After a hectic week I’ve actually managed to get to the bench and get the Stug III build underway!
She’s an older kit (1996) and apart from some pretty unclear instructions in places, locator nubs missing missing off the drive wheels quite a few EP marks which you wouldn’t find on modern DML stuff she looks like a nice fun build with plenty of scope for washes and sensible weathering. You have to admit the stumpy barrelled Ausf.A Stug III is a nice break from the norm too
No magic tracks, no rubber bands, pure and simple Link n Length which should be fun! No spares so have to be very careful and make sure I keep the carpet monster at bay!
So far I’ve got the roadwheels cleaned up, some EP holes filled and not much else. Like I said I’m strapped for time this week but I’ve got a full weekend to get cracking with her tomorrow. I normally leave the roadwheels until required as they’re hardly the most thrilling part of any build I thought I’d get them out the way.
Above is basically where I’m at right now. The instructions call for the base for the upper LHS roller to be completey removed and smoothed flat on both sides. Two replacement bases are supplied on sprue and measurement are given in the instructions where these two new bases are to go, failing to do this would mean a very inaccurate StuG Ausf .A! There is also a raised outline on both sides of the lower hull which would have served as an escape hatch in a different version-this also had to be sanded flush. For all this I used my baby Dremel tool.
Tomorrow I’ll be getting the suspension and other bits into place and I’ll be making a start on the upper hull. I’ll be leaving the roadwheels off until everything else apart from the tracks are done to permit full access for weathering.
Finally, I’d like to thank WBill who built this exact same piece and put together a superb step-by-step guide which I’m going to be following pretty closely (give or take).
Righto, so far today I’ve managed to get the lower hull assembly completed (suspension etc) and have taken the saw-toothed Exacto blade to the panel in the top hull section. The build guide calls for this panel to be chopped and replaced with an almost exactly the same panel on the ‘M’ sprue but with one less hinge, making it a true Ausf.A.
I’ve not come across any major issues yet apart from the bases for the two front drive wheels which seem to be missing a stub-I now need to get an exact measurement from a DML StuG so I can make sure I get the spacing right, at present the drive wheels are making contact with the suspension arms and will be out of line with the road wheels. These early DML kits (this is 1996) have the odd little errors on them which could cause major headaches!
‘Turret’ with new hatch fitted with periscope hole (centre, RHS)…You’ll notice I took a tad too much off when cutting so I’m going to have to fill that little gap.
‘Turret’ after having the section chopped out (centre, RHS)
Lower & upper hulls ‘clamped’, gun base in place and suspension arms fitted.
I’m going to leave all of the wheels until later. I’m off to a Model Show in Milton Keynes (UK) tomorrow with MAFVA and, although it’s a long shot, I’m hoping to get some one piece tracks or metal tracks plus an Eduard aluminium barrel. The kit comes with link & length tracks, there are no spare links and I’d love to pick up metal tracks.
I’m off to Milton Keynes early so I’ll be home for lunch. WIP update tomorrow afternoon.
Ialso have one of these on my bench .Working on the tracks now hope i have enough have a few that are damaged .Mite be looking for tracks .Hope someone makes them. Cant wait to see yours finished will be watching Ron
Get some Testors liquid cement (has to be this brand because it is slow setting) lay those Link and Length tracks out on a strip of tape and dab the Testors glue on every track joint. Let sit for 1/2 hour to hour but no more than that. This will make the tracks pliable, but not fall apart. Then you can actually form them around the wheels to get nice track sag. Let them sit like that overnight and they will hold that shape from then to eternity! Goes quicker than it sounds too.
I should also mention to use a low tack tape like painters tape or the Tamiya stuff. You want the tape to just keep things from moving around, not grip it.
Thanks for the track tips New Hampshire-that method should work brilliantly!
Not much build time today as I went to a local armour show this morning and didn’t get back particularly early-super show though and I managed to pick up a replacement barrel to replace the awful thing that comes with the kit!
I too was looking for some MK tracks but the guy on the one stand who was selling aftermarket kit didn’t have the right sort. The running gear & tracks will be the last thing that I do as I want full access for weathering before fitting wheels and tracks. I’ll go with the L&L jobs supplied-as long as none break I should be ok! According to the build guide EVERY link is used with none spare. If I do have problems then MK tracks it will be-mail order I suppose!
Anyway, build coming along okay. I assembled the kit barrel and it was just terrible. it didn’t clamp down on the muzzle properly and had gaps all over. I decided to go with the aftermarker one that I picked up-unfortunately it obviously wasn’t designed as a straight Dragon replacement because it wouldn’t fit on the mounting. I could have made it fit but then the muzzle would have protruded much to far forward. I chose a position I liked and used a touch of CA to hold it firm. It won’t have the up/down adjustment now but that doesn’t really worry me.
Update; fighting compartment in place, gun barrel in place and PE grilles now fitted on air intakes. Radio box fitted and antenae base fitted. for some odd reason there is no antennae but this came as no surprise seeing as Bill gave me prior warning in his build guide that I’m using. I’ll wait until it’s totally complete and stretch some sprue-sorted!
Aftermarket barrel and resin base-looks much better!
View over the top showing the priscope base and platform where the Wittman figure will stand. I’ve just noticed the two nasty EP holes on the inside of the open hatches to accomodate the figure so some light filling needed. Not sure why that photo has come out in that colour though?
One quick question. I’ve looked at various pictures of this model where the Wittman figure has been used as I’m trying to determine what colour the inside of the hatches should be. The actual photo of athe completed piece shows it the same as the base colour, other sites and pictures suggest either Ivory or Primer Red?
It was an Armorscale mantlet. Made in POLAND no less! As I mentioned I went to a show this morning and below is everything that I picked up-some great budget priced stuff too!
I’m told the mantlet is made of resin-will that take paint as normal?
I’ve been looking at this kit for a while now, I managed to pick it up for £12, £7 off!
You will enjoy working with MIG products and Vallejo they are fantastic materials! If You have not painted any resin parts or figures before do not forget to wash them thoroughly with hot sudsy water and dry them completely. If you are going to use Vallejo paints on resin prime them well beforehand or the paint will just slide off plastic and resin. Tamiya Primer is a great choice and so is Mr Surfacer 1200. I also use Model Master Acryl White or Grey as well. You can use Tamiya paints as a primer but my experience has been that if I use lacquer thinner to thin I am fine but the Isopropyl Alcohol based thinner results in a chalky primer coat. Again just my experience others results may vary.
Keep firing rounds down range and don’t forget it isn’t a race!
Great start there Ben. Just one thing, I’m not sure if everybody does this, but I always wash and prime resin parts. I even prime plastic. If you can get your hands on some gamesworkshop primer it will do the trick. I find it is expensive but its about the best that I find readily available I think a half litre is about a tenner in Euro’s.
Shnobs, Terry & Hughes - thanks for the kind words!
Scnobs-I only picked up two Vallejo colours yesterday, flesh and leather-both for use on the Wittman figure. I can’t brush paint with Tamiya acrylics!
Re the priming I’ve looked into this before. My finding were that as long as your kit was given a GOOD soapy wash then you should be fine if painting with ENAMELS! It seems that Tamiya rattle can primer is nigh on impossible to get hold of in the uk (something to do with the labelling that doesn’t comply with EU rules apparently).
Now I’ve got the AB I’m using Tamiya ACRYLICS for the base coats. I’ve washed all the parts as usual and will be putting down a first coat of Tamiya Nato Brown to (hopefully) add some depth and give a base for the following overcoats to grab onto (I’m following WBill’s guide that he made when he built this exact same kit-see below).
He used an Italian Brown for the undercoat-the closest my shop had was Tamiya Nato Brown so am I correct in assuming this will serve the purpose as a primer coat? I’ll be honest, I didn’t wash the resin mantlet (oops). Should I try and wash it on the vehicle as it is now or will the Brown coat be ok?
Bill did a SUPER job on his StuG imo. I’ve got some MIG Gulf War Sand so I might give that a try as opposed to my normal oil wash.
One question -
As I’m going to use the Wittman figure & front periscope (Bill omitted using these) parts of the interior will be slightly visible but the most important thing that I need to get right is the colour of the undersides of the hatches and the interior walls where the figure will be looking out from. So far my research has yielded three possibilities (remember it’s a very early piece)…
The box art and actual picture of the completed piece on the box shows the hatch undersides as being grey-the same as the body colour (unlikely imo)?
Primer Red?
Ivory/Off White? (most likely)?
Any suggestions chaps?
It’s my first day back to work today after my holiday so no build time now until next weekend [:'(]
Good start there Ben. I’d take a qtip, dip it in alcohol, and scrub the mantlet before painting.
Just about any color will work as a primer for a PzGray tank.
Paint the inside of the those hatches the same color as the tank. I do have pics of gray tanks with buff on the inside of the side hatches of the turret, but these would not be seen from the air when open.
Agree with Wayne, the inside of the top hatches would have been Panzer Gray. The rest of the casemate interior would’ve been elfenbein or ivory white. Herr Whitmann will fill the hatch for the most part so if you only want to paint the area around him in the interior color you should be ok but if there’s additional space showing you can use an old modeler’s trick and just paint the rest of the interior Flat Black so you don’t have any gray styrene peeking out and exposing the fact that there’s nothing else on the inside! [:)]
Also, as a side note, this kit does not include link-and-length tracks. It includes individual link tracks on the sprues. Link-and-length are when you have runs of the links already molded together as a single section usually for the top and bottom runs and then connected up with a small number of individual links around the sprockets and idlers. I mention this only for clarification for those who might be interested in this kit for the future. [;)]
