SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

Airfix 1/76 Stug III- USB Drive

1966 views
10 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    September 2016
Airfix 1/76 Stug III- USB Drive
Posted by TheWaggishAmerican on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 6:30 PM

Hey everyone!

WaggishAmerican here with my most recent completed build. 

Before I got an airbrush, back when I was just using paintbrushes, I was just getting into Girls und Panzer- of course, I wanted the colorful tanks from the beginning of the show in model form. So, I gathered a collection of four out of the five necessary models in 1/76 scale- so that i could paint them easier. I got through three of them, each better than the last, but none were GOOD. 

Then, I got an airbrush, and, after nine-ish months of using the tool, I decided that it would be better for me to restart my project in 1/35 scale- however, I still had a leftover model- the Stug. So, I decided that I wanted to get rid of it, but in a fun way. So, I decided that I  would make a more interesting ZIP drive for my CAD classes. 

Anyway, here are some pic's:

Modifications were pretty basic- I just cut out a hole for the plug. I had to shorten the hull by a millimeter or two, and I reworked that area with styrene sheet so that it wasn't an empty hole. After I epoxied in the USB itself in, I added some dowel inside the hull to make sure you couldn't push the USB into the hul itself. I also hollowed out the gun breech areas, and ran a piece of wire the same thickness as the kit barrel through them, with the rear glued to the superstructure and fastened in several places. This new barrel is a much better material for a functional piece. 

The last modification that I did was with the antenna. I probably would have replaced these anyway, but the overscale plastic antenna weren't going to cut it. Besides the scale problems, it was simply too brittle. So, I cut them off and replaced them with short sections of fishing line that I later painted black.

If you want to see a full build, it is on my Youtube channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5FyZcyu4ak&t=18s

 

I don't do a whole lot of armor, but once I get the 1/35 kits in I will probably be on this forum much more often. 

-WaggishAmerican

youtube.com/c/thewaggishamerican

On the Bench- Tamiya 1/48 Raiden, Rufe, Buffalo, He 162; Academy 1/72 F-89, Eduard 1/48 F6F-3, Accurate Miniatures 1/48 F3F-2, Minicraft 1/48 XF5F, Academy 1/35 Hetzer, Zvezda 1/35 KV-2 (Girls Und Panzer)

 

Your image is loading...

 
  • Member since
    September 2013
  • From: San Antonio, Texas
Posted by Marcus McBean on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 9:59 PM

That is a great idea putting a USB in the rear.  Also a very nice looking Stug III.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, September 21, 2017 7:42 AM

Lol, love the idea of turning her into a USB drive! And nice looking Stug too! I'll be checking out your video this weekend. 

 

BTW: Would love to see those Girls und Panzers tanks you built. I have to admit I watched about five episodes and just couldn't get into it. 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Thursday, September 21, 2017 8:54 AM

Now that is clever! I love this idea.

Gamera, try the "abridged" episodes on YouTube. Much more entertaining. Good for a laugh!

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, September 21, 2017 9:29 AM

Thanks Mike, actually I think the ones on YouTube were the ones I watched. I didn't know they were abridged so that might explain why they seemed to jump around and some parts seemed left out. As I think it's pretty obvious by now with my avatar name and all I'm a big fan of a lot of Japanese stuff but I just never 'got' anime/manga. Might be an age thing, most of my younger friends love it. 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    September 2016
Posted by TheWaggishAmerican on Thursday, September 21, 2017 9:45 AM

Gamera

Lol, love the idea of turning her into a USB drive! And nice looking Stug too! I'll be checking out your video this weekend. 

 

BTW: Would love to see those Girls und Panzers tanks you built. I have to admit I watched about five episodes and just couldn't get into it. 

 

Thanks! I forgot to mention, but I have four more identical bases... I'm going to build one of these for each major nation of WWII. 

Here they are- as you can see, for a project I care a lot about, these are not going to cut it.

youtube.com/c/thewaggishamerican

On the Bench- Tamiya 1/48 Raiden, Rufe, Buffalo, He 162; Academy 1/72 F-89, Eduard 1/48 F6F-3, Accurate Miniatures 1/48 F3F-2, Minicraft 1/48 XF5F, Academy 1/35 Hetzer, Zvezda 1/35 KV-2 (Girls Und Panzer)

 

Your image is loading...

 
  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, September 21, 2017 10:08 AM

They look pretty cool in the photos. Looks like you did some sort of shading on the pink M3 Lee or maybe it's the light? Still it's neat, I'd have no idea how to shade and weather a pink tank! 

Or course no reason not to chalk them up as practice and use the experence to build some more or even move up into 1/35th scale on the next set. I've seen the 'official' GuP kits on HobbyLink Japan. They seem just to be reboxed older kits with the proper decals and a bumped-up price.  

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    September 2016
Posted by TheWaggishAmerican on Thursday, September 21, 2017 10:48 AM

Gamera

 I've seen the 'official' GuP kits on HobbyLink Japan. They seem just to be reboxed older kits with the proper decals and a bumped-up price.  

 

Yep- and that is why I am not buying anything official, except for maybe a set of figures. (Apparently you can get a set of 1/35 scale figures of Miho and friends... not sure about the other tank crews.) I figure that for the same price I would have to pay to get the official kits here in the states, I could get a much nicer/newer model, maybe even get some upgrades, and either buy the decals or print my own.

Luckily, weathering on the pink M3 would be minimal! They only kept it like that for two battles, and depending on how i end up displaying the bigger ones, (right at the start of their battle with St. Gloriana), it would be near pristine. I think I'll treat in the same way one paints yellow, but do a little preshading with various VERY light grey's. 

And, when I end up doing this, I'm gonna have to get a 1/350 Zuikaku, to have a School Ship- I mean, have you seen these things?? (I'd have to call it 1/10,326 scale, because in the show the Zuikaku is about 7,600 meters long)

 

youtube.com/c/thewaggishamerican

On the Bench- Tamiya 1/48 Raiden, Rufe, Buffalo, He 162; Academy 1/72 F-89, Eduard 1/48 F6F-3, Accurate Miniatures 1/48 F3F-2, Minicraft 1/48 XF5F, Academy 1/35 Hetzer, Zvezda 1/35 KV-2 (Girls Und Panzer)

 

Your image is loading...

 
  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, September 21, 2017 11:01 AM

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Thursday, September 21, 2017 12:23 PM
The bumped up price has to account for the licensing and new decals, probably more elaborate and copyrighted compared to generic historical wartime markings. I wonder how much it costs to license these TV tie ins?
  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, September 21, 2017 7:43 PM

Rob Gronovius
The bumped up price has to account for the licensing and new decals, probably more elaborate and copyrighted compared to generic historical wartime markings. I wonder how much it costs to license these TV tie ins?
 

You're right as usual Rob. I guess it's my paranoid nature that I figured they'd printed new decals, created new 'Girls und Panzer' box art and then bumped the price up to twice what it was before. But I looked on HLJ and the FineMolds Type 95 Ha-Go and Type 97 Chi-Ha both the real kit and the GuP versions were about the same price. And the GuP version of the Type 3 Chi-Nu was about five bucks more. So not much gouging there. 

According to HLJ the non Japanese tanks, T-34, IS-II, Panzer III J, Tiger, etc were from Dragon kits. I looked around but didn't see any reviews online that listed exactly which Dragon kits since Dragon has released multiple versions of each over the years so I have no idea what mark-up might be there.

Anyway they don't seem to be a scam like the Italeri World of Tanks Chinese Type 59 which is an ESCI T-54 from 1987 (which goes for about fifteen bucks on Ebay)  with new decals and a couple bonus items sold for forty bucks...

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.