Tamiya StuG III Ausf.B

[Andrew Hall]

Well, my next project was going to be a late war Sd.Kfz.222 with Lion Roar etched set etc etc. but seeing as Mr. Lawler beat me to it by a couple of days I've had to have a change of plan. :yell: :yell: :yell:

While my Ausf. F2 is waiting for a primer coat I thought I'd tackle this kit as I bought a couple when they came out. Along with the Voyager 'upgrade' set it should be a quick ( :D ) and easy build.

The usual excellent Tamiya box art shows a vehicle of 2./ StuG.Abt.226 in June 1941. In June, Stug.Abt.226 were based in Poland, the 2 kompanie east of Molozew, waiting for the start of Operation Barbarossa to cross the River Bug.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0001.jpg

The kit shows very nice detail

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0006.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0007.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0005.jpg

The Voyager set; looks great but my rule is if it doesn't improve the kit parts, it doesn't get used.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0002.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0009.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0008.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0010.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0011.jpg

I've started putting a few bits together and wanted to show the rather odd way Tamiya have done the 'movable' suspension. Odd, as it only works on the front and rearmost roadwheel arms and the rest of the roadwheel arms are left to dangle. It's a little toy-like IMHO and as there is quite a bit of pressure exerted from the springs I think it possibly best to glue the suspension in place. Or at least I will be.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0004.jpg





http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0003.jpg

So, it's over the Bug for this StuG.....

Andrew

[lquah]

Andrew

Mighty glad you picked the Tamiya/Voyager combo as I was comtemplating the same build for a while. Kinda of like what Rick's 222 did to you but I'm actually more relieved as I can just sit back and enjoy watching you work your way through this build. Good idea on the checking the Voyager bits as I found in my Panther build that not all shiny parts are necessary better than the kit parts.

And you might want to check out the LionMarc screw heads for the superstruturce roof. I think Sticky John used them in one of his many Stugs and they looked real nice.

LQ

[RickLawler]

Well, my next project was going to be a late war Sd.Kfz.222 with Lion Roar etched set etc etc. but seeing as Mr. Lawler beat me to it by a couple of days I've had to have a change of plan. :yell: :yell: :yell:
Andrew

Mr. Hall...or, may I call you Andrew? Now I'm feeling bad, but there is plenty of room here on this cyber Planet Armor for two, or even perhaps three Sd.kfz.222's to be constructed at the same time. They, indeed, are quite small in size. Therefore, there should be ample room amongst the larger Tiggers and such if you were to decide to build one as well.

So...really? You were going to pull one of these out as well? I thought I was the only one needing therapy. I'd really like to see what you'd do with it! You said late war, so what did you have in mind....I promise I won't hijack your idea. :D

Now onto the StuG. Great, I'm glad that you're building, and the update set looks good. I like your motto about only using what really upgrades, I have to admit that I sometimes forget to be objective and use the PE parts without giving it much thought. Good reminder.

looking forward to the build,

[james84]

Fantastic kit!
I always wanted to do one!

[Kreighshoer]

very kewl andrew! another stug3 ausf. b :D

I've started putting a few bits together and wanted to show the rather odd way Tamiya have done the 'movable' suspension. Odd, as it only works on the front and rearmost roadwheel arms and the rest of the roadwheel arms are left to dangle. It's a little toy-like IMHO and as there is quite a bit of pressure exerted from the springs I think it possibly best to glue the suspension in place. Or at least I will be.

this was also my very first impression but meanwhile i really like the way they engineered the suspension and leaving four roadwheels out of the working suspnsion part also makes sense to me as long as aftermarket tracks will be used ... if they had made the inner four wheels also workable the effect would be that there would be no effect (IMHO) ...

to be frank i am anxiously waiting to see the whole suspension with wheels completed on my build and how this all will come out :)

cheers

[AfRiKaKoRpS]

Nice choice Andrew. Maybe you would like to join our Group Build ?

Chris

[Uruk-Hai]

Its a bit early in the stages to give commets. I will follow this and get back as long as you keep us updated.

Cheers

[pwranta193]

but I'm not sure that I've ever actually known you to do an OOB build :D

It is a nice little improvement over their earlier mk IIIs - but could still do with a bit of detail (look at the front mud guards, for instance) - and the back side of the gun mantlet needs a little TLC, as the exterior detail leaves off a lot of the visible hardware, IIRC.

I have one of these "In Stasis" from last year's house move - when I lost my Mojo on it... I had thought about dusting it off to go with my T-34, but one thing at a time. This will give me a chance to see about my After Market options :)

Looking for more...

[Andrew Hall]

Evening all and thanks for the comments.

LQ: ....and I'm not too impressed with this PE set so far!

Rick: Yes, I really was ready to go on a 222. I was waiting for Toadmans CD to turn up a few weeks ago but got waylaid by my Pz.IV. There were quite a few 222 still in units right until wars end and you can see them turn up in pics. No biggie I'll just watch you trawl your way through the LR set :)

Laura, well I must admit I wasn't too happy with the way they've done the suspension. I had a gut feeling the model would ride a little high but more on that in a minute. I also just spotted you're doing a StuG.B, I completely missed that group build thing.

Chris, thanks for the kind offer and apologies I missed the thread. I'd best leave it here for now.

Janne, please dive in when you have any comments :)

Aahhh Mr. Ranta. Well you know me :) Nice kit yes and I'm starting to spot little things as I refer to my photos hmmmm.

Anyway, this is what I've done while watching the film 'Elizabeth' tonight.

The first thing I 'improved' was to replace the bolts that attach the roadwheel arms to the torsion bars (sort of). There's a nasty little mould mark running across the cap.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0012.jpg

I've shown this before but for tiny rivets and small bolts I just use a cut down set of sewing needles. These are used to punch out small discs of plastic card or brass. I use an old lead soldier mould to punch in to. The points are ground back until the full diameter of the wire is reached. Quick and easy job and you can knock out tiny rivets to your hearts content. They do come out slightly domed but they're so small you can't really notice.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0013.jpg

I filed down the mould line and replaced the bolts.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0014.jpg

As you can see I also knocked out some larger bolts to replace the ones missing from the kit

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0016.jpg

I've also added the grease nipples for the roadwheel arms - you can just make out the little white dots at the 2 o'clock position on each roadwheel arms socket.


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0015.jpg
Diffs get a coat of thinned Greenstuff and an oil drain plug and the wheels sprocket and idler go on.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0017.jpg
Now what I was alluding to above talking to Laura was that I felt the StuG might sit a little high when complete if I kept the springs in place. What I've done is to leave them in place, stuck a weight on the front of the hull and pour cyano into the holes to lock the suspension up solid. The weight will give the vehicle a nose down attitude - although you probably can't see in this pic.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/Andrewausfa/StuGB0018.jpg

[Larry Bates]

Mr. Hall,

Doing a sbs? Cool.

Laz

[Kreighshoer]

andrew: i know whose of our stuggies will be a winner ... your attention to details amaze me even in this early stage! :thumb:

i will follow your build with very much interest!

LARRY - DAMN IT WHERE WERE YOU? good to see you back! :thumb:

cheers

[Larry Bates]

Hi Laura,

Thanks, its nice to be "missed", :p

Laz

[James Tainton]

I've done is to leave them in place, stuck a weight on the front of the hull and pour cyano into the holes to lock the suspension up solid. The weight will give the vehicle a nose down attitude -

Nice work so far Andrew. But I wonder why the nose down attitude- are there some broken suspension arms?

[Andrew Hall]

Hi James No, a modelling cheat to make a look a little more aggressive. My poor Stug has to compensate for not having a very big barrel :) It's not pointing down at a great angle to be honest there's about a 1.5mm difference now, front to rear, so nothing too outrageous. I bet you won't notice in the end. The nose heaviness is way more apparent in the JPIV or rear heaviness in a JT.

Larry nice to see you back.

Cheers - Andrew

[AfRiKaKoRpS]

Andrew, you make a very nice looking StuG, pleasure to watch your updates.

Chris

[Sticky]

Hi Andrew, nice progress so far. Did you know that inside the box are the Pz III L suspension arms? Yep, you can scrap the silly workable suspension just by swapping parts. The L parts also have the mold line in a much easier place to clean up!

[MartinD]

Andrew,

Yes, the suspension can snap. The same method is used on Tamiya's Pershing and one spring did snap on my kit :( ... nothing that some CA couldn't fix though

Your StuG look good! Nice detailing.

Cheers, MartinD

[Larry Bates]

Larry nice to see you back.

Andrew-san,

Thanks. Will be watching this build.

Laz