Turetless AFV....Jan 1st 2010....now open!

I am building this Tamiya Stug III now. Did you all detail the interior before or after painting the outside gray? I am trying to figure out what would be best and easiest.

I'll be ok Deafpanzer,as I said I just needed to vent a bit.Darrel was 74 and an insulin dependent man.,retired navy,always said " you don't want to join the navy because in all likely hood you will end up hauling a bunch of damn marines around" then LHAO.Just getting the fenders on now,final detailing of the engine compartment,a few additions to the fighting compartment,weathering and by then it should be all over.

Oh my, I am very sorry to hear about your friend.  Yours is nothing compared to mine dealing with a little devil from hell.  I can't imagine what his family and friends are going thru.  We are your friends and you are welcome to vent here.  You go and take care of his family as they need you more than your model.  Deadline can always wait as I am sure the moderator understands completely.  Again I am very sorry about this...

Thanks Deafpanzer I am going to need one or twenty-one.Bad luck so to speak.Our next door nieghbor and family friend disappeared yesterday morning,the sherifs dept. was called and one deputy was dispatched.When it became obvious that more help was needed they dispatched one additional officer.These guys took an amazing twenty minutes to get there *** together and start walking a river bottom about the size of a football field.Well I could not stand by and watch,the road through the trailer park here runs along the river.I searched along theroad as the banks are sloughing into the river from all the rain and I feared he may have gotten to close.Well to my dismay I found my good friend Darrel's four wheeler upside down in three feet of muddy fast moving water.Darrel Johnson drowned after becoming trapped under his submerged atv. I do not feel like modeling.Sorry to vent this here,its just on my mind.I will finish the stug by the deadline!!!

Gosh, I haven't touched my baby Stug for last two nights... want to know why?  Had guests staying at our house as they were on their way driving to the eastern coast from California.  One of their kids who was six years old and believe me he was a little devil sent to us from hell!!!  No kidding... drove me and my family even my young boys crazy!  We never saw a boy misbehave that badly so I had to hide all of my models somewhere safe until he is gone.  By the time he is in bed, I was too exhausted to do anything.  Now with my immediate family coming to stay with us for next four days starting today I will be lucky enough to touch my baby Stug. 

Of course their visit made me and my wife appreciate how fortunate we are to have our boys how they are now. At least I will be busy drinking up beer from the keg over the weekend... LOL  You guys are welcome to help me empty the beer keg!

Thanks friend,the second part of the sturmartillerie covers the stug IV, Brummbar,Sturmtiger and so forth. The bad part is there are no interior pics,My stug is getting close,I will try to get some fresh pics up.

DF- THANKS... how is your Stug doing?  I promised myself that I will buy DML Stug III G whenever I see it but I think I am going to wait for new zimmerit set to arrive.  I can't remember when it is expected to be released.  I neglected to mention that one of the books you recommended has arrived today.  One of the best reference books on STUG I have seen so far.  Still waiting for volume 1 order to arrive... you are the best!  Here's the proof... LOL

TB- Thank you very much!  I am afraid I am addicted to modeling since returning to my hobby two years ago after 20+ years break.  BUT I work at very slow pace so I think it helps.  I saw MIG 'Fading Panzer Grey' at AMPS show in Auburn and I had to get it because I have been hearing nothing but great things about MIG products.  My last oil filtering treatment was a disaster as it nearly ruined my 234/1 during 8X8 GB if you recall... realized I brought the wrong kind of oil paint.  So I am still not too sure about doing the whole dot filtering treatment at this moment.  You have to try it... now I have to buy one for Allies tanks too.

DP -- I must say, this is a very impressive finish. I like the Mig pigments but I've never thought of using them for a fading effect, I've always done that with the AB. Maybe I rely too much on oil filtre techniques, my tanks tend to be pretty rusty by the time I'm finished. This is a different approach and a very good one!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

You are certainly setting the bar with this build deafpanzer,can't wait to see her finished

Castelnuovo- Thank you... almost there as it is about 95% completed. 

Detailfreak- Thanks for the great comment!  It made my day. 

Thunderbolt & Detailfreak- You won't believe this... remember our discussion about how Stug B held its spare wheels?  You suggested to see if there were holding rods along with spares in the kit.  You were right... Tamiya included those along with the spare wheels and they both were not included in the instructions.  I went ahead to add those rods after looking at some pictures of Stug B and I found a perfect picture to support my decision.  I put them right on top of rear engine access doors like we discussed earlier. It looked pretty obivious that those spare wheels were being held by rods.  Check this...

Anyway, last night I applied a mixature of MIG weathering pigments mostly Russian Earth to the tracks & wheels and its lower hull part. Tonight I will apply lighter tone such as dust as it was dusty and dry in summer of 1941.   

Thanks again for looking!  I only have two nights left. to finish my build.. WHY?  My whole immediate family from NY and DC will be in town visiting to celebrate my 40th birthday over the weekend.  Party time...

Looks like it will be right down to the wire for me. That Ausf. B of yours is looking darn good with that Mig weathering powder smeared on Deafpanzer.

Very nice Deafpanze, I love it...

Guys, there has been little change of plan over the weekend... I didn't go for the dot filtering procedure but tried the new pigment weathering from MIG called 'Fading Panzer Grey'.  I think it came out great and it was lot easier and messy too!  Keep in mind it was still wet when I took the pictures last night but it looked awesome when I came home from work today. 

Also applied little rust pigment from MIG on spare tracks and some of the tools.  I hope to work on the tracks tonight... will use a mixature of 3-4 pigments from MIG as usual mostly the Russian dirt.

Only ten more days left...

That picture of the tanker and his dog has been in my mind since detailfreak posted it. I have been shopping around and I found an exact match BUT it broke my heart when I found out....

It is only available in 1/48!!!  I ordered couple of figures from Verlinden and I am still shopping around for the dog.  Not much update from my end, glued all wheels permanently then tracks against the wheels too.  I turned 40 years old today on Father's Day and my wife & kids know I want to finish my Stug so maybe they will let me.

Thanks DF!  I ordered both books, German Sturmartillerie at War vol.1 and 2, thru Amazon.com.  I am sure they will be very helpful for my future Stug builds.  Stug III G or IV will be definitely my next 'turretless' project!

Ok,heres some of the titles and ISBN#s.  1- German Sturmartillerie at War vol.1 and 2 , ISBN-962-361-652-x. Next Sturmgeschutz in Action ,squadron signal pub. ARMOR NO.14.. And the Concord Publications company, AROR AT WAR SERIES , ther are many in this series, just acouple are ,PANZER-DIVISION 1935-1945. A couple volumes in this group. Check in RZM imports at www.rzm.com, And  google- concord publications company, here you'll be able to see and download there entire catalogue. Hope this helps feed your need for knowledge.

I am with you detailfreak.  Instead of buying more kits, I have been buying books and aftermarket kits so that way I don't want to end up with too many kits.  Right now I have about 40-50 kits and it has been only two years since I returned to the hobby...

Quick update on my Stug... installed the tracks last night and it wasn't easy I thought... few guide horns broke off.  With this Tamiya kit, the wheels/rods are movable and it made it very difficult to hold the MK tracks so I think I will glue those permanently with superglue so they can't be moved up/down.  Lesson learned... just glue them permanent in my future builds!

Hope it looks good... not too much stag? Thanks for looking!

I'll scrounge up some titles ,ISBN #s and such for you. I purchased eight or so concord books on e-bay at a very good price.they are packed full of pics.Got some good stuff on the eastern frt,italy and such. I have yet to purchase a nuts and bolts book,I understand that they are armor bibles If I may use that expression.

Man, I am so glad I choose #13... I had no idea how popular it was.  I went for it because I liked the white skull and 13 is a scary number for some folks.  DF, another question for you, what's the name of book that you shared the pictures with us?  I'd like to buy it online if it is still on sale probably on evil-bay.  I will send Gestapo to your place to nap the book tonight if you don't give us the answer. LOL

About the dog, I already have the Tamiya animal kit but I think it was in a standing position... will check it out tonight.  Thanks again! 

Hey Deafpanzer your old #13 is sure a popular photo subject. Here is another shot I came across. You can make out the 13 just behind the un-ditching timber. Of course these stug may not be from the same kompanie. I believe that is determined by the color of the emblem on the bow plate or the unit emblem. If you or anyone knows which is correct please feel free to advise. as for the dog ,you might look into Tamiyas livestock set. And there have been some resin offerings on evil-bay lately. Good luck and I am looking forward to seeing alot more of lucky 13 in the future.

H-O-L-Y  C-O-W!  I loved the pictures especially #13 with the crew and his German shepherd. You just gave me a great idea for diomara and I have to find out if I can locate a figure and dog similar to this.  Interesting about the bullet hole on one of the headlights... gonna do it tonight.  You just made my day... I am going to print and frame this picture to sit behind my kit.

Deafpanzer; the dragon offering only has the same basic fighting compartment as your Tamiya offering.The engine compartment is Verlinden,which is not that great .The engine sits to high in the engine mounts,and/or the air cleaner assemblies are to high causing interference with the roof of the engine compartment. Cmk and Airies make nice panzer III /Stug III drivers compatments that go well with the dragon kit,and probably others. In any case it's alot of trial and error. Sand and fit and sand some more.But the results can be very satisfying!

just afew more pics.including your lucky # 13.

Guys, thank you for nice comments!  About the spare wheels, the instructions didn't include but it came anyway.  Maybe some kind of mounts are already among the spares and I will look thru closely tonight.  I have Stug III G Walk Around book and it showed the rods but it wasn't for B so it has to be something different.  I consider myself not a rival counter but I do my best to build it accurately if possible or it will haunt me for rest of my life. LOL! 

Detailfreak- Your work is friggin' AWESOME!  I can't say much because your interior is looking better than mine for sure!  Did your DML kit come with interior too?  I have to buy it one day...

Good point, DF -- stowage locations and attachment strategies were constantly changing, certainly throughout the Pz IV linneage, so the parellel Pz III development almost certainly underwent at least as many revisions.

Cheers, TB379

Please note Thunderbolt that those mounts are late model equipment and I cannot veriify the useage on early stugs.I am of course still searching.

DF is absolutely right, DP -- I completely forgot the twin mounts that the wheel hubs go onto! the link rods were probably dropped in as a stowage location. Dang, too long since I built one of these things, I'm forgetting my Sturmgeschutz anatomy...

Mike/TB379

Deafpanzer; As far as I can tell the stug  B carried its spare roadwheels on the two rear most engine access covers. I do not believe they were of the same type as later stugs,but of this I am not sure. This is the mount on a stug G... I will check some other refs though. That B model of yours is looking real good though. Accomplished a little more fitting ,and construction in the engine compartment. As you can see the air cleaners are a tight fit to the roof of the engine compartment. The upper coolant distribution tubes were awol so I constructed replacements from plastic rod and plastic tube. The last two pics show the fuel tank filler and the air cleaner.
any comments are welcome.

Stunning work, DP! I am so impressed with the whole deal, and that interior came out fantastic! I'm really looking forward to seeing the subtle oil wash go on to vary the overall finish.

Re the spare wheels, I believe they were attached with spare trank link pivot rods (that's always been my assumption...), usually four or five per wheel, run directly down gthrough the holes in the wheels and screwing into receivers below. Tamiya's StuG III/G included them, are they not there in the Ausf. B kit?

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Castelnuovo-  Glad you stopped by... was afraid if you have forgotten about us.  Almost done with my build as I will be able to beat the deadline.

Jmart- Glad you could join us... always great to see more activity here.  I almost bought that kit at Hobby Lobby but I figure my birthday is coming up next week so I better wait and see what I am getting.

Guys, I was able put alot of work on my Stug over the weekend.  Thanks to the weather as it rained alot here in Indiana.  Check it out... sorry about many pictures!

Painted the tracks following wbill's toot... black primer paint, gunmetal then steel on some parts where contacts occur then finally thinned burnt umber.

Tools painted... MM gunmetal, MM wood and thinned W&N burnt umber oil paint. 

Interior painted, chipped, and weatherized!  Hope I didn't go too far... apparently my crew was a bunch of pigs... how embarrassing!

Last two pictures before its dot filtering treatment soon but for sure not tonight!  Too tired to do anything after staying up so late last night because of this.

Detailfreak- Remember we talked about the question if they painted the area right behind the mantlel... I found a picture finally in one of my reference books.  Check this out... it sure looks like they did so I went ahead and painted panzer gray over.  More coming... thanks again!

My next question... how should I attach the spare wheels?  Did they just tie up using ropes or they used some kind of brackets to hold them down?  No luck at my end and my reference books. 

Thanks for looking!

Hi Jmart, I did this kit for 1000 Roadwheels last year and can report it's a sweet build all the way -- you'll have heaps of fun with it!

Cheers, Mike/Thunderbolt379