I want to add side armor to my 1/48 scale Tamiya Stug III Ausf b. I read somewhere that the germans refitted many early Stugs with a larger gun like on the g model and added side armor. It stated they did this to compensate for the drop in newer tank production as a result of allied bombing. I want to verify this before I complete the build. I also want to see if there are any other kits out there in that scale I could steal the armor plates from or am I going to be forced to stick build them. This is my first posting at FSM and I am just getting back into model building after many years. Thanks for all your help.
Develdog - Welcome to the forum!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Ausf B outfitted with side armor (although there may have been a few). There were only 320 of this variant manufactured between June 1940 and May 1941. Use of side armor plating by the Germans did not become common place until about 1943. It is possible (although I have no evidence) that some Ausf B vehicles survived until 1943, but in my own opinion, I don’t think the Germans would have used valuable resources to modify the few surviving under-armored and under-gunned vehicles. It’s possible, but unlikely.
Others may have more information than I have available. Once again, welcome to the forum.
Thanks for the info Foster…I must have gotten bum scoop, which I hear there is alot of on the web with German armor.
Howdy Devildog, welcome[#welcome]. I think Foster’s right on this one. I’ve also seen info on older Stugs being refitted, but I took from this info that it was primarily the D’s and E’s that were retrofitted.Here’s a quote from Achtung panzer
"Some older variants returned for repairs were often re-equipped with parts from newer variants creating completely non-standard variants (e.g. Stug III Ausf C armed with 75mm StuK 40 L/48 gun in Saukopf mantlet destroyed at Altdamm, 1945 and Stug III Ausf E armed with 75mm StuK 40 gun destroyed in Berlin, May 1945). "
So there MAY have been B’s that got upworked, what the hey, it’s your model!!! Have fun!!
Thanks to Foster and Stug for the welcome and for responding. Yeah why not…I think it would be cool…even though it probably never existed : )