AFV Club Stryker

Andrew Gledhill
Update 1. 31.01.24. Hi folks. Yesterday I started a new project. The AFV Club Stryker 2010 upgraded version. Yesterday and today, I have been building up parts of the lower hull and chassis parts. Its taken me 9 and a bit stages of the instructions to get to this stage. The wheels will need to be made up next. Then I will be painting the lower hull and wheels. Before moving on in the build. Enjoy.

Andrew Gledhill
Update 2. 01.02.24. OK, today I have been working on the wheels. Sadly the steering is not movable and the suspension does not move. Understandable, when I look at how complicated the steering rods look. I have fully assembled the wheels and hubs, Had to keep an eye on which set of wheels went on which side. It was not straight forward, as each hub had a small brake cylinder piece glued onto the back of it. These were in different positions depending on which side the wheel was on. A poly cap goes in the middle of the hub, so the wheels should still turn. I then painted the wheel components, lower hull and suspension parts in the Field Green FS34097 colour. AK Real Colours RC231. I usually paint the lower hull and wheels at this stage because I think it makes it easier for me. I can always mask the wheels later when I am painting the rest of the hull. The painted wheels have now been glued onto the axles. The next stage is the back end and crew doors etc. I should also be able to remove the tyres if need be. Enjoy.

Andrew Gledhill
Update 3. 04.02.24. Hi. I have been working on the upper hull. Lots of parts to fit. Some really small and fiddly. Racks were assembled for each side. Read door and bulkhead made up. Unable to make the doors open-able. The parts for the hinges were just too small and weak. There's no interior detail, so it doesn't matter. A similar situation arose with the drivers hatch. The hinges were so small it just dis not work. No matter. There is a 6 fan air con unit attached to one side. The fan covers were all delicate PE parts. Got some glue blobs on this detail. It couldn't be helped really. My fingers are fat lol and hard to apply enough glue without getting blobs. There are some PE grills to go on and some headlights to make up next. Plus I need to paint up some tools and the fit them to the tool wrack. Enjoy.

Andrew Gledhill
Update 4. 05.02.24. Today I finished painting the tools. Then fitted them to the tool rack. I may do some dry brushing on the wood handles later. Next I installed the PE grills on top of the engine deck. Unfortunately, I couldn't avoid getting super glue blob marks underneath these. Don't know if I can hide them with a wash later. Next I made up the headlights. These were a right pain in the butt, comprising of many small parts. Had to paint one light Orange and the other Silver. Then I made up and fitted the mirrors. Again, these were made up of tiny parts that had to be glued with super glue to get a good bond. Still got some glue blob marks on the joints of these. I have touched up the painting of all these parts. I still have to paint the silver mirror faces. But that is the main hull complete I think. Enjoy.

Andrew Gledhill
Update 5. 10.02.24. Well. things are coming along nicely now. I have been working on the gun and turret. However, I did have a nightmare moment last night. I dropped part of the curved machine gun mount bracket. I thought it had been eaten by the carpet monster. Last night, I searched high and low for this part on the floor. But I could not see it anywhere. I thought it had been lost forever. Anyway, this morning I checked again a set of old cardboard boxes under my desk. The part was lodged in the corner fold in one of the boxes lol. This meant that I was able to finish the gun and turret off. The gun mount is covered in PE grab straps. These were a right pain in the arse to glue on. I have got super glue marks around these PE parts. But hopefully most of it will be hidden under paint and weathering. I painted the vision ports with a Vallejo Shifter Gold/Magenta paint. Masked them off with maskol for painting. I think they have come out quite well. I will now need to do some detail painting of the gun pieces. Plus those PE strap handles will have to be painted buff or khaki. Once that is done, I can build up and paint the machine gun and shield. Enjoy.

Andrew Gledhill
Update 6. 19.02.24. OK folks. The build phase is now complete. The final items were the machine gun, mount and shield, and the step ladders. You do have an option of 2 machine gun shields. I went for the wider version. You also have an option to have a Blank Firing Attachment on the end of the machine gun. I chose not to bother with this. You get 2 sets of aluminium step ladders in the kit. An open set, and a folded set. The folded set is supposed to be glued to the side of the stowage racks. But I am going to leave it off because I think it looks a bit naff. Plus there was only one set of decals for a step ladder. I have some other items that I will paint up and put in the stowage racks. I have some stuff left over from a Tamiya US Army Equipment set. Bedrolls, packs, helmets, ammo boxes, rolled up tarps etc. Plus the kit has a spare M60 machine gun that I can put in one of the racks. A gloss coat has been applied, decals put on, and sealed in with a further gloss coat. Once that has fully dried, I can start on the weathering. I went for the Gravedigger decal option. No idea what the unit is. The instructions don't say. That's it for now. Enjoy.

Andrew Gledhill
Update 7. 25.02.24. I have now done the first stage of weathering. I sprayed some Ammo Mig Jet Exhaust Burnt Iron into the engine intake grills. Then a Dark Dirt Florymodels Clay Wash was applied to the whole vehicle. Once this was dry, I went over it with a cotton bud. Rubbing most of the wash back off. This left dirt in the recesses, panel lines and around bolt heads etc. I then did some streaking with a Green Oil Paint. Once this was left overnight to dry, I covered the whole thing in a Matt Coat. I also finished painting the 2 jerry cans, and got these mounted in their rack. The next thing to do is to put some pastels of dust and muck over it. Then try some mud effects around the undersides and wheels. Then a dust coat will be applied. That's all for now. Enjoy.

Andrew Gledhill
Update 8. 27.02.24. OK, I am going to call this done for now. Today I finished off the weathering. First I rubbed a Dirt powder from a Tamiya weathering set all over it using some make up eye dabber things. I rubbed this all over the tyres too. This gave it a dusty look. Next I mixed up some Ammo Mug Enamel Liquid Mud with some Ammo Mig Earth Pigment Powder. I then painted this mixture all over the undersides behind the wheels etc. Then before it dried, I dusted on some of the earth powder. Once dry, this gave the effect of dried on mud. First time I have used this stuff, and I am quite impressed with the results. I will add some pics of the stuff I used to the album. I then sprayed a light coat of heavily thinned Ammo Mig Dust paint along the lower portions of the front, sides and rear. I have gone for minimal stowage items at this stage. Just a couple of ammo boxes, a small pack, a ration pack box, and a M60 Machine gun. Then I finished it off with some stretched sprue aerials. Unfortunately, due to the tiny hinge parts. I could not make the hatches to be open-able. There is no interior detail anyway, so it doesn't really matter. I may add other stowage items at a later date. But for now, I am going to say that this mostly enjoyable build, is now complete. Thanks for all the interest and positive feedback.