Stug III Ausf B - Finished!

No really. I'm building a tank.

Here is my progress so far on the main assembly. The fighting compartment has not been glued yet because there are a few details that still need to added from the interior. This kit is full of sink marks and bad seam lines and ejector pin marks. They some still need to be cleaned up and I'm scared by that first coat of primer.

I probably should have started with the Tamiya kit, but the molded on fenders were a real turn off.



I'm replacing the kit ones with these.



The rear idler assembly was a real pain. It's only sorta accurate to the real deal but most of it will be hidden by the large idler wheel.



The main gun has been replaced and I plan to use the dust cap. The weld bead is Aves and isn't oversized compared to references.



I'll be adding some additional photoetch



and metal tracks



I know, it's weird and I'm still trying to get use to this myself.

I love this kind of vehicle. I´ll be watching.

I'm waiting for it to grow legs or hydraulic hoses

Well done soldering those fenders! Last time I tried that it was pathetic, I need a lot more practice. Nice work so far!

Cheers
JT

Thanks Tobias. Early Stugs are such a cool looking vehicle.

JohnTolcher wrote:I'm waiting for it to grow legs or hydraulic hoses

So you've seen my walking Su122 concept?

What are you going to do with the rest of the PE for the KT? You practice on those. These fenders were my first attempt at this kind of detail soldering. Rick as a good article in a recent MMiR that was a big help.

Hi there Bryan,

I'm a fan of German armor, and especially Panthers and StuG's. So you can bet I'm going to follow this one.

best regards, Richard.

Nice work so far mate, always love those early StuGs

Cheers

Thanks Richard and Wouter.


I've made a little progress with the fenders. I know I should probably wait to attach these and especially the mud flaps until later, but if these don't end up looking good, there is no point in going any further. The rear right mud flap has given me hell. Half the fingers on one hinge broke so I had to glue it into place. I then dropped the fender and the part broke off. I stepped on it while looking for it which caused one of the sides to snap off. Fender damage is based on photos, except for the stepping which is my own interpretation. Mud flaps on these were often flipped up and not missing so I really need to fix this. Maybe tomorrow things will go better.

Great work on the pe parts.

Looks great so far.Best Manuel

I've always liked the Stug series! They're so uncommon to watch! Your work with the PE is clean and accurate! Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the encouragement guys. This is my first model with this much PE. Gawd some of it is soooo tiny. Voyager said this set works for both the Dragon and Tamiya kits. Bah!I hope it fits the Tamiya kit better than this. The Eduard has holes in it for the pins on the Dragon tools. These don't line up so now I need some little rag or do-dad to cover up the hole in the fender around the ax. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying this challenge quite a bit and after going through ref photos of As and Bs, I've seen several specific tanks that I would like build, especially the ones with the headlights, antenna trough, and all fenders tools removed.

But, I'm making progress. I also have the Fruil tracks assembled but there's not much to show with Fruils right now.

Tool clasps and Light Guards. I've only lost two wing nuts and one over center handle so far, so not too bad. Of particular fun was the brackets to hold the cleaning rods. Each one is five parts including the resin block. I found a photo of a Stug with the rod brackets empty and a tow cable threaded through, so I'm going for that look.

Awesome! Keep up yhe good work! I believe that you're going through something tricky here! The result looks perfect to me!
Alex

Holes in tread plate -what else can you do? Except just hide them as you say.

Interesting build Bryan, looking forward to more!

Cheers
JT

I've made some progress on the rear stowage.

Stowage is from the Legend set.



Track holder.





This one is for John.

Now you're showing off

Cool stuff with the tracks ! I'm loving this !

Nice build so far, nice work on the PE

Thanks guys!

JohnTolcher wrote:Now you're showing off

Next time I'll highlight the broken hinge and crooked wing nut instead.

A heavy loaded Stug! That's an interesting project. Just a question if you don't mind. Are you going to paint, weather etc all these stuff while they're on top of the tank? Or are they placed there just for the needs of photo shooting?

The gear is just in place for show right now. I will take all the stuff off and paint individually. I could not image painting all that stuff in place. Once the stuff is glued on, it will be dusted to match the vehicle.

I learned an important lesson over the weekend. You can't build what you what see. I picked up one of those optivisor magnifying visor dealies at the LHS. Made all the difference. The multi part jack mounts flew together once I upgraded my macro vision.

I've finished all the pesky PE tool clasps with the aid of my 6 million dollar man macro vision. I didn't bother with all the stuff on the rear deck since it gets covered by the gear.





I gave it a good shot or Tamiya Fine Gray Primer. That patch of solder flow i was worried about disappeared.





And then gave it a base coat of Tamiya Flat Black.



I also started working on the mundane. I'm glad MaK doesn't have many tracked vehicles.



Question about the road wheels. At this point early in the war, did they take the time to paint the inner faces Panzer Grey or were they left the primer color? I'd like to add some color to the model, but don't want to get dinged on accuracy.

Painting time.

Great paintjob.

Nice job on the modulation,breaking up the panels(etc) looks good.

Wow! I'm impressed! Very nice modulation here, Bryan! I really like these pictures! Keep it up!
Alex!