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

Hey buddy!  I am back from 4 days trip to Kansas.  Your wheels and interior look awesome!  Just in time for me to paint my interior this weekend if I am not too tired.  Played paintball today with a bunch of kids and I had too much fun shooting the crap out of them.    Picture this... 40 years old DEAF guy kicking teenagers b*tt real good! LOL

I was going to ask you which color I should paint the radio... according to your picture you used gunmetal paint or something like that?  ]

And I noticed that your Stug G rollers (top ones) don't have rubber.  My Stug A has rubbers... so they must have discontinued the use of rubber due to shortage?

late war there was a rubber shortage,three different types of the all steel return roller were produced. As for the radio's, they were primed in ultra flat black,somewhat drybrushed with ivory acrylic,then given a wash of burnt sienna oil paint with just a touch oflamp black to tone it down. So you are still combat qualified huh? Kids never stood a chance!! Hows the stug B coming??

LOL!  Those kids never stood a chance after they called us 'old farts' when we were split into two teams young and old.  We kicked their butts... they didn't realize that two of us old farts including myself used to play for the paintball league years ago.

I finally returned to my workspace last night... added the wheels and decals.  Thanks for the info about the radio!

The white markings on the mud flaps or fenders (whatever you call it) really bothers me.  It is what the instructions said so.  It is like 'Hey... look at me... shoot me!!! "  None of my reference books showed those white markings.  I plan to tone it down and make fenders look damaged by holding the kit over the stove to soften before twisting those around.

Another thing... I don't think we are supposed to see the color buff behind the barrel.  Or is this normal since all of the interior was panzer buff which I used.  What do you say my friend?

Thanks for looking!

Very good. The following pics are from a book and my own builds/iterpretation on the cover for the mantlet.



  The column of stugs is from the same abtelung you are modeling I believe.It is full of great photos. The white marker lines in the tamiya kit seem somewhat exagerrated on the fenders...Any chance there will be crew figs involved?Oh by the way I figured that you and I are the only ones who have not finished there builds LOL oh well.

Oh man, I am glad you are still around to keep me from going crazy!  Thank you for the awesome pictures!  The second picture you posted HELPED!  If you look at third, fourth and fifth Stugs closely, they all had white markings on the fenders.  Of course I will tone it down and bang 'em up real good.  I am going

Figs?  Yes, I plan to... bought two figures from Apline at AMPS show in Auburn last April but I don't think I will be able to finish them in time before the deadline.  So my focus now is to finish building it before the GB deadline expires in three weeks!   My personal goal to include a fig or two to all vehicles I build... I feel it makes a big difference but I am not great figure painter like those we see in the forums. 

Now I remember seeing that it was common to have tarps covering the mantlet so I will not make any change to it for now.  Later buddy

Nice work gentlemen. I have been folowing this build on and off....it all looks good.

Cheers...

Sweet looking Stug III ....

I am about to re-start my WIP on the Sturm IV, here are the status pics. I will add the Eduard zoom PE to the build.

The Kit- (Sorry the blurry pic!):

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

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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! 

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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...

Very nice Deafpanze, I love it...

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.

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...

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

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