Hey all.
I posted this on britmodeller and thought I'd share it on Finescale as well and I'm trying to get back into the hobby after a few years off and could use feedback.
I just finished this fantastic little Stug III B kit from Tamiya. I've had it on the shelf for almost two years now and finally got up to building it. The build was relatively quick and much like all Tamiya kits, a pleasure to work with and ADD fun stuff to increase the interest in the model.
Tamiya might not always have the most "bling" in their kits, BUT you always know what you're getting. Simple. Usually stress free. And Fun to customize.
BUILD and CUSTOMIZATION:
It did it mainly OTB with added metal Winterketten tracks (you can't get anymore). I have the T-REX as well, but man they are so much of a pain in the ass and I'm glad I had these metal ones for this kit. I had some great detailed open hub drive sprockets I forgot I ordered with the kit. Really nice detail. They are T-REX as well. All these new 3D printed stuff is such a change from 30 years ago.
I did some added stowage with a PE bin, a ditching beam (that I whittled myself) and some added fun bits and bobs (for you Brits;) to make it interesting. The ditching beam is supposed to be stolen from someone's farm house as well as the fence posts, etc. Those bastards! But, something cool to focus on with the build. I actually had all the PE to add onto this, but it's been so long since I've modeled that I didn't want to take months to get this bad boy up and running, so I kept it simple and fun and spent more time invested in the painting and weathering.
Here's the build before painting and weathering (below).The tracks are the highlight of the kit if you ask me. It makes it look like some kind of spider or armored turtle. Stout and bad ass! The low profile of the Stug is awesome as it is, but WIDEN those tracks and now she's really cool!!
The tracks are the highlight of the kit if you ask me. It makes it look like some kind of spider or armored turtle. Stout and bad ass! The low profile of the Stug is awesome as it is, but WIDEN those tracks and now she's really cool!!
PAINTING and WEATHERING:
I primed it black and then started the slow build up of color and gradients with a light grey/blue/deck tan. Probably three to four layers of color and then a blue wash to bring out the color. I did quite a bit of dry brushing to get the highlights to pop and begin the chipping process. In the past I usually use acrylics for the lighter chips. But, for this model I used oils. Buff. Off white. It really worked well and so much easier to control and reposition if you make a mistake.
As far as weathering, I was going to do a winter whitewash, but I really liked the grey blue so much I left it as is. Glad I did. I think the white wash tends to really dull the model and the panzer grey is such a cool and interesting thing to try to paint and weather. I used an industrial earth wash, with sepia oil, as well as Mr Weathering muds. The colors always come out different than the color they look in the jar, so I had to add some oils to change hue and saturation to get the effect I was looking for.
Panzer Grey is always one of the hot topics and points of issues for us modelers. Is it grey? Is it blue? Is it dark? Light? Almost black? In reality, it is I think very dark, almost black/blue. But as a modeler, if we paint our small little tanks like that they will have ZERO interest and life. It's our job to increase the contrast, saturation, highlight and shadow to make these palm size subject actually look real. I kept my base coats thin and very light. As I weathered, it of course darkened and started changing the saturation, hue, and tone. The lighter work allows the other things to really pop more when you continue with the work.
I couldn't decide on the color for the beam, so I painted it maroon. Nope. Then blue. Nope. Orange? What??? Orange?? WTF. Yellow? So I said "Screw it", and I painted it ALL the damn colors and then stripped it down like it was torn and battered. This was one of my favorite things to do on the kit. Fun!
I made the blankets from milliput. They are OK, but the Tamiya epoxy is the best for this. I was out. I even made the barbed wire. And cut myself several times in the process.
It's so easy to lose all the paint work, highlighting, shading and detail you work so hard on in the painting process when you go to weather. To be honest, I many times run out of steam by the weathering process as I have so many times lost "control" and over done the process and make a once great looking kit look overdone and washed out. It has taken me years to learn control while doing this and usually I don't get it right. But on this one, I was pleased with how it came out. It came out just as I had imagined, which is rare for me.
The back fence is simply balsa wood glued together and painted and weathered. I like trying to add some color and interest that makes the subject more interesting and realistic. These Stug's were the mainstay of infantry support and always with the troops and they would throw everything and anything they could carry on these things. It was their home.
The added winter wheat is something I saw on many reference photos for the stug. They would, of course use whatever surroundings they had to add camouflage and cover. Not to mention simply plowing through anyone's property and taking anything around with them as they did. I thought it added an interesting element to the model and I plan to add a small diorama base that will showcase the wheat.
I'm not sure what the little skull/devil guy is, but of course it totally makes the model POP and seam quite intimidating. Those Germans, they always had the coolest little gremlins.
Well, that's it for this one. I still have a few things I may add, but in all I am moving onto some other kits on the bench.
This may be one of my favorites I've done in the past 35+ years of this love affair. Like many modelers, I live a "stug life" and have always loved the Stug as a subject. Especially the B. Hope you like it. And if you don't....well, I love you anyway.
Cheers!
Graeme