make a closeup to the anti-slip?

Mike:

What part of NJ are you in? I just moved to Princeton.

Nice job on the non-slip surface. Very clean looking w/ the masking.

Note that the instructions are incorrect for suggesting two wheel rings. I have seen lots of MGSs and still have not seen one with a wheel ring on the right front side - only on the left front side. You may want to check out my review here at Armorama of the MGS kit.

Bob

LooK Good
I love your work on the anti-slip armor
Cheers
Seb

Gino - Always a pleasure to have you stop in!!

James - thanks for looking and for your comments

Chris and Tompaul - Yep, I like the was the terra cotta paint turned out. I'll post a more close up picture of the coating shortly

Robert - I am humbled to have a Stryke man look in. When I get back to the bench, I will remove the one ring and clean things up.

Thanks for the comments on the masking....it was a to do. I have not gotton to that point yet, but I presume the anti-slip coating is also on the flat horizontal sections of the turret also? I have been trying to find out before I mask it ans then coat it.

As far as where am I.....Flemington but I work in Lawrenceville. I'll drop you a PM.

Thanks to all

Rounds Complete!!

Mike,

your anti-slip work is really well done.


"Thanks for the comments on the masking....it was a to do."

Ja, masking: boring, lengthy, troublesome and the tape sticks everywhere; the tweezer, your finger but not at the place you want to have it.

But the result is all the efforts worth, it is one of the keys (especially detail paintings) to get a nice model.

For my latest AFV I will finish these days I have used up almost a half reel of tape to elaborate all the details.

At the moment let me advise you to provide the Echelon mirrors

Stryker mirrors

I used them for my Stryker;


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I am sure you will love them, the few dollars will be well invested.

Good luck so far.

No need to be humbled by me! There are plenty of other knowledgeable folks here on the Stryker - but it is one subject I know a bit about. John Charvat mentioned elsewhere that there was no non-slip on the turret. I have been on the turret just a couple of times and failed to take definitive photos on this subject, so I bow to John's thoughts on that. But, does John or anybody else know if the gunner and TC hatch areas have the non slip surface? It would seem that since there is much foot traffic in those areas there would be such a surface.

Looking forward to more progress. Will you be adding any extras to the model, or will be it straight out of the box?

Bob

First, as I promised, here is a close up of the rust-o-leum paint to make the non-slip coating



I like the way it looks so far.

Marco - thanks for looking and your comments and the mirrors. I may not use them since I intended to have the mirrors folded in against the hull. This is what is normally done when the vehicle is in the field. But thank you and its not over yet

Sabastien - Thanks for looking and your comments.

Robert - Thanks for the help . I can wait on the turret info as I have a ways to go yet. Hopefully John can give us an answer.

As far as the build, as you noted in your review (see I read it) there is not a proper slat kit for it so it will be in training mode. From the OOB side I am undecided about the tow bar??
From the AM side, I will have some more water cans, fuel cans, personal gear for the crew ( packs bed rolls etc) and the always loved case of MREs. That should put some stuff in the side boxes.
I was thinking of the drivers hatch half open and a figure in it but still undecided on the figs (no my strong suit)
Lastly, I'll take a look at the decals. If they look too thick, I may make up my own set (more of my strong suit)

If you have any other ideas for AM add ons, feel free to throw them into the mix.

Thanks again all for your comments and for looking.

Rounds Complete!!

A darn fine job my friend. I have to try that some time.

well done redleg. and as for all those grab handels dont you just love them?

Charles and Robert - Thanks for looking and for your comments.

Yep, I'm in grab handle hell. Thank God 24 gauge wire is the right size!!!!

Rounds Complete!!

Looks very good.

Be warned: the parts that go on the sides of the commanders vison blocks are extremly fragile! This was my only complaint with this whole kit.

Sean

Sean - Thanks for looking and for the warning. Coming up on them soon. So far the only off items are two broken handles and one which vaporized. Those were easy to fix with some 22 gage wire.

The top rear seam was a hair off, again no problem with a little Mr Surfacer.

Keep my eye on the small parts for the vision blocks.

I'll have another update soon. Thanks Sean

Rounds Complete!!

If I recall correctly when I was on my buddies MGS the TC and Gunner hatch do have anti slip surface on them.

Ric

this is a little out of the subject but , do m1a2s in OIF need the non slip coating too becuase the tamiya kit comes with out the non slip texture

Ric - Thanks for looking and your reply. The strange thing is not of the kit is textured....except the two hatches on the turret. I'll be posting some pictures later today.

Again thanks

calvin - I think the M1A2 of OIF has non-slip.

Rounds Complete!!

All M1 series tanks since the M1A1 have the non slip texture. Alot of times it gets wore down, but it is still there.

Ric

Mike,

It's looking great so far! Please keep us posted on your progress!

thanks for the reply and how can i replicate the non-slip texture on the m1a2???????

Calvin, I think cast-a-coat will do best for the representation on the Abrams.. see this post : https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/127691#1056815

thanks for the post , will mr surfacer out of the bottle work too????

I mounted all the detail parts (another 3 assembly steps) which will be painted green and not to delicate to be broken off during handling. The remaining steps on the upper hull are for mainly the lights, tools mirrors, tow bar mount and screens



While I waited for glue to dry I finished the drives hatch except for the armor glass, a whole step in itself with all the small parts and also finished the rear section except the antennas which was another two steps. The grab handles over the lights and for the rear door handle were broken on the sprue so I replaced them with 22 gauge wire.

The kit is well built but has a number of very small and delicate parts which make this kit not for the faint of heart.



Before we start up the spray booth I completed the first 3 steps for the main gun. Again the fit of the parts are good but AFV defeated the purpose of a metal barrel by having two wrap around halves for the bore evacuator and details. The seam is minimal but will have to be dealt with.



I continued on the gun through another 3 steps and what remains is the last two steps which are mostly grab handles, straps and smoke launchers. Also missing is the gun sight system which has armor glass front.

I also moved through the first 3 steps of the turret assembly, again except for armor glass.



I moved to the spray booth and base coated the upper hull and rear section with Tamiya Flat Black and then put on a coat of Tamiya NATO Green.

Once the paint was dry I assembled the upper, lower and rear sections. First I glued the rear section to the lower hull. Once that set up I assembled the upper and lower hull. The assembly takes time to line up but once in the proper position, the sections snap together nicely. The fit is almost perfect except a slight gap between the upper hull and rear section. I closed this up with a little MR Surfacer and touched up.



Here is the view from the rear



For those wondering what the anti-slip looks like painted, here is a close shot to give you a better view.



In between these major items, I painted the wheel hubs, removing the right side front wheel cage as it was pointed out to me that the actual M1128 only has one cage (as opposed to what the directions tell you) on the left side.

Also painted the light assemblies and chromed the inside part of the lights along with a few other minor tasks.

That’s it for now. Lots of little details still left, the biggest of which is painting all the armor glass. Even with my jumping around, this represents about 75% complete, based on instruction steps.

So far the kit is outstanding. The only drawbacks so far is the split barrel cover, a few broken small parts (mostly hand holds), and a few mistakes on part numbers in the directions. All of this is minor thus far compared to the overall kit quality.

All comments are welcome, thanks for looking.

Rounds Complete!!