AFV Club M1126 Striker Infantry Carrier Vehicle




Stryker Vehicle Background (Excerpt from Global Security.com website)

The ICV provides protected transport for an infantry squad and direct fire support during the dismounted assault. The ICV carries a 9-man squad and retains the capability to provide effective supporting fire to the squad while it is dismounted.




The primary design of the IAV has two variants: The Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) and the Mobile Gun System (MGS). The ICV troop transport vehicle is capable of carrying 9 infantry soldiers and their equipment. It requires a crew of two; a driver and a vehicle commander. There are eight other configurations of the ICV that have combat service and combat support roles. Those configurations include a Commander's Vehicle (CV), Reconnaissance Vehicle (RV), Fire Support Vehicle (FSV), Mortar Carrier (MC), Anti-Tank Guided Missile vehicle (ATGM), Engineer Squad Vehicle (ESV), Medical Evacuation Vehicle (MEV), and Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle (NBC RV).




The infantry rifle platoon is equipped with four ICVs that provide rapid, protected tactical and operational mobility of infantry squads to critical locations on the battlefield. The ICV is a fully mobile system capable of operating in conjunction with infantry and other elements of the combined-arms team. Each ICV has a crew of two (Vehicle Commander and driver) that operate the vehicle. These mounted crews provide critical support to the platoon by operating and maintaining the ICVs and properly employing them on the battlefield to ensure protected delivery of the infantry squads to their dismount point. Once the infantry squads have dismounted the ICVs, the vehicle crew may employ local defensive armament to defeat "thin-skinned" enemy vehicles (trucks or lightly armored vehicles) or dismounted infantry.




The ICV's local defensive armament (M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun or MK 19 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher) is capable of defeating "thin-skinned" enemy vehicles (trucks or lightly armored vehicles) and dismounted infantry. ICV crews may employ these weapons to augment the base of fire provided by the platoon's weapons squad. These augmenting direct fires can ensure the infantry squad's freedom of maneuver to close with and destroy the enemy. These fires can also provide accurate suppressive fires on enemy personnel, bunkers, or emplacements and destroy enemy infantry in daylight, at night, or during conditions of limited visibility (smoke, haze, and fog).




The platoon's ICVs and infantry soldiers provide mutual protection for each other while performing their assigned missions. Infantry soldiers provide security for the vehicles while halted, and the ICVs provide rapid, protected battlefield mobility and an augmenting base of fire capability for the dismounted infantry assault.

Kit Review






Overall impressions:

I, like numerous others, saw the test shot of the AFV Club Stryker ICV at the AMPS 2007 International Show.  I built the Trumpeter ICV as a comparison model, so I am familiar with the Trumpeter offering and its assembly.  What struck me, looking in the box as the higher finesse and better delicate details found on the parts of the AFV Club model.  Several examples are: wire tiedowns and footman loops are molded on parts on vehicle; photo etched parts are thinner and appear to be more in scale; and the kit includes separate clear vision blocks and headlights/taillights.  I personally am not sold on the clear vision blocks as they will need to be painted anyway but the clear head & tail light lenses are a nice touch.  By my meager research, this model will build a vehicle with features found on pre-production or early first production series vehicles found in the first Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Washington approximately 2001-2003.  The kit does not include any of the modifications that are required for a vehicle deployed to Iraq (mainly the Slat Armor and the mounting plates).







The completed Stryker



Lower Hull/Suspension





Assembly begins with the lower hull.  AFV Club replicated the fine detail found on the actual vehicle on the kits lower hull.  Present are the numerous drain plugs, suspension guards and workings that make up the ICV’s running gear.  The drive train is molded completely separate from the hull.  All propeller shafts, those running from the differential to the geared hub at the wheel, as well as the drive shafts, which run between differentials are present.  The universal joint yokes on both types of shafts are clearly molded and well detailed.  One area that caused me problems was the mounting of the A-Arm front mounting assemblies to the hull.  The open ends of parts A10 & A11 must face forward or the front drive train parts will not fit (next time, read the instructions…)  After that lapse, the rest of the front suspension went together very easily.  One drawback is that the front wheels/suspension can not be posed in a turning position without reworking the finely molded steering linkage.  The rear suspension went together with no mishaps.  The prototype/early production solid strut protectors are included in the kit, like Trumpeter’s offering.  The tires are made of a flexible rubber and are 31mm tall and 9.5mm wide.  The tires have the correct sidewall undulations and molded Michelin script.   They mounted very easily on the rims and can be taken off during the painting process and easily installed for the weathering.  Wheels/rims have the prototypical/early model hub protecting center ring is included in the kit.  Realistically the rings would need to be thinned for a scale appearance.  The later model protective straps are not included.  The Central Tire Inflation System (CTIS) valve is included for the rear of the tires.  Those suffering from AMS can add the air lines from fine wire/solder if desired…  The only negative item was the flash was found on all four of the front shock parts.







The rear of the tires showing CTIS details     







Tire sidewall, rim with circular hub ring, and tire tread







Side view of the suspension installed on the lower hull









The completed suspension






Upper Hull






Here is where things get fun for the builder. Construction of the upper hull begins with the assembly of the components that make up the Stryker's side MEXAS armor: the pioneer tools, numerous grab handles and the large stowage baskets on the upper rear of the hull.  These panels, as well as the side hatches on the left side and the engine exhaust housing on the right side, are then secured to the vehicle hull .  I need to make a note here as I feel that AFV Club could have done a better job at locating the sprue gates on the parts.  Most of the appliqué armor panels have the gates on the visible edge of the armor vice hiding them on a on an edge that is not exposed.  This causes the modeler to do some detailed clean up or have these marks show and cause a loss of ½ point for construction at then next AMPS Show.  The area around the Vehicle Commander’s hatch is loaded with small appliqué armor panels.  Study the directions closely here, so you do not find yourself with some extra parts left over.  The winch assembly, pulleys and fairlead assembly was a series of three or four part builds that all ended up on the hull.  An option allows the winch cable to be installed through the fairlead and the pulleys or stowed at the winch.  I ran my winch cable out, and used CA cement to secure the nylon strung at the pulleys and at the winch capstan.    ADDITION TO THE ORIGINAL REVIEW:  The instructions are not clear in how to secure the winch cable to the capstan.  I found no specific opening in the winch cover, Part C-15, to allow the cable, Part Z-1, to be attached to the capstan, Part C-14.  I used one of the rearmost of factory holes in the bottom of C-14 and used CA to secure the end of Z-1 to C-14. The Driver’s hatch is well detailed, both inside and out and includes clear plastic vision blocks.  The kit includes a flexible plastic cover that replicates the cover found at the rear of the actual Driver’s Hatch.  There are two locations for the Driver’s Vision Enhancer aka the Driver's Thermal night sight.  The current Stryker vehicles have their DVE mounted to the right of the Drivers hatch while the prototypes have it mounted in front of the hatch (same location as the Trumpeter kit.)  The Photo etched engine grills install easily by applying CA on the edges of the grills.  The intake and exhaust grill PE needs to be bent to conform to the grill.  The use of a PE bending tool will make this task simple to conduct.  Moving forward, the assembling the headlight clusters will require careful studying of the instructions to ensure the correct parts are installed on the correct side.  A nice feature is that the side mirrors can be installed in the typical rear facing position or stowed against the hull as in a field environment.  Moving to the rear of the model, I found good detailing and definition on armor panels on rear of vehicle, which I thought was a weak area on the Trumpeter Stryker. A slight letdown was the fact that AFV Club decided to mold the water and fuel can storage brackets on the rear of the vehicle in plastic only.  This would have been a great place to use photo etched parts.  Curiously, the rear ramp and crew door have details molded on the inside as well as the outside.  Perhaps that is a hint that someone, perhaps Hobby Fan, might be gearing up for a Stryker interior.  Wishful thinking, I guess.







The upper hull in progress







The front hull in progress







Close-up of the engine deck and the PE screens







The rear hull showing the ramp, crew door, as well as the fuel and water can racks







Details on the left rear side of the model







The front left side of the hull, including the headlights, winch fairlead and pulleys

Remote Weapons Station



The Remote Weapons Station looks the part.  It captures the various sighting systems as well as the multiple banks of smoke grenade launchers.  The assembly of the RWS is easy enough but take care but study the instructions as there are several small parts whose location is not obvious without reading the instructions. There is enough room for the diehard super detailer to add the various cabling and spent brass and link bags to the RWS if so desired.  AFV Club was ingenious when they incorporated the form for bending PE for the RWS sight rain guards into the G sprue.  I had trouble bending the PE rain guards and would recommend that the parts be annealed before bending.  Each smoke grenade launcher (four total) consist of three parts,  a left & right barrel assembly, with molded red phosphorous grenades, and the base, looks like the original when assembled.  Make sure that the left and right barrel assemblies are angled outward.  Four additional pieces, part F39, are included to convert 4 of the 16 RP grenades into IR/Thermal defeating smoke grenades.  The M2 .50 Caliber machine gun as well as the Mk 19 40mm grenade launcher consist of multiple parts, (left & right sides, and the receiver cover) and look great when assembled.  The .50 Caliber is missing the solenoid on the left had side but can be added with plastic rod and fine wire.























The details of the RWS from various angles.



Decals

There are five marking options are included in the kit decals (all are Ft Lewis, WA based vehicles) however, one set, (2-14 Cav) is more appropriate for a Reconnaissance Vehicle (M1127) than a ICV.  I did not apply the decals at the time of writing this review so I cannot comment on how they look or what product worked the best to set then on the model.





Instructions

The instructions for the most part are clear and easy to follow however, there is some mislabeling of parts.  I found the same issues in the instructions that Terry Ashley found in his review on the Perth Military Modeling Site, primarily: Step 9, the Driver’s grab handle is part B19, not F5; Step 14, the winch pulley is part B40, not F22; Step 15, part C27 the oval fitting, behind the Driver’s hatch, is not numbered in the instructions.














In closing, this is a great model that was worth the wait.  The level of detail is outstanding and it was fun to build out of the box.  A source has told me that here is a PE & resin detail set due out that will provide some of the latest ICV details (the perforated strut guards, tie down strips, footman loops, horn, .50 & 40mm ammunition and links, and tire rim covers). I am looking forward to the announced MGS as well as the purchase of several more ICVs to convert into a M1127 Reconnaissance Vehicle as well as a M1130 Command Vehicle. Now we need an aftermarket company to step up and produce the footman loops and a jig to make the tiedowns strips from wire.




Highly Recommended as an Out Of The Box (OOTB) model or as a base for super detailing.





References:






Print:



Armored Car, The History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles,




Richard Hunnicutt, Presidio Press, Novato California, 2002






Stryker in Detail,




Ralph Zwilling, Wings & Wheels Publications, RAK, Prague, Czech Republic, March 2007






Technical Manual, 9-2320-311-10-1 Operator’s Manual for the M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle








AMPS Boresight Stryker Special







Internet:



AFV Club Stryker ICV Kit Number 35126 review found on Perth Military Modeling Site.




(http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/afvclub/afv35126.html)




M1126 ICV information found on the Global Security Website.


(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/iav-icv.htm)