Tamiya StuG III Ausf B 1/35 (an on hold WIP-temporarily)

It's a super nice kit, Hinksky.  I'm at the "install the tracks" and weather stage on mine.  I have quite a few photos up on Dale's StuG GB post.  I will tell you that on the periscopes, the instructions tell you to mount it through the forward hatch of the two that are opened.  It will obviously not fit.  Tamiya posted an errata on their website.  It goes through the rear two piece hatch.

Ditto on the tracks.  They are junk.  I ended up snagging a set of 40cm Magic Tracks from a StuG IIIG that I had in the stash.  You can use any Pz III or Pz IV aftermarket tracks as long as they are the 40cm (not the early 38cm) width and they should fit.  So far I've test fit the Magic Tracks, a rubber band track off Tamiya's ancient Wirbelwind (Pz III chassis) and the kit vinyls.  All fit without any modification.  TriStar makes a pretty good workable set for less than either the Fruils or MK tracks.

Hi BigSmitty,

I was going to have the single periscope in use but that's now out of the window so I think I'll have the build with the main hatch open and the twin periscope in use.

That means I'm now really going to town on the interior as it will be very visible. It's not a massively detailed interior but it will do the job!

BTW: Can someone recommend a good 'Off White' colour for the interior please? Either Tamiya or Vallejo?

Thanks for the heads up Smitty - that saved me a headache!

Off to work on the StuG now!

ATVB

Ben

That's a fantastic kit ...........which I have built.............great subject as well.............one of the reasons Tamiya has been so good for decades.

yeah looks like a nice kit. Tamiya OOB builds are usually fun 

Hi guys,

A nice start but nothing worth showing in a photograph! I'll make the real progress tomorrow - at the minute all the suspension arms are on as it the rear vent and exhaust panel.

One thing that I just could not get to work was the 'working suspension'. It's a bit like the Tamiya Pershing in that small lengths of wire with a loop at each end are fixed into place and allow the wheels to move up and down when pressure is applied and removed to the tank. Only the front and back road wheels are 'sprung' like this - the others are supposed to push in behind a section that sits flush with the inner tub walls. This section is supposed to stop the suspension arms dropping out so you don't need to glue them in place thus allowing the arms to move.

Two arms on one side and three on the other just wouldn't stay put no matter what I did? In the end I decided to glue the arms in a fixed position - I'm not going to play with this model or put it on a diorana so no problem.

WIP update tomorrow,

ATVB

Ben

Compared to some of the Dragon kits, this should be a weekend build. LOL I have this guy in the stash too, hard to argue with the $12 I paid for it at a huge sale at Hobbytown.

I do love early war panzers and the all grey.

Good luck and I'll  tag along as i do on all your builds.

Hey TM,

It could easily be a weekend build compared to some of the Dragon kits Ive built but I'm in no rush plus I'm manning the work phone from home this weekend for emergency calls to talk customers through any problems and with the phone ringing every hour for 20 odd minutes it does affect your model building - any continuity goes out the window when you have to leave a build for 30 minutes!

I'll be taking my time with this build - I'd like to think that come next Sunday I'll be at the point of basecoat painting. Remember I only build at weekends and don't have my own 'bench' yet! My bench is the parents kitchen table so I have to make about 5 journeys up and down the stairs getting all the kit out from my bedroom!!

I also like the early war Panzer Grey. It's a great colour to bring to life and weather.

If anyone has come across my problem with the suspension arms I'd love to hear it plus recommendations for a GOOD 'Ivory' / 'Off White' I'd love to hear them - what is the German for the Off White colour? I can't remember?

ATVB

Ben

Ben I don't think that Vallejo do a colour close to elfenbein, the interior ivory colour, but if you have a gamesworkshop close then their bleached bone is good enough.

Good luck with this one, great subject and a beautiful vehicle.

Terry.

Testors makes a "Panzer Interior Buff" in both acrylic and enamel, but yeah, Bleached Bone would work just as well.  Vallejo Model Color has 70837 "Pale Sand" that is almost a dead match as well.

Agree with Tigerman. it could be a weekend build.  It took me only 2 or 3 nights to complete my StuG B excluding the MK tracks of course.  That was the only part I was disappointed with Tamiya kits because building is my favorite part and their part counts are usually low.  I didn't mention this in my WIP earlier... don't glue the gun sight that goes out top of the hull until the very end because if you do it will break off often like mine. 

I didn't have any problem with the wheels... used CA to hold the wires for suspension.  I wish DML wheels were like Tamiya's.  For the interior paint, if you don't want to use enamel paint I use MM Panzer Interior Buff, then you can just mix Tamiya white with a drop of sand or tan.  It should look like ivory or off white?

I will be following your WIP as usual.  Good luck buddy!

Looks like a fun project Ben, will be watching as the StuG III is also one of my favorites.

Thanks guys

Terry - Elfenbein, that's the chap! I'll try making a Tamiya mix but failing that I'll get some of that Vallejo stuff that was mentioned.

At present I'm umming and ahhing about the hatches and interior. The interior is ok but is far from detailed. A rack of Potato Mashers, a couple of seats, some flooring and the gun. I'm definately going to go to town on the gun assembly as it looks great and will provide some much needed practice on detail painting. I think the periscope in question is the twin one which means I could have the single front periscope poking out and the rest of the build zipped up which is what I'd like.

Anyway, it's early days yet so let's see. I've got some various Vallejo Model air paints and the Model Colour(?) paints and included in the Model Air is a pot of German Grey so I might use that. I understand that a few drops of varnish put into the paint along with a bit of water makes it set rock hard and it airbrushes really well.

WIP update with a few photos tomorrow!

ATVB

Ben  

Hatch interior colours are the vehicle exterior colour.

As for the interior I'm unfamiliar with Tamiya kit but the Dragon one I'm thinking of starting has a partial interior, so i too am very undecided as how to manage the problem from thepoint of view of how much to do. Just try get as much info on the interior as you can before you proceed as guessing will be no good because its been done so much.

Terry.

Ben,you are just becoming a prolific armor producing machine,good luck with this one and keep em coming.

anthony2779

Ben,you are just becoming a prolific armor producing machine,good luck with this one and keep em coming.

Yeah thats the words I was looking for.

Terry.

Oh yeah, Ben, I forgot to mention that whole "working suspension" thing.  I had the same issue, a couple on the left side and one or two on the right would NOT stay put, so I glued the middle four road wheels on each side in the full "down" position.  Kinda wonky that way.

That's right.  I just remembered now that I had to glue one of those wheels because it didn't stay down.  In most cases I would just glue all wheels since I don't plan to move them like I used to when I was a kid. 

Just picked up a Stug G at my club meeting last night so I'll be watching too.

[quote user="terry35"]

anthony2779:

Ben,you are just becoming a prolific armor producing machine,good luck with this one and keep em coming.

 

Yeah thats the words I was looking for.

Terry.

[/quote]

LOL!

It's looking that way ain't it? I've still got a LOT to learn - I realise that with each new build but I'm getting there all the same.

Re the rubbish 'suspension' I've since realised that there are also six different suspension arms on the two 'A' sprues that are meant for fixing in a permanent position - the have a hole in them that keeps them in one place - the stopper for the swinging arms pushes into these holes. Shame I'd already glued the other arms in place! A bit gimmicky and Tamiya should have given me the option of using both. I didn't even notice the other arms until much later after I'd looked up this problem with the kit on Google and the other arms were mentioned. If you aren't going to have it sat on a base with wheels going over raised rocks or logs etc then I can't see the point of using the suspension. I'm not exactly planning to play 'Army' with my builds! Ooooh, that could be fun

As usual I'll get the basic build down and the wheels and tools will be left until later. I much prefer painting everything like the tools etc off the vehicle. Still undecided on what to do re the interior. I think I'll have the main hatches closed and only the single periscope hatch open.  A nice covering of Efelbien (?) and the seats in position will be fine. The gun looks great fun so I'll go to town on that. I might risk another go at MK's with this build as well. The vinyl tracks will look awful.

I'll get a few photos up later. I'm covering the work phone this morning until 2pm and was up at 5:30am for a 6am start. I remember why I chose the pm shift now! I NEED COFFEE! It's 9:15am here now so not long left. I didn't get my first call until 9am so that was three hours that I got paid double time for to go back to sleep!

I'll post a quick photo update later when I've actually done some building this afternoon.

ATVB

Ben

Hi guys,

Just a quick update. Nothing fancy I'm afraid - I'm saving that for the exterior (hopefully)!

I'm at the point where I wanted to be right now. Chassis assembled and upper hull hatches in place.

Gun assembled and a VERY basic painting of the interior. I've just used normal Flat White with a Brown filter to take the edge off. I've decided to have the main hatches on the fighting compartment roof closed and only the small hatch for the Periscope attached to the gun assembly poking out. The fighting compartment roof is yet to be assembled btw.

It's the exterior that I really want to go crazy with so I won't be wasting time detailing the interior or the gun as it won't even be possible to view it. I'm planning a nice used and abused look with some good chipping (which I need practice on anyway) and heavy weathering and rusting using different methods.

I know it's nothing special at the minute chaps but bear with me and let me get the tools and decals on then I'll really get going!

Overall, a lovely kit that builds up really quickly. I did notice that the error on the instructions that Big Smitty had pointed out have been removed - you can see the gaps where the incorrect arrow line was removed! This kit is dated 2007 so must have been tarted up and the mistakes removed?

Please ignore the light mark on the front RHS hatch - I stupidly handled it with some thin cement on my figures. I've buffed the mark out but until the paint is down it will remain visible.

Thanks for looking guys and I hope you all have a good week.

ATVB, 

Ben

Hello guys,

Okay - making progress

The fighting compartment roof has been fully assembled but has not yet been glued in place as I'm planning to have the very small hatch open to cater for the single Periscope mounted on the gun assembly. I've drilled out the flat face of the Periscope and before I I glue the roof down the periscope needs painting up tomorrow and it also needs some slight adjustment as I fitted it leaning forwards a tad too much so it will foul on the front small hatch which will be closed. I think I'll just snip it off and CA it back on in a better position.

Also, the PE grills are mounted along with front main and Notek lights and smaller lights to the rear. I will have to make some small runs of fine wire going out to the Notek light, small side lights & loudspeaker

Finally the antennae rest and base are in place so I'll get this Periscope sorted tomorrow and I'll prime the vehicle and assemble the road wheels and drive/idler wheels so I can hit her with some paint next week!

So far so good. A nice easy build that should weather up nicely as I love working with plain old Panzer Grey. I'm going to put some Friuls on her as the kit tracks are pretty poor and won't have a hint of sag in them.

WIP update tomorrow!

Thanks for looking folks,

ATVB

Ben  

Seem to be slowing down Ben?

Progress seems solid no matter what. I hope your enjoying it as it seems to be a really nice kit to work with .

Terry.

Me likey.

terry35

Seem to be slowing down Ben?

Progress seems solid no matter what. I hope your enjoying it as it seems to be a really nice kit to work with .

Terry.

Ha ha ha!

I wondered how long it would take for someone to notice my lack of productivity!

Easily explained though, if I may: Were are seriously short staffed at work and with these selfish, self centred sods  at work going and getting pregnant or contracting Swine Flu etc  I've worked the last three weekends on the trot - Saturday and Sunday! Not solid work but I have the company laptop with our software on it set up at home and if anyone rings the out-of-hours emergency number I have to deal with the problems. To rectify a problem it could take 1 minute, it could take 2 hours! I might get 2 calls during the day but on other occasions I'll get 12 at least! I might be in full flow on an assembly and it really puts you off your 'rythm' when a 1 hour call distracts you!

Now the good part: As I'm the 'most senior member of staff' or the old git I am the only one (apart from management) who can take the out of hours calls. It's double time and once I got paid 8 hours double time for sitting on my butt building a Panther - the phone didn't ring once!

Now all the sickies are finished and we have new starters and trained people I'm back to normal with a healthy pay packet to come so I can buy the Dragon M7 Priest that I really want!

I'm working Next Sunday morning 6am - 2pm then that's it for a while so it's back to churning out models again now. I haven't worked this weekend hence my completion of the basic assembly less the wheels and today I'll get the wires fixed to the lights and the vehicle primed ready for painting next weekend. I'm also going to paint up the tools ready for fitting pre-weathering.

As you say Terry, It's a very nice little build that knocks together quickly with the absolute minimun of cleanup - highly recommended, particularly for a newcomer to modelling.

WIP update later!

ATVB

Ben

moving along nicely

Ben,

I've been out of the loop far too long.  There are some nice builds going on and then I caught on to this one.  I've always liked the looks of the short barreled Stugs.  They make me think of a knife fighting in a phone booth.  I'll be following along on this build.  I am looking forward to seeing what you do with this one.  

Cheers

Dave

Nice to see this one's still progressing Ben, looking good!

Hi folks,

I know the something crashed yesterday but I didn't know that it had taken my post for yesterday with it!

This is what I had posted for the weekends work:

Just a quick update:

The whole build has been primed with Vallejo Grey Primer. wires (5 amp fuse wire) has been fitted to add detail up front to the lights etc.

The Fighting Compartment roof isn't fixed yet btw.

All the tools are ready to go and are cleaned & painted up. The road wheels have been assembled but need painting so they'll get done next week with the circle stencil & air brush.

Moving along nicely now - I can't wait to get some colour on her!

Sorry about this terrible photo!

Thanks for looking folks,

I'll be going all out for a solid finish, now that the overtime barrage has ceased!

Have a great week chaps

ATVB

Ben