Sturmpanzer IV early

[Panzergrenadier]

Hi!

I know I haven't been the most active member recently, but that doesn't mean I haven't done any modeling. The hobby shop here got the Tristar Sturmpanzer IV in stock recently so I decided to give it a go.


http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/stup.jpg

The kit itself is really nice, but the complicated suspension construction slowed things down a bit. After that hurdle the more fun part started. I had some issues (partly due to my own stupidity) with the front plate hatches. The mayor superstructure plates went together rather nicely. I added some flame cut texture to the ends of the plates. Some welds were missing and some needed boosting up a bit. All good fun as the joints are simple and it was a really straight forward matter. The tracks surprised with how easy they were to assemble. No other blemished except the two sprue connection points. I have added one picture with the shurtzen all applied, but I think I will most probably leave only some on in the end.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/CopyofIMGP3132.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/CopyofIMGP3131.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/CopyofIMGP3130.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/CopyofIMGP3129.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/CopyofIMGP3128.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/CopyofIMGP3127.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/CopyofIMGP3133.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff110/panzergrenadier91/CopyofIMGP3122.jpg


Siim

[James Tainton]

Those close ups don't lie- pretty nice job on the seams!

[armor fiend]

I was going to ask why a sturmpanzer looks like a bummbar.

[RickLawler]

I know I haven't been the most active member recently, but that doesn't mean I haven't done any modeling

...I didn't think that you'd been sitting idle!!! Great buiding, Siim. The welds and torch cuts look spot on!

Rick

[canjuaan]

Very good job on the welds and the torch texture. How did you do it (the torch texture)?

And a little nitpicking in the end; it's spelled Schürzen (or Schuerzen) ;)

Johannes

[Markus]

Hey Siim,
never would think you get lazy ;).
Great job on this one (didn´t expect anything else)!
I would LOVE to hear (well, read) how you did the weld seams. How about a SBS mate? :thumb:
They look amazing!
Keep it up and let it see some paint!

[pwranta193]

Give my creation Life!!! Sorry - too close to Halloween :D

Ace job on the welds - and yeah - give us the skinny on the flame cuts, what's your method. I've got this on the bench with a home made interior - and really like the kit.

Have you had any fit issues to date? I ended up with a couple small ones, but believe they were self inflicted. Good to see the links work so nicely, as I haven't started them yet :)

Tell us more... show us more... sood to see you back at the forge :)

[MikkoH]

Exellent work with those welds and torch cuts! Jeah we want SBS!:D

[James Tainton]

a home made interior So Paul, how do the gents manage to enter and exit, survey the battlefield and fire the MG from the rooftop hatchway position on these Brummbaers- do you you have any good reference how they managed this? It's quite a height from the floor of the fighting compartment floor and the roof hatch and I have not seen anything yet that explains this to me.

[MZsolt]

Siim, great work! and from my side another vote on an SBS :) (both weld & torch, of course)
cheers,
Zsolt

[Flak]

Great work always...Siim :thumb:

[Panzergrenadier]

Wow, so many responses and great words...Thank you all very much!


About the welds.... I suggest you look at this tutorial:

http://armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=485

I also got some tool making inspiration etc from this one:

http://armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=220

I am a bit short on time myself and it would really mean I have to duplicate these fine tutorials.

The flame cut texture was actually really simple to make. I used a hobby saw, which is far far to coarse and big for plastic modeling. tilted the blade some 30 degrees or so so it would just scrape and not remove too much material. Then you just pull the saw in one direction and it should make a groove thingy. Just do this quite rapidly and you should end up with a nicely rough surface. Remember not to add too much pressure as you want to damage the surface, but not remove too much plastic. I will do a tutorial as soon as I have time.


Siim

[Sturmmann]

The flame cut texture was actually really simple to make. I used a hobby saw...
Siim

Aren't you clever? Outstanding work Siim. Now on to the paint job and make sure it gets the finish it deserves.

dave

[pwranta193]

Not to hijack Siim's discussion:

Okay - and this is heavily dependent on discussions with LQ, so he gets most of the credit. It's lunch at work, so I'm going from memory.

Sources: I started with the usual suspects from Kubinka, but these show no rear stowage or bench. I went with using a figure to replicate the approximate height of a figure standing in the hatch as seen in photos, and how tall it should have been. By my calculations it worked out to be a little taller than the 150mm round so I built is as such, going with a flip up bench that runs the width of the back portion.

LQ, then reminded me of a couple of terribly obscured Ebay shots (rubber bands, legos, assorted crap, etc.) that showed up last year, and an PE set (name?) with a not workable solution, but that made partial sense, and helped me figure out the side stowage.

Ultimately, I made the bench/stowage the height of a full size round <speculation on my part>, plus the height of powder casing stowage box, with a left and right lid <all shown in the Ebay photo>. The side stowage only holds 26 rds (13 on each side), with some signs of additional verticle stowage on the kubinka model, on the floor in the loaders position. Even if you could get six rounds in there, it still needs room for six more for the basic load. As I don't think there was functional space along the gunner/TC side, right or wrong, I'm showing that as round racking under the rear bench.. along with 7.92mm linked stowage. Still haven't made the guess on the MG34 stowage. I placed the MP38 and mag pouches on the rear wall but the lego shots look like it is junction boxes for comms.

Access? Path of least resistance... usually through the top hatches, but in more risky area the rear hatch is completely usable once the rear platform/bench is in place. Pictures at some point :D

Back to Siim and our regularly scheduled programming..

[James Tainton]

Thanks for that Paul, and look forward to the pics. bitte entschuldigen Sie, Siim. ;)

[Panzergrenadier]

All this info is most welcome, thanks for taking the time to write it. The point James raised is most interesting and I hadn't really given much though to this before. Paul feel free to post any material that could illustrate your post as I am a bit confused right now. I can't quite imagine how it all looked like.:o

[pwranta193]

or my version, anyway... Siim - thanks for the space :D

Pardon the pic quality, but I am playing around with the new booth but don't have the overhead lamp or the parchment in place yet. Hopefully you'll get the idea.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/pwranta193/Berge%20build/Stupaguts2.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/pwranta193/Berge%20build/Stupaguts.jpg

The cartridge boxes are the ribbed assemblies running across the back half of the hull.

Some conclusions, thanks to the insights of LQ:
- the after market set has the ribbed stowage boxes seen in the Kubinka shots (the ones placed in the round stowage area) mounted on the back wall.
- this doesn't fit logically - which is reinforced by the recent goofy Ebay shot showing a horizontal stowage box, the depth of a single casing
- while not sure where they belong, they don't seem to match the configuration, and may be from a different vehicle?
Notations courtesy of LQ:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/pwranta193/Berge%20build/buildnotesLQ3.jpg

Does this help?