Tamiya 1/48 StuG III Ausf. G: Calling her DONE! (10/07/11)

Modeling Subjects Armor
41

Hello guys,

StuG III G Update:

(Off topic) Bish - that’s quite true. Obviously I wouldn’t commit to any AM upgrades if the kit parts are perfectly adequate.

Righto, just a quick progress report:

The decals are on, the wheels are on and the tracks are on and she’s looking ok.

The tracks were a bit of a PITA but got there eventually. They were painted with Gunze Mr Colour ‘Steel’ and that original coating of Flat Earth shows though in places and looks really effective as rusty areas - I’ll get some proper muck on them later during weathering. I don’t like how Tamiya make a straight run that goes from the bottom centre of the first roadwheel to the bottom centre of the last one and they then give you two dead straight bits to fill the gap between drive and idler - it doesn’t look right. I’d rather have a few 2 piece sections that could be built up to give more of a natural saggy curve. I suppose they could be gently heated and a light bend put in them? Something to try next time I build 1/48 Tamiya.

The decals seem to sit well on that pattern so that was a relief and all in all good progress made.

I brushed a light coating of Burnt Umber Oil on the lower hull walls so I’ll let that dry now and see which way to go with that - I’ll probably keep it simple with some light mud spatter.

Tools can be painted now and fitted then onto some weathering - next weekend should see her done [Y]

Work so far - I hope you like her:

Thanks for looking guys - all comments and feedback greatfully received [Y]

WIP update on Saturday as I’ve just got too much to do tomorrow to expect to fit any bench time in.

Many thanks,

Ben [t$t]

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Ben, coming along nicely. The track looks just fine. If there was any slack between the sprocket and first road wheel, the top would be tighter, and it would normally only be on one side. And you can’t really see the rust, which IMHO is just right.

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Yup. The tracks look fine to me too. All looks great. I do have one MAJOR complaint though. That tank is way too pretty. You need to go throw her in a puddle of mud. When done with that toss her is a trash can outside a local Golden Corral. Let her dry a while then tie her to a rope and drag her down the interstate. Finally, feed her to that monster thing in the pit at Jabba’s house on Return of the Jedi and sit by the porto-potty until she shows up again.

Ok. Seriously. Looking good. Can’t wait to see the weathering

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Hi folks,

Cheers for the comments - she’s coming along okay now [Y]

I was getting a bit worried when the Zim didn’t exactly go to plan but it works, it may be not be exactly perfect but it adds, erm, ‘character’ [whstl]

Don’t worry about the weathering Jdice - she’ll be getting the full treatment but with a busy day tomorow and a fairly full weekend I’m thinking that I’ll get the tools fitted and painted but doubt if I’ll have time to start any proper weathering work until next weekend except for a few layers of filter as I’m back at work on Monday (dammit)!

Thanks again guys,

Take care,

Ben [t$t]

45

Hiya folks,

Well, it’s been a relaxing afternoon just painting the tools, adding filters and watching the F1 Grand Prix qualifying (It’s the British F1 Grand Prix this weekend which is always something I look forward to).

Like I say, a simple light brown filter added - I’ll add another layer later when totally dry. Tools painted and fitted and a few general tidy ups. The rear convoy light has been painted as have the Cupola Periscope lenses -both with Vallejo Panzer Aces ‘Periscope’ Blue.

I’ve been thinking about a whitewash. Originally I was going for a hairspray job but have decided that a flat white heavily thinned with water and put along the fenders and behind the running gear etc will look better - I’m hoping for an appearance of a full whitewash that has all but been washed away by the late winter rains. I’m not risking this build now by covering it in hairspray and hoping for the best as I’ve only used Hairspray on things like barrels etc before.

Tomorrow I think I’ll be able to get her done - I won’t rush it and if it carries over to next weekend that’s fine but I’d like next weekend free to start my Panzer III for the Group Build. A light pin wash, some light pigments and some general ‘scruffiness’ will have her in the bag.

One question - there are two antennae mounts on the back of the casemate. Should I be mounting twin antennae on this thing?

Todays work:

Gah! I’ve just noticed that nasty EP hole behind the MG shield - that will have to go!

Thanks for looking guys,

I’m covering the out of hours work phone from home tomorrow but Sundays are usually dead quiet so if I’m lucky I might just get her finished.

Take care,

Ben [t$t]

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Ben,

Good to see you’re still making good progress on this one. The question on the antennas is a valid one and the general answer is “yes”. [B]

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Hey Bill,

She’s turning out really well now. I was getting a bit despondant with it earlier in the build as the Zim wasn’t great and it dry properly on the front armour plate and had to re-done (my fault - I obviously didn’t mix that bit well enough). I put putty on that piece of separate armour made from a little piece of ‘tester’ putty prior to zimming the whole vehicle as best I could.

I’ll do it again both with Milliput and an AM kit as it was great fun - I’d definately like to try one of the ATAK Zim kits out that you like so much.

Tomorrow I’ll get a bit of Tamiya Flat White into the ab cup and thin it down with plenty of water. I’ve tried this method before for a dusty look using ‘earthy’ coloured paints and it works great once the water has lifted.

A few light pinwashes and some very light pigment work (and two pieces of stretched sprue) and she’s in the bag then straight onto the Panzer III GB!

Do you know how long the antennae for this should be (in 1/48 scale obviously) please guys?

Many thanks,

Ben [t$t]

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Ben,

The antennas were 2m in length on the real vehicle, so 1/48 would be .042m or 42mm (got to love the metric system!) from the base of the rubber mount. HTH! [B]

Atak sets are wonderful things and worth the price IMHO for any vehicles that require zim in 1/35. I’m not sure if they have sets in 1/48 but they might, so don’t rule them out just because of kit scale. [;)]

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Great stuff,

Thanks Bill [B]

WIP update later - she might just about be completed today.

Ben [t$t]

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Hi guys,

Well, my prediction was correct - I’ve just stopped work on her and have called her complete.

She’s looking really good and I’m happy with her so I’m stopping NOW before I do something I regret - obviously I have the two antennae to stretch and attach but I’ll do that later as the sunlight was going and I wanted to take some photos. I also totally forgot to sort that EP hole at the back of the MG shield so I’ll need to do that asap.

I went back to my first post and I’ve stuck with it - I said then that I wanted a heavily weathered, Zimmed StuG III G. It was all looking very neat and tidy after yesterday so it was difficult to know where to start!

Basically I kept it pretty simple. A light coat of 2 parts flat white and 8 parts water through the ab to give the look of a nearly washed off previous full whitewash then an all over dark wash followed by some AK Earth Effects wash blown onto the running gear and lower parts of the build by loading a brush with it and shooting air through it with the air brush for a spatter effect - it all worked nicely.

Some AK Streaking Grime and Winter Streaking Grime lightly applied finished her off perfectly.

I hope you like the final result guys - I know I really enjoyed this build and intend to do more 1/48 smaller scale work in the future.

Here we are: a mucky, messy, dirty whitewashed old StuG with markings that would put her with:

2nd Kompanie, 102nd Pz.Jg.Abt. (1102nd StuG.Abt), 102nd Inf. Div., December 1943.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with this build and provided assistance with the Zimmerit application methods.

This has turned out really well and I’m really proud of this build - particularly with it being 1/48 [Y]

I’d love to hear any comments. I’m off for the Panzer III GB now for a while which I can’t wait to get started on!

Have a great week guys,

ATVB

Ben [t$t]

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Ben, congrats on meeting your deadline. She came out looking swell. I like the dirty look you gave her.

It may or may not have been already mentioned, but the machine gun cannot stand on it’s own, but rather the inner hatch needs to be propped against it to hold it up.

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Cheers TM [Y]

Bill did mention this as soon as I fitted it. I wasn’t aware of this little feature and tbh just thought it sat there! The instructions just have you plop the hatch on (which is one solid piece and would need slicing to show it opened up) followed by the shield in a standing position and finally add the MG.

Normally this would have been a bit of a disaster but like I said to Bill it’s a quickie 1/48 build, I like how the shield looks standing up and as it’s only going straight into my cabinet I’m going to overlook this error this time round! [whstl]

At least I’ll know for the next StuG I build!

Cheers buddy,

Ben [t$t]

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Congrats on getting finished, and a nice build. As for the MG shield, well its all a learning process, and its somthing noted down for next time.

Well done mate, nice build.

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Very nice job Ben! You were able to pack a lot of detail into that little 1/48th scale kit. The extra dirt and grime not only looks good but brings out the detail.

Were you going to detail up the base? If you said so I missed it. Just a little mud or dirty snow would look nice.

PS You inspired me to pull out a 1/35th Jagdpanzer IV Lang I started over a year ago and get a little work done on it [t$t]

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Looks like it filled its role nicely Ben as a little in-between project. Your weathering skills continue to improve and this one would certainly qualify as your best finish to date IMHO. [B]

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Great job Ben, You certainly did the kit justice!!!

Wonderful… . . . . . . . … A+

Mostly, thanks for sharing!

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WOW! Weathering sure made the Zimm POP OUT BIG TIME!!! Glad it worked… outstanding build despite its smaller scale… [B]

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Wow!

Thanks guys - great comments and very much apreciated.

Tbh it was a sort of fluke as I really didn’t know how to take the weathering route with this little fella. I sat there yesterday looking at this nice Dunky yellow StuG that was all clean and glossy and for literally about 10 minutes - I was lost ! I was like “how the hell do I even start weathering this little thing”. Chipping? Hairspray? washes? I actually sat there just looking at it and remembered how much I liked the box art of this kit which showed this StuG with a full whitewash and looking pretty dirrrrty.

I gave it a very light covering with that Flat White/Water mix and let that dry to look like the remnants of an old faded, worn out whitewash and broke out my MIG dark wash and tried it on the very front piece of bolted on armour and when dry it looked perfect [t$t]

I treated the rest of the build with the same ready-to-go wash for the ‘lazy modeller’ and worked heavier around the lower hull and fenders and bit lighter on top then did some pin washes with AK’s Winter Streaking Grime - it’s not meant for this type of application really but it worked really well.

Some AK Earth Wash which does dry like a wet mud was loaded onto an old brush and I blasted air through it in ‘squirts’ from my ab to give a mud spatter effect around the running gears.

After that, a few little touch ups and she was looking great so I left her as she was and added the Milliput tarp which I’d rolled out a few days previous. It’s not glued down so I can remove it if I want. I do want to add some more colours and shading to it as it’s looking a bit a bit ‘flat’ at the moment. Either way, I wasn’t expecting it to turn out this well so I’m really pleased.

The only little let down was the confusion with the MG and shield. I wasn’t aware that it worked in this manner otherwise I’d have just posed it lying flat or I’d have chopped that hatch in half to allow me to pose the hatch open and the shield up. Oh well - I’ll know for next time!

As for the base I only used that to take the pictures on but it’s an ideal size and this build would great on there so I may yet make a base for her. It’s a bit too small for a 1/35 build but as you can see, ideal for 1/48.

They were on sale at an on-line store that I use for only £2 each so I bought three. All walnut with a green felt base so a real bargain.

I’m now going to start my Panzer III N for Andy’s Group Build then build this Lovely Bronco Comet followed by my Dragon Firefly - I need some more Allied stuff in the cabinet, it’s looking too German at present! [;)]

I’ll definately be doing some more 1/48 builds - particularly the newer ones as they are fun builds and don’t take up a third of a shelf like a bigger 1/35 does. In this case it was purely a quick build to kill some time and to get me back at the bench as I hadn’t done a thing for over 4 weeks other than waiting for this GB to start - this was ideal as it was a simple and quick little build which has allowed me to successfully try out some new weathering techniques.

Again, thanks for the kind comments guys - I really appreciate them [:D[[]

Kind regards,

Ben [t$t]

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Tbh? Rubbish! Always say it’s exactly what you planned to do. I know because everyone of my models turns out due to a well thought out and executed plan.[whstl]

And your “plan” was was executed quite nicely[Y]

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Hey Wingy.

LOL! Yeah, it does sound better when said like that! Thanks for the [Y]'s too buddy.

I say sort of as I knew I wanted a mucky finish over an old faded whitewash job - I just didn’t think it would turn out this well.

The ‘fluke’ really occured when I decided to use one of my MIG washes (Dark Wash in this case) as I usually make my own Oil paint washes up but this MIG dark colour worked perfectly.

I very nearly went with an oil wash of my own making which wouldn’t have looked this good so a ‘sort-of-fluke’ I suppose! [whstl]

Either way, it turned out like it did due to a well thought out and executed plan [;)]

Cheers buddy,

Ben [t$t]