Hi all,

Given that I am very busy with all kind of things not related to building models, I decided to put my Phantom F-4B to a halt as it is almost in the painting stage, which (for me at least) always takes quite a lot of time. Too much time in this case.

For now I need a model that I can work on for the rare hour hour of spare time that I have available. For already a long time I have Trumpeters' M1126 Stryker in 1/72 scale in my stash and knew immediately that this was the kit I am looking for.

A previously build Trumpeters' Char 1Bis in the same scale, which went together very well, so I don't expect much trouble. Like the Char, the details of the M1126 Stryker are fine for this scale:

Boxart:


Hull:




But......

When I bought the kit my ambitions were much higher than at this very moment, and together with the kit, two sets of Eduard PE were bought. One set is for updating the Stryker and one set is for the slat around the vehicle. Especially the latter is very intricate and only by looking at it it seems to fall apart.



Furthermore, I have ended up with 3 different sets of instructions, making it quite a complicated build. But a bit of a challenge is always nice and I have worked with 1/72 PE sets before, so let's go for it! At least I have something to work on in a spare hour.



Jelger

An update about the Stryker.

The first phase of this build is cutting away (a lot of) plastic that will be replaced by PE. Especially from the outer side walls quite a lot plastic has to removed:



The result:


The plastic periscope windows are covered with PE counterparts, which looks much better.

PE-covers on the lower hull:


And an overview of the hull:


With most of the cutting done, it is time to put on the PE. First the PE to update the Stryker and when this is done, then it is time to do the slat.

Unfortunately, not all plastic parts have a good fit and some putty is required, but no real big issues.



Jelger

Looking good so far!

Thanks for the thumbs up!

Hi all,

another update on my Stryker. This build is going rather slow, as i have limited spare time to work on this. Nevertheless, more progress has been made on this PE monster, which I would like to share.

Most of the time has been spent on updating the Trumpeter kit, by replacing parts for PE and adding extra details.







However, I also started with the construction of the PE parts that are used for the slat.



As you can see, some 'gutters' have been attached to the right side hull. These 'gutters' will be on both sides of the hull, running to the back of the vehicle. To these parts, plates will be attached, which will be supported by beams on the lower hull. I suspected that these plates create the second barrier for reducing the impact of an RPG, the slat being the first barrier. The side stowage racks will be attached to the plates as well as the supporting beams for the slat.

The PE is not too difficult to work with, but a PE bending tool is required, at least for me. I am already thinking about how to paint the stryker, as with the slat attached, the painting will be difficult, as not everything can be reached easily anymore. So I probably will add the pre-painted slat after painting the Stryker. If anyone has good suggestions, please let me know!

More updates will follow!



Jelger

Slowly, but still going strong on my Stryker M1126 with slat.

One of the things I have been working on is the remote weapon station. With a few pieces of PE, the thing looks better.





The back of the Stryker is ready for the slat. All the attachment points are glued on.



Side panels with storage racks. I decided to use the orginal plastic racks, although PE racks were provided. These are quite difficult to bend though, especially the round curves.




The next step is finish all the attachment points for the slat. Then I will prime, paint and weather the vehicle. The final step will be the slat, but by then it is probably summer



Jelger

Hi all,

It has been a long time ago that I kept my self busy with scale modelling, but with days becoming shorter again, I picked up my favourite winter hobby and grabbed my stryker from the shelf.

In the last update (in February!), I finished the side armor and storage racks, which made me start with attaching all the support bars for the slat armor. No less than 38 support bars had to be added to the model. A few in the front and the back and the majority at the sides of the vehicle.







These pictures are only showing 28 out of 38 bars, but the remainder has been attached as well. All attachments were made by superglue and bit of patience.

The next step is to prime the model and start with painting the stryker.

By the way, does anyone know the difference between Tamiya Primer and Tamiya surface primer. The names already give some clues but I can't find anything on the web about any differences. I tried a bit surface primer which gave a nice coverage, although it seems a bit thicker than fine surface primer, but I can be wrong of course. Anyone thoughts about this as well?



Jelger

Hi all,

This weekend i continued with my Stryker: the painting stage has begun.

These are the tools I have used:


I primed the model with Tamiya surface primer straight from the can. This works well for me and the coat doesn't hide any details and is also very durable. After priming, the coat was able to cure for a little more than one day.

The next step was to add the preshade. For this I used Vallejo Model Air black, sprayed unthinned from my airbrush.



After the preshade, I lay down the base coat, Tamiya Nato Green. I applied thin layers, but nevertheless most of the preshade is hardly visible anymore. This is probably due to the fact that the model has many corners, small spots and other difficult to reach spots, so it is difficult to avoid getting a bit too much paint in some areas.

Given that the preshade was not visible very well and its effect was a bit lost, I highlighted specific areas, like the top hatches, with Nato green + a few drops dessert yellow. All dilutions with Tamiya paint were made with their own thinner at a 1:1 ratio and around 15-20 psi was used for painting.







Finally, I started a bit of weathering by applying Tamiya dessert yellow mixed with a bit of Tamiya nato green to the underside to resemble dust and sand.



While busy, a package arrived from Germany containing a the Black Dog resin accessories for Strykers in Iraq. Although not all parts are usable (e.g. the side racks), the other parts will hopefully a nice addition to my Stryker. I am also thinking to make a few rols barbed wire and a traffic pylon to add some color to the machine.



The next steps will be:
- Painting all the details and add stencils. Only a few stencils will be applied though, as most of them are very small, hardly visible and difficult to cut. I don't want to put my stryker in a gloss cote, as you never will get it really matt again. So only those decals will be applied that can be cut with as less decal film visible to prevent silvering.
- Priming and painting the resin bits of black dog and adding them to the stryker.
- priming of the slat and subsequent painting and bit of weathering, especially the slats that protect the underside, that will receive similar dusting as the the wheel wells.
- Adding the slat (not looking forward to this .
- Adding a few extra homebrew accessories.

Thanks for looking! Any feedback, criticism, etc always welcome!



Jelger

Hi all,

A small update on my Stryker. Work on this little machine gradually progresses. This evening I kept myself busy with fitting the stowage on the Stryker. Especially the big center part needed some trimming as fit was not really well. This is in part because of the supporting rods for the slat. After a lot of fitting and trimming, this part also found its place. The other parts were no problem at all.

Here is a photo how everything is placed on the top hull:




Jelger

It has been a while since I posted in my Stryker topic, but the topic wasn't on hold. On the contrary, I have made quite some progress.

After the stowage was made to fit on the hull, it was time to paint the pieces. Furthermore, I painted all the details of the Stryker, like lights, periscope lenses, RWS. The periscope lenses were painted silver first and on top of that clear red (Tamiya).

When this detail painting was done, it was time to weather the beast. For this I used AK dust effects mixed with MIG Europe dust. I applied a rather heavy coat on the sides and wheels as I found on the internet a few nice pictures of such machines in Iraq. On top, the dusting was more moderate, but enough to make it fit with the sides.

In addition to the AK dust effects, I also wished to have some texture, resembling dried mud en for this I used MIG acrylic resin, a bit of plaster, pigments and stuff from the garden. This dries rock hard and after drying, I blended it in the colors of the vehicle.

I took me a few sessions and advice from the Woerden modelling group I am in to make it acceptable (I am still not 100% happy with the results, but I can't really figure out how I can improve).

As you can see on in previous posts, the Stryker gently balances on two sticks. This made working on it very easy, but I knew that at some point she has stand on her 'feet', because with the slat attached, handling would be almost but impossible. So after attaching the wheels, it was time for my Stryker to make her first steps. During the attachment of the wheels, I already saw that the wheels weren't aligned properly and some wheels properly will not touching the ground. This is indeed the case, but replacing the hoovering wheels was no option, at least not for me as it properly would have required a bit of hole replacement on the wheels.

So the only option I had was to cheat........

I looked around the internet and luckily, also in Iraq, there is grass. That saved my day and I ordered a sheet of Heki Wild Grass Savanne to hide my flaws. This Heki grass is also used in H0 rail road terrain modelling and is a nice product. To avoid too much grass falling off, I first fixed the sheet with hairspray and let it dry for a while. The grass is on a transparent sheet and can be glued on a dark background. I my case, the stand was already brown, so I glued the sheet directly on it. Although the grass has different colors, it still appears very uniform in color, like a well prepared soccer pitch and this is not really realistic, unless your grass resembles that of the Feyenoord stadium . So with various shades of green and brown I drybrushed more variation in the grass. The Stryker was then glued to the grass using super glue and tracks were cut with a small scissor to make it more realistic. These tracks were drybrushed with various brown colors.

Stop talking, show pictures!






The tracks look more brown than they are in real life.

The next steps are to add more stowage and then to add the slat. This project gradually comes to an end.

Thanks for looking and cc and feedback always welcome.



Jelger

Hi all,

More progress on my little Stryker. I have added the last piece of stowage and then it was time to add the slat.

First the four lower pieces of slat were added:




And then it was time to add the major cage. It was a bit of thinking and fitting to find out what the best strategy was to add the major parts with good alignment. Unfortunately, the jerry cans were blocking proper fit, so I had to remove the piece of slat that protects the cans. The slat breaks easily, so removing a part from the slat was just a matter of bending it in different directions.

The right side major part added:


So far so good. I hope the other parts go on as easily as the stuff shown here. Another update soon.



Jelger

Nice Build!
Could I please get a copy of the Eduard slat instructions? (Eduard doesn't sell them for 72nd any more)
Thanks!

Nevermind.... I figured out a work around to find them.....Thanks anyways....good looking build!

Thanks for the compliments.

Too bad that Eduard discontinued the slat set as it is really nice, but with a bit of luck, it should be available somewhere on the web. It requires some patients and a bit of PE skills, but I think the results are pretty nice. I also used the other PE set for the Stryker (22127), but only half of the set was used in the end. The set is very nice though and the many straps that come with this set can be used for other modern US vehicle builds in 1/72 scale. I have two Hummers waiting to be finished and these can be spiced up with the straps.



Jelger

Hi all,

More progress on my Stryker.

All the slat has been attached, but no pictures of this yet I am afraid as I didn't have a good opportunity to make decent pictures (hardly any sun in Holland these days).

With the slat on, the model is more and less finished. However, on the web, there are many pictures of Strykers with traffic cones and these items give a nice contrasting color to the green brownish model as they are orange / red.

I couldn't find any cones in 1/72 scale on the web and as I only needed a few, I wouldn't pay much for it anyway. So I decided to make my own cone(s). But where to find a cone shape..... I build planes every now and then and I found a 1/144 scale drop tank of a A-10 thunderbolt, which ending has a decent cone shape. So this part was sawed off and a hole was drilled in the top. Next, a square piece of styrene was glued on the bottom as well as another piece of square styrene, but this one a bit offset to suggest that two cones are stacked. The corners of each piece of styrene were shaved to get round corners. Finally, a hole is drilled in the bottom as well.



On the web, I also saw a few pictures of Strykers with a tow bar attached to the slat, so this would be a nice addition as well. A few pictures of the real thing and this topic on Armorama by William Ritchie helped me to make this one:


Finally, I wanted to have my Stryker to have a 'Danger Stay back' sign attached to the backdoor slat. On internet I found the sign, which was modified to the correct size (by estimation) and printed on photo paper by a 2hrs photo service.
.
I printed it on photo paper as the surface is nicely even as compared to paper. An acrylic matt cote can be applied without doing harm to the print or paper, although it can be scraped off with a knife so a bit of care is needed when handling. The back of the paper was painted white as the back of the paper contained some stenciling.

More updates soon!



Jelger

Hi all,

This evening, i was able to make a bit more progress on the 'Danger stay back' sign. The sign was cut from the photo and weathered a bit with AK dust effects and Vallejo pigments, the same mixture I used for weathering the Stryker. The white color is nicely replaced for a light tan and looks much better now.



The edges of the sign curved a bit up during cutting, that's a pity, but I can live with it.

I made the picture with my mobile phone, better pictures will come soon.



Jelger

Very nice. I did basically the same in 1/35 and couldn't imagine all that tiny PE in 1/72. It was bad enough in 1/35. Great job on it.