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The M1131 Fire Support Vehicle is fitted with a large thermal sight on a powered cupola with a laser designator. It is used at the Company level and acts as the Forward Observation Officers vehicle allowing him to speak on 4 different radio nets. So far the only kit released of this version is from Trumpeter.



I got this kit for Easter 2010 as I started to get the Stryker bug. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you see it I then found out about the dimensional problems with it.



The hull is 5mm shorter than the AFV Club one which matches the drawings I have for the Stryker. The hull of the Trumpeter kit is also about 5mm wider across the top.



As this has been sitting around for 6 years and in that time I've built up a stock of AFV Club kits to use as donors I thought I would have a go at kitbashing the Trumpeter parts onto the AFV Club hull. In this case I used the M1130 kit. First thing to do was remove the roof leaving the rear section with the air sentry hatches.



Then scratch a replacement, here still a WIP.



I then cut the cupola mount out of the Trumpeter roof and added it to the scratched one. The periscopes are going to have AFV Clubs stickers which replicate the laser reflecting sufaces so I didn't need the clear parts from the AFV kit, I carefully removed them from the Trumpeter one and glued them in place. Then it was a case of adding the details from both kits, this is where I have got to, definitely still a way to go.

I can't say I have any idea what it is you are building but it sure looks good

Philipp

I'll happily follow along Chris. I like what you have done so far.

Vincent

Philipp,

think along the lines of Artillerie Beobachtungswagen but instead of a pair of binos and a map they have a thermal sight with intergrated laser rangefinder and a laser designator to guide smart munitions and the ability to share digitally any information they have with any other Stryker in the Battalion and Company while able to talk on four different radio nets at the same time without having to change settings on the radios

Made some good progress over the weekend.







The mast of the crane needs changing, just waiting for the right size tube to arrive. The fit of the sight to the cupola is pretty loose which is annoying, I'll have to glue it in place when it's ready and the .50 mount isn't great, I may change that for a Live Resin one if I can find one. There are a few small bits still to add such as jerrycans and mirrors but otherwise pretty much done. I have a set of resin wheels which I'll leave off for painting.

Chris

Thanks for the explanation

Looks quite impressive already!

PHilipp

Looks Very Impressive already.

Great to see a Stryker being built again Chris. They were all the rage a few years ago

Very Nice work

Rob

With the build complete I primed and base coated this in Ammo Nato green over the weekend.



I still need to assemble the Live resin .50 but as it's pretty delicate I am going to wait until the end to add it. Details and decals next.

Chris

Decals added and most of the details painted.





It's marked as a vehicle from 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment in 2007 on predeployment training.

Chris

Another one almost finished already Chris. How do you find the time

Like Philipp said its not my thing either but it sure looks great. Nice scratch building the top there.

Shawn

That was quick

Well done - always a pleasure to see modern vehicles in anything else than desert colours

Philipp