Stryker?

NOPE....not yet....We're All hopen' though

As of last summer, the Stryker was 'hands off' to unauthorized personnel (I know, I took a few close up photos of some at Knox and was told to 'stop'). I also wonder when a kit will appear.
One note of interest, I talked to the crews. They guys who came from infantry loved 'em. They guys who'd been tankers couldn't wait to return to the M1!

Ron

I was out there with 3-21 Infantry at Lewis last summer. They had JUST gotten their Strykers when I showed up and they loved them. But I think the biggest praise it got was from A) the Iraqis who call it the Ghost, because it moves so fast and so quiet it pounces on you before you know its there. And B) Gen Ellis, Commander of Army Forces Command, who said the Army doesn't need more up-armored HMMWV's in Iraq, but a couple hundred more Strykers!!

Whenever the kit comes out, I hope it has the slat armor on it. While it looks ridiculous.. I hear it is stopping RPGs like no other. Could make for a great dio.


Well lets all keep our fingers crossed the kit comes out soon. It will be a GREAT one. Thanks for the posts!

I thought about a scratch build of one but I can't find any 3 view drawings of one or good pictures. It would be a nice kit to have.
John

Here is a great site with a whole lot of pictures of the Stryker in all its variants that I sent to jfrejo, but here it is for everyone

Sometimes the site is a little slow to load.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/iav-mgs.htm (That is for the MGS variant, but you can select others)

http://www.army.mil/features/stryker/default.htm

That is another resource good site.

Hopefully when the model manufacturers do make a Stryker, they will do one right. I think the biggest beef when Italeri and Esci came out with the LAV-25 series, the experts were complaining about hull angles and fitting that were more appropriate for the prototype and not the production model.

Now I wouldn't know an accurate LAV from an inaccurate LAV (or accurate Stryker from an inaccurate Stryker), but I think it is the fear of the "expert" reviewers that hold off the model companies from jumping right in and making these kits.

I was thinking about this the other day. Is it possible that there is no kit of the Stryker because the manufacturer of the real vehicle has not allowed licensing of model companies to produce a model kit of their product? Their name, design and intellectual propert are all protected and licensing deals must be cut with the corporate muckety mucks before anything like that hits the shelves.

This is a pretty common issue with the plane guys so it may be something that simple.

Rob, if that were the case, regardng fear of expert reviewers and questionable accuracies, revell would have tossed their old monogram molds years ago.

Mike

LOLOLOL

That is soo true renarts!

I have a pretty good archive of the Stryker already. Can't wait for a kit, or the guts to try and scratch one...

I've seen a few of these monsters over here in the -stan and they are impressive. I hope that a kit is in the works by somebody. Haven't really seen them operate, the ones I saw were sitting in the parking lot outside the exchange...

I live in London Ontario, where the Stryker is in production right now. I've seen some very curious adaptations (great modeling subjects!) of the current chassis. Two examples I have personally seen were one with a 90MM AMX turrent, (two with one having died on Richmond St {transmission failed!) last fall that created a huge traffic jam) and a second one with half size gun turrent (could be for a SAW type weapon??) The first ones were in tan camo, and the second one, was in a dark semi-gloss green (this one was seen last friday afternoon around the university ...

Both these would make great modeling subjects.!

I agree about the modeling subjects... there are so many variants that you could model the same vehicle differently 10 times!

Officially there are the Infantry Carrier, the Mobile Gun System, Reconnaissance Vehicle, Mortar Carrier, Command Vehicle, Fire Support Vehicle, Engineer Squad Vehicle, Medical Evacuation vehicle, Anti-tank Guided Missile vehicle and the NBC Reconnaissance Vehicle. I could be mistaken, but I am pretty sure they are all fielded except the MGS, which is slatted to hit the field mid-2005.

But I bet they are playing around with different weapons system, probably based on Iraq experience (I know the addition of small arms fire systems has been a big thing over there). Maybe that is what you saw up there Rob.

Boy, wouldn't it be nice if they'd listen to the troops and commanders in the field and replace the 'hard shell' HMMWV's with Strykers!? I'm sure all of our guys would appreciate a bit more armor. Believe it or not, some units' equipment lists had the HMMWV in the same role as a 'light tank'. Heck, I'd take an old M5A1 Stuart over a 'Humvee' as a light tank!.... a little Kevlar on the side and Presto! Maybe GM and Massey will start makin' 'em again for us?

Ron

Hey Guys,

I just saw the NBC Stryker version today undergoing field tests. Can't tell you where but it is very impressive. I saw the interior and crew stations and it looks great. The exterior details and features are a modelers dream and the remote controlled gun turret is very cool!

Everyone is excited about the vehicle coming into service and I think some kits will be not too far in the future.

Thanks,
64

That was my thinking .... that they are trying different systems to see how they work. As I said, I saw the two tan colored ones, first while I was on the bus, going downtown (they were right ahead of me- it had a small black number 10 on the left side) and I got a good look at the rear of the second Stryker. Later, about 3/4 of an hour, at Duffern and Richmond St., there was this crowd and a small traffic jam, and right in the middle of it was the first Stryker, stuck in the intersection. The second one was off to the right, in front of Stobbies's Pizza. What a mess. It looked like a turrent from an Panhard or a French AMX type vehicle had been set on top of the Stryker. It filled the whole space from side to side, with the barrel just hanging over the front. The second time, about 10 days ago, was a different configured one, in semi-gloss green, with a smallish turrent set slight back from the center of the vehicle. It had the Bradley rear top hatch, with the left side, covered with obvious tool holders. Man, these things are QUIET! If I had not seen the second Stryker coming down Warncliffe Rd., North, I would not have seen or heard it. Sounds no louder than city bus at idle. The turrent looked smallish (think of the turrent in the Academy M113 Gattling gun kit) and was narrower at the top with a rear-ward opening hatch. All I had was 30 seconds and the thing was gone in traffic.

Yes, the military in Iraq needs more than standard Humvee's. The troopers need to protect themselves from fire from all sides, and if you do a look see on "Community Webshots" of the 1/2 inch cold rolled steel "up-armored" Humvee's that the military is using, they deffinitly need the Strykers real bad.

Of course, they have lots of old M113's around, and as a short term solution to the problem. That too would make a interesting modeling subject, an up-armored M113, with the proposed RPG shields!