I am going to be building (some time in the future) a M1126 and a M1133. For the 1133 I am planning on scratching an interior (lofty ideas). But I am hoping to start with the ICV and get a feel for it. Never built a Stryker before and was hoping that some of you could shed some light on it for me. The good, the bad and the ugly. What needs to be fixed and such. Just FYI, I am planning on going NO SLAT, on these and minimal after market, wheels and racks only. Thanks in advance for any and all advice. Cheers.

My advice, go with the AFV Club M1126 kit. The improvement in the RWS alone makes it worth while. A lot of things need to be done to the Trumpeter kit just to bring it up to the standard of the AFV Club one.

Jim

Jim;
the problem I have is that I have already bought the Trumpeter kit, so I was hoping that people here could give me some tips on what actually needs to be done to the Trumpeter kit in order to make it more realistic. And to be quite honest I have no idea what an RWS is, so any help there too is appreciated. I am new to the whole in-fan-try thing (we used to call them "crunchies" when I was a tanker) and although I have an old friend who has commanded Strykers in combat I have never actually seen one in person. Thanks.

Remote Weapon Station. Where the .50cal or Mk.19 is mounted. AFV Club sells theirs separate so you could use that as an easy upgrade. As far as tweaks go for the the Trumpeter kit, there are dozens of threads on this. Check the archives.

in case of the price(I don't know whether afv club stryker is more expansive than trumpeter in US)..the trumpeter styker has some paper boxes like cola and pepsi and MRE...maybe a little cheaper than afv club.....well. If u want to buy icv...maybe afv will be better(if the price is same).Good Luck~~~~~

Tony; I have poked around a bit but really came up with very little. MOST of the threads are about the AFV CLub kits and have found little on the Trumpeter kits in one place. Cheers.

Start here: PMMS review . Depending on which boxing you have (I believe the kit was slightly tweaked and re-issued) it will at least need the separate AFV Club RWS .

Jim

Jim; thank you for that link, that helps a bunch. So which is the newer kit the one listed there or the grey box one? I have the one shown in that article, what I am calling the "red" box. Have the photo etched racks coming already and am hoping to get some wheels soon. If there is any other info anyone has on this build ahead of time, send me some info, please. It would be much appreciated. Cheers.

Seems to be many pages of them. They are all in one place here.

http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&safe=active&client=pub-4463977780468403&cof=FORID:1%3BGL:1%3BS:http://armorama.com%3BL:http://armorama.com/images/logo.gif%3BLH:50%3BLW:168%3BLBGC:000000%3BLC:%230000ff%3BVLC:%23663399%3BGFNT:%230000ff%3BGIMP:%230000ff%3BDIV:%23336699%3B&domains=armorama.com&sitesearch=armorama.com&flav=0000&sig=TLSTHwEtdKy6FG66&oe=ISO-8859-1&ei=tE54TcvuPJKusAOnsaXzAg&q=Trumpeter+%2B+Stryker&start=0&sa=N

Yep those are indeed all of the pages that I have already searched, prior to making this post. If you read through then Tony you'll see that there are 1127, 1128, 1132 and even stuff for 1/72 scale. But no build log for the ICV from Trumpeter that I could find after searching through the Armorama pages like 10 deep, FSM, and even a google search. But thank you for posting that as it gives others who are having the same issue a place to start looking for info which can be a great start for many.
Again if there is anyone that has actually built the kit and wants to share their experience and problems and such I am listening. Cheers.

Not to be an *ss, but as with any model, research the real thing and then compare what needs to be done with the kit. There's lots of Stryker pics around, start with Prime Portal for instance. Since pictures tell a thousand words, here's where I got to with my Trumpeter kit, notice all the AFV Club bits I used for the better detail. I also used Trumpeter's own p.e. detail set as I had bought it in a fit of insanity and figured I'd better use it. Resin wheels standing by as well.








HTH,
Jim

Jim;
You are so NOT being an a**. This really helps. I do not have the AFV Club kit and will not be buying it for this build, but I can really see what is being changed. I have started collecting photos from the net, have a buddy who is a Stryker company commander, but photos are only so good. Having real hard experience is the best thing for me as I can see WHAT I am up against and plan accordingly with how much detail (read $$$) I want to put into this.
Since I have no local Hobby store with in 60+ miles all my purchases will be from the net and I am trying to plan ahead to minimize costs. I REALLY appreciate ALL of the comments here and any more that you all are willing to offer. Cheers.

No worries! I forgot to mention the main things I did:
-extended the side racks out (so at least a jerrycan will fit in there!)
-added the missing armour panels to the rear door hatch.
-proper location of driver's camera (used a spare from one of the AFV Club kits) and associated conduit.
-side armour needs to be filed down/removed where the top rear lift hooks are.
-p.e. strut/shock guards (I believe available from a number of sources)
-driver's hatch weather cover from lead foil.
-notched out and added serial # plate beside the right headlight cluster.
I highly recommend the WWP books on the Stryker if you can find/borrow them.

Cheers,
Jim

"Excellent" work so far, keep at it man.

I have a copy of the in Detail Part 2 on the way. Thank you for those notes. I really was not planning on even getting ANY Stryker kits, but the 1133 looked cool and the 1126 was $19. So I thought what the heck. And now here we are . . . .Keep 'em coming guys. Cheers.

And now I have just bought the AFV Club 1126 and the update set. We'll chalk it up to peer pressure. Thank you all for the comments and info. Really appreciated. Cheers.