AFV Club Stryker ESV

[longlance67]

Hiya All,

the build continues and was going well until...yes until...the carpet monster struck !
A small part sprung off from the end of tweezers never to been seen again, even though I took everything off my desk and searched top to bottom

I'll check again in the morning in the light of day to see if I can find it, before I attempt to scratch build the part, and to top it all off I'm off to see the dentist in morning to see about getting a molar capped or removed...the joy of it all

photo update to follow

thanks


Shane

[Vilkas]

Happens to sometimes even without any carpet in sight, he is a sneaky meany pants that carpet monster

[longlance67]

Happens to sometimes even without any carpet in sight, he is a sneaky meany pants that carpet monster

that he is, oh that monster he really needs to be more of a team player hahahah


thanks buddy


Shane

[Andyman23]

Keep it up bro - this is unreal. I love that display base too - very badass looking

[longlance67]

Keep it up bro - this is unreal. I love that display base too - very badass looking

Thanks Andy, its getting there slowly but surely

popped into town today to pickup some bits for the ESV and send some time with the Mrs. which involved a lot of cloths shops but was a good day non the less. Watching Coen's vid a bit back when he was working on his Leo 2 and was anti-laser coating on the periscopes with metallic colored party streamers which I decided to rob off him



Also went on the hunt for a few bits for the anti-slip texture but only the Gesso I could find was textured primer which I was confused by and didnt bother buying....Is this the right product ??
Got some masking agent, blades, CA, stiff bristled brushes and green stuff for sculpting the tarps as well



and to get really into the holiday need I thought I would get something for the shed




thanks for looking


Shane

[HWGuderian23]

Aha... you're going to give Coen's respectively Norm's party-streamers-method a try on the periscopes! This is a very good decision in my opinion! Plan on doing the same on my Leo. Am very curious to see how it works.
Looking also forward to see your work on the anti-slip surface. Hope that everything is going well on it

[JayCub]

The dreaded carpet monster Shane, oh no , reminds me i have to get onto my hands and knees later to look for a piece
even though you where out and about with the Mrs you had models on your mind, you know i mean the plastic type.
Things can only get more interesting

Tom

[longlance67]

Aha... you're going to give Coen's respectively Norm's party-streamers-method a try on the periscopes! This is a very good decision in my opinion! Plan on doing the same on my Leo. Am very curious to see how it works.
Looking also forward to see your work on the anti-slip surface. Hope that everything is going well on it

its a very good method for scope lens ive seen it used a few times in magazines but this will be the first time I've used it personally, really looking forward to getting cracking on it, as for the anti-slip the Gesso I found in the hobby shop was a heavy gel based primer, they had other mineral and fine sand based gels which on looking back I really should have got instead, but I'll throw norm a pm in a bit and ask him if that product will work

The dreaded carpet monster Shane, oh no , reminds me i have to get onto my hands and knees later to look for a piece
even though you where out and about with the Mrs you had models on your mind, you know i mean the plastic type.
Things can only get more interesting

Tom

she has a good eye for model supplies and we did the rounds of the model and hobby shops ahahahha

now just to find that part lol or break out the plastic stock haaha


thanks Tom


Shane.

[Coen]

Those light make your cave look a wee bit Borged. haha.
I like it.
Glad to see you trying new things Shane... best way to learn dude. Norm's optical treatment looks totally cool when it's done.
It's takes a bit of practice though. Use Future or Klear to glue them down though. I tried white glue and it just made a mess of things.

[longlance67]

thanks for the tip Coen, got my compressor today yay, and got a tooth pulled today also not so ya


cheers



Shane

[Coen]

OUCH!!!!
and YEAH!!!

[schweinhund227]

Keep up the good work....

You will get her done !

AFV CLUB makes a set of Self adhesive Periscopes Iridescent (Pre-Cut)

it could prove easier ? If you find the confetti method too hard ?

have a look !



I have used it on my M1129 MCV-B and my TUA LAVIII
look at my YT Videos Slide-shows to see if you like the effects ?

When armour kits have Clear Plastic inserts... (mylars) to simulate Glass
I use the Confetti method then... as it is easier to slip the Film behind the Clear Mylar...

but on Solid Polystyrene periscopes... The AFV Club (laser treated) film do a wonderful job at simulating newer style periscope !

not suited for WWII but Desert Storm and newer.. yes !

[longlance67]

thank you Norm, I was considering buying that set a while back as their is enough to do my other two strykers too, what ill do is try the streamer on one sight first and see if it works

if not I'll be sure to be picking up a set fro AFV

thanks Norm


Shane

[longlance67]

OUCH!!!!
and YEAH!!!

the good dentist spent a good 10 - 15 mins trying to prize it out of my mouth but had a good laugh with him about it after

feels wired having the gaping hole where my tooth was but least u cant see it too well so its not bad, just a little sore, but its better than the agony ive been in with it when the nerve was exposed lol


and on the build front, I managed to make up a replacement for the missing part, I just doing some cleaning up on it as we speak so a photo update to follow shortly


Shane

[longlance67]

Righty oh,

time to get back down to some modelling shall we

been working on the mounting rig for the blades, it a straight forward assembly with not many hitches, just some small parts that you have to be careful with



the vertical columns have some small pin marks which will need filling










the fold-able wings of the rig went to together much the same, but the carpet monster ate a part on me, so I had to scratch a crude replacement





thanks for looking


Shane

[HWGuderian23]

the good dentist spent a good 10 - 15 mins trying to prize it out of my mouth but had a good laugh with him about it after

10 - 15 mins? Ouch - that sounds bad !
Strangely all dentists I know always laugh after pulled out a tooth .
Anyways... hope you feel better Shane.

Nice progress on the mounting rig. It turnes out quite nicely mate

[longlance67]

Thanks Markus, he had to really go at it to get the tooth out hahaha

wasnt too sore though


thanks mate


Shane

[Coen]

I've had two of my wisdom teeth yanked without surgery... that was fun.
So I feel your pain brother.
Nice work on the Stryker too... I really have to get one of those... they're freaking beautiful kits!!!
James Divall just got one and Holy crap it's wonderful.
I want!!!

[longlance67]

I've had two of my wisdom teeth yanked without surgery... that was fun.
So I feel your pain brother.
Nice work on the Stryker too... I really have to get one of those... they're freaking beautiful kits!!!
James Divall just got one and Holy crap it's wonderful.
I want!!!

hahaha come over to the dark side coen hahaha


thanks


Shane

[longlance67]

Hiya All,

had a very productive session on the bench tonight, you can be surprised what you can do while rocking to some angry young man music hahaha


added the fittings to the plough rig, went together with no problems





added the blades, one thing I noticed and anyone wanting to build one of this in a dio would want to be aware of this, each blade can be modeled to conform any uneven ground surfaces, however i didnt notice this at the time, and each blade wont be uniform, so i would recommend building every blade assembly one at a time and mounting them to rig thus you should be able to get them to sit right. I however am not too bothered by it I intend to the plough lifted a little off the ground as it would be when not in use. And I like the crooked smile appearance of the blades, it should bring a little visual interest to the model once painted and weathered up










thanks for looking


Shane

[HWGuderian23]

had a very productive session on the bench tonight, you can be surprised what you can do while rocking to some angry young man music hahaha

I have to second this my friend !

Anyways ... seems like some hard work but the blade looks stunning that it paid off .
Very well done Shane .

[JayCub]

That's almost standalone Shane, very intricate piece, and great to see this coming along

rocking to some angry young man music i may be older but i have done this myself

[Coen]

That's freaking awesome looking Shane! Thanks for that tip about the diorama. I don't even have a kit of this yet and I have a dio in mind. Knowing about the blade articulation makes it all the better.
It's almost a kit in itself.
It looks great!!

[Andyman23]

Looks fantastic brother

[longlance67]

had a very productive session on the bench tonight, you can be surprised what you can do while rocking to some angry young man music hahaha

I have to second this my friend !



Anyways ... seems like some hard work but the blade looks stunning that it paid off .
Very well done Shane .

Some times you must FEEL METAL to get your modelling zen going hahahah
Thanks Markus, really happy that your enjoying the build my friend stay tuned more to follow
thanks again my friend

That's almost standalone Shane, very intricate piece, and great to see this coming along

rocking to some angry young man music i may be older but i have done this myself

thanks Jay, you could make some cool dio and display options if you left the blades standalone and vehicle attaching or dropping it off

thanks mate

That's freaking awesome looking Shane! Thanks for that tip about the diorama. I don't even have a kit of this yet and I have a dio in mind. Knowing about the blade articulation makes it all the better.
It's almost a kit in itself.
It looks great!!

Thanks Coen, its one meaning looking vehicle, especially when the Mk.19 was mounted on her, I believe you got acquainted with that beast in your M113 project hahahah. As for dio options for this vehicle the sky is really the limit, I saw a documentary of the Stryker Bridage operating in Iraq, it showed a bad assed part of a column of Strykers all in Slat Armor (bird cage) and counter IED measures tearing it down a highway with an ESV leading them with its blade lowered throwing up a fountain of sparks from the tarmac and sending any rubble flying, really stood out in my mind lol

Looks fantastic brother

Thank you so much for your Kind words and support Andy


thank you all so much for all your support gents really means a lot,

hope your all having a nice Christmas my friends


Shane

[longlance67]

A Merry Christmas to you all (i think about time for such festive greetings )
So I'm sitting here in my fairy light man cave, enjoying the pleasure of freshly cleaned pipe and packed with some expensive Peterson's tobacco enjoying the spirit of it all..which is very strange thing for me lol, I guess it was sending a presi to someone got me in the holiday spirit..you know who you are


so with my holiday ramble out of my system hahah its down to modelling been motoring through this build of late and its been a blast

been working on the various supporting arms for the blade fig which are kits in their own right, I have to think how do assembly them in relation to painting do I build them in full and try to spray them, or do I leave them as separate sub- assemblies



Step 47, I would recommend removing the locator pins for the two parts as I couldnt get them to line up till I did, that could have been just me though lol




Step: 50 - 51












their busy little assembles but together without fuss


thanks looking


Shane

[Rob]

Heavy metal music and a pipe? Now there's a mix!

More outstanding work coming out of Galway my friend.

[HWGuderian23]

Hey Shane ... heavy metal and pipe smoke! You're getting more and more likeable my friend cos I love both, too
I began smoking a pipe as a fledgling student at university cos I thought it would help to improve my perception and it always worked very well . Unfortunately I also boozed overmuch at that time which was self-defeating on the other hand .

[Coen]

For me it was good really old blues or Cape Breton Folk Music and me pipe. The pipe was my grandfathers and is older than I am, the highland tunes is from my dad... He's from the island. The blues... Well that's just me.
I haven't smoked in three years, but I still love the music. Still have the pipe too.

Shane you're a brave man for building that plow thingy. Jeez that thing is fiddly. As for the painting... I'd have to know what the final assembly looked like before I could tell ya. Chances are I'd paint it all in one unless it was too delicate to handle.

[longlance67]

Heavy metal music and a pipe? Now there's a mix!

More outstanding work coming out of Galway my friend.

Cheers Rob, what can I tell ya I'm a gentlemen metal head hahahah

Hey Shane ... heavy metal and pipe smoke! You're getting more and more likeable my friend cos I love both, too
I began smoking a pipe as a fledgling student at university cos I thought it would help to improve my perception and it always worked very well . Unfortunately I also boozed overmuch at that time which was self-defeating on the other hand .

Thanks Markus, oh our days in college, think we all did that lol
cheers mate

For me it was good really old blues or Cape Breton Folk Music and me pipe. The pipe was my grandfathers and is older than I am, the highland tunes is from my dad... He's from the island. The blues... Well that's just me.
I haven't smoked in three years, but I still love the music. Still have the pipe too.

Shane you're a brave man for building that plow thingy. Jeez that thing is fiddly. As for the painting... I'd have to know what the final assembly looked like before I could tell ya. Chances are I'd paint it all in one unless it was too delicate to handle.

Coen, Though personally prefer Irish pipes, they are more haunting don't sound like a bag of cats being beat off a wall in my opinion but Scottish marching songs like Black Bear and Highland laddie are catchy though. As for pipes a have a set of pipes over a hundred yrs old but I'm too superstitious to smoke em (oh we Irish haha) The plow is a bit fiddly but I think I've figured out how to tackle it now I think

I think it should be paint up well, and weathering should be great fun on the plow


thanks mate


Shane

[Coen]

Coen, Though personally prefer Irish pipes, they are more haunting don't sound like a bag of cats being beat off a wall in my opinion but Scottish marching songs like Black Bear and Highland laddie are catchy though. As for pipes a have a set of pipes over a hundred yrs old but I'm too superstitious to smoke em (oh we Irish haha)

Where I come from... we'd call ya a smart arse for that one boyo!
My Dad used to play the pipes when I was a kid, marched in parades and everything. We lived on a big lake and he would go out on the back deck and practice. The sound carried for miles. No one on the lake knew who the piper was except our neighbours and they never told anyone... it was a kind of community mystery.. the summer piper. haha.

[longlance67]

Coen, Though personally prefer Irish pipes, they are more haunting don't sound like a bag of cats being beat off a wall in my opinion but Scottish marching songs like Black Bear and Highland laddie are catchy though. As for pipes a have a set of pipes over a hundred yrs old but I'm too superstitious to smoke em (oh we Irish haha)

Where I come from... we'd call ya a smart arse for that one boyo!
My Dad used to play the pipes when I was a kid, marched in parades and everything. We lived on a big lake and he would go out on the back deck and practice. The sound carried for miles. No one on the lake knew who the piper was except our neighbours and they never told anyone... it was a kind of community mystery.. the summer piper. haha.

Hahahah a piper on the roof sort of thing My good friend's dad was a piper in the army and leg pulling that normally goes down any time I visit when the topic of Irish pipes vs. Scottish pipe...both are good, though on the shop street our high street in Galway city their is an amazing woman who plays the Uilleann pipes, really adds a nice erie feel to the place


thanks mate



Shane

[JayCub]

Merry Christmas Shane, and im delighted i wasn't drinking tea at the time you mentioned your fairy light man cave, and WOW so much detail on the Stryker, something i didn't realize until i came across your thread, exciting times ahead with the paint and weathering, and as always i look forward to more.
PS
This cheered me up after Enda's speech
Tom

[longlance67]

Merry Christmas Shane, and im delighted i wasn't drinking tea at the time you mentioned your fairy light man cave, and WOW so much detail on the Stryker, something i didn't realize until i came across your thread, exciting times ahead with the paint and weathering, and as always i look forward to more.
PS
This cheered me up after Enda's speech
Tom

Hi Tom, a very Merry Christmas to you too my friend, hope this festive season finds you well, and I'll have you know my man cave is all man hahah
Really enjoying this build, just finishing up removing the masking after applying the anti-slip texture to the upper hull surfaces first time trying it out and I'm very happy with it,

As for Captain WOW, my name for the leader of our country lol, god talk about giving themselves a slap on the back for doing nothing but sitting there counting their money lol
Ah well listening to the lads on 104FM bitiching about gave me a bit of laugh though

thanks buddy,

Merry Christmas


Shane

[longlance67]

just a small update my friends,

still uploading the pics showing the anti-slip process, but I got the plow blade and mounting brackets done two days ago, but spent yesterday with Lady Longlance

so here it is awaiting priming only one assembly will be mounted on the vehicle which is the large mounting frame and rest will be left lose for ease of painting





also here's one of the vehicle masked with liquid mask blue tac in preparation of the non-slip




big update to follow soon


thanks for looking


Shane

[Coen]

Jeez!!! Look at that thing!!!
Wow that's a lot of work buddy.
I think that one of those will be the first kit purchase of the new year for me... they are just sooo damn COOL!!!

[HWGuderian23]

Jeez!!! Look at that thing!!!
Wow that's a lot of work buddy.
[...] ... they are just sooo damn COOL!!!

Totally agree with Coen. This vehicle is outstanding and damn cool indeed.
Did I say this once before? ... I LOVE THIS PLOW BLADE! It's so nicely detailed that I can't look away. It's stunning Shane .
But I guess that the plenty of masking work will have been horrible to do and I'm not sure any longer if I should apply the anti-slip surface on my Leo, too .!
Anyways... looking forward to see your progress on it my friend...

[longlance67]

Jeez!!! Look at that thing!!!
Wow that's a lot of work buddy.
I think that one of those will be the first kit purchase of the new year for me... they are just sooo damn COOL!!!

Thanks mate, there's a lot going on in these kits, and plenty of scope and after market sets to pimp them out with And having ten variants to pick from between AFV Club and Trumpeter offering you can't go wrong

Jeez!!! Look at that thing!!!
Wow that's a lot of work buddy.
[...] ... they are just sooo damn COOL!!!

Totally agree with Coen. This vehicle is outstanding and damn cool indeed.
Did I say this once before? ... I LOVE THIS PLOW BLADE! It's so nicely detailed that I can't look away. It's stunning Shane .
But I guess that the plenty of masking work will have been horrible to do and I'm not sure any longer if I should apply the anti-slip surface on my Leo, too .!
Anyways... looking forward to see your progress on it my friend...

Thanks Markus
thanks for the kind words mate, and to be honest the masking wasn't too bad, took about 40mins to mask it off using liquid mask and blue tac, I would recommend giving it a go if you feel up to it buddy


build update,

first time trying anti-slip coating, was a little scared of it at first but I'm pretty happy with the end result just have to refine it with each build, first I masked the model with Winser and Newton liquid mask along the panel lines and bolt heads,for the texture I used Winser and Newton fine sand textured gel stippled on with some fine brushes and let sit for 24hrs before removing the masking





besides from that I just spray primed the many many wheels lol


thanks for looking


Shane

[wappynutter]

Looking damn good matey..
Keep it up, the anti slip is superb... Plough is cool too...
Well done again Shane..

[longlance67]

Thanks Wappy for the kind words and support mate
really happy you like the anti-slip just lets me know I did it right lol


thanks mate


Shane

[Andyman23]

Awesome work bro! I love that anti-slip - great job on that!!

And that plow is soooooooooooooo freakin awesome man

I'm totally getting one of these now

[Tiger131]

quality work on the anti-slip surface will add so much when its all painted up

[longlance67]

Andy - thanks very much for the kind words mate



Tiger - Thanks mate


we are in the middle of storm here at the moment so I'm waiting to see if my shed turns into a submarine lol I'm just painting up some stowage at the moment


cheer


Shane

[longlance67]

Hiya All,

its not too Christmasy here in the west of Ireland at the moment, we have heavy rain and gales battering down on us both here and down in the South of the country, was strong enough to make a section roof in Cork cities train station collapse injuring a few ppl but thankfully no serious injuries

now with your pointless Irish trivia aside, lets get down to some modelling braving the shed in a middle of storm is always great craic hahaha


took a break from the plow and hull assemblies to work on the wheel and some stowage that I will attaching after the model is pained, I'm taking Coen's advice and gonna give painting the stowage already attached to the model a go



the wheels were given a black undercoat from a spray can as were the other items
What I enjoyed the most was painting the weapons that provided in the kit. A sprue with a few personal weapons are included inc M240B mg and two M4 Carbines I opted include the 240 and one M4 stowed on the vehicle to add some interest and also cause they looked very cool

I started with M4, which is one finest offering of this rifle I have yet seen, the rail covers, fore grip, IR laser box and ACOG sight are very finely reproduced but very delicate. How I normally paint modern weapons using this method. First all the weapon's fitting are picked out in flat black (use a black with a slight satin quality as these parts arnt flat) then for the metal parts I use Vallejo gunmetal grey, and then once set everything gets a medium wash of black Ink



Once that was done I was about to call that done, but I wanted to try something different, some troops spray their weapons in camo sprays in the field and I wanted to maybe suggest that this crew may have been deployed in the past, here's an image from the web as reference



I stippled a small amount buff/sand color to some parts of the weapon and left other parts such as the muzzle and mag clean



then onto the M240, which also very finely done, having fired the FN MAG which the M240 is based on, it seems very close to the real thing, though the MAG has a different heat shield and scope but the body is the same, the MG was painted in the same way, but was not given any camo, as I've never seen any examples of them being painted unless they are training weapons or the smaller M249's used by some SF units



finally a large plastic style stowage box is included in the kit, the instructions call for to be painted in a dark green but I wanted to add some color to the model so I picked it out in a dark red, just have add a wash to it and its good to go





thanks


Shane

[HWGuderian23]

Some nice extra stuff there Shane. Your paint job on these weapons is excellent and all details are nicely highlighted .
Superb work mate !

P.S.: Are these rubber wheels?

[Andyman23]

Wow man, those weapons look real....that's unbelievable.

Great job...and I'm glad you survived the storm

[longlance67]

Some nice extra stuff there Shane. Your paint job on these weapons is excellent and all details are nicely highlighted .
Superb work mate !

P.S.: Are these rubber wheels?

Thanks Markus, its the little things that bring out a build I think As for the wheels yip they are rubber

Wow man, those weapons look real....that's unbelievable.

Great job...and I'm glad you survived the storm

Thanks Andy, was half expecting land up in Oz at one stage lol


cheers


Shane

[Vilkas]

Great stuff and I really admire your dedication to detail and patience with which you are proceeding with this amazing project. And...
Fair play to you lad, facing the elements in the storm! That train station...I used to take train for Midleton on that same platform, left side for Midleton right for Cobh, when I lived in Ireland!

[longlance67]

Great stuff and I really admire your dedication to detail and patience with which you are proceeding with this amazing project. And...
Fair play to you lad, facing the elements in the storm! That train station...I used to take train for Midleton on that same platform, left side for Midleton right for Cobh, when I lived in Ireland!

Hahaha its a small world after all , just to top it all off, I too know midleton and Cobh very well too as I grew up in Cobh before moving up to Galway when I was 7 hahaha






Shane

[longlance67]

Hiya All,

this is our second storm warning in as many days but no gale force winds nor pelting rain shall stop me :p
got just a small update to share with you, and its kinda a first for me, I say most of you armor modelers have been using it for years but I feel like a very clever boy right now lol

I think it was in Osprey's Modelling the Sherman tank that one of the builders in a sense pre-weathered his model before painting using textured gel and fine grit. Then it dawned on me that the sand textured gel I used for the anything slip might lend itself nicely to this method, and wanting to push myself to try new things in this build I decided to give it a go



wanting it to be a different texture to that of the anti-slip I mixed a little sand into the gel on the palette before applying it heavily in a stippling motivation to the lower hull and undersides



applying it heavy layers and building it up in the cronors should give a nice effect when the pigments go on later





also the plow blades were given a heavy coating to show a buildup of dust and dirt as my reference pics online seem to show






thats all for now, the gel will need to sit for about 24hrs to dry, till the next time my friends,

P.S hope your all taking care of each other this Christmas time, and that if any if you find yourself alone or isolated, get yourself out of the house and mingle with people, and always you remember you have friends here if you need anyone to talk too


keep well and safe


Shane