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Building a DML Stug IIIB

Modifications

The Stug was built out of the box aside from the following modifications:

1. I hacked off some fender and distorted the front fenders to give the vehicle a used look. I thinned the plastic of the fenders from below, then distorted the thinned plastic a bit with a knife, needle etc.
    

2. I added wire for the headlight.
    

3. I built a rear rack from plastic sheet. I made the rack to match photos of Stugs I've seen. The Schiffer Sturmgeschutz book, Squadron's Stug in Action and God Honor Fatherland were the sources I used at the time. The rack was pretty easy to make. I made all the long lengths of plastic too long, and cut them to fit the back deck.
    

4. I added a bunch of stuff from my spares box to the rear rack. I used a length of tracks as a support at the back of the rack (just like in the pictures I have!).
    

5. I wanted to depict some crewmen, so I had to open up the hatches. There is minimal detail on the interior of the hatches, so I built a representation of the locking mechanism for the hatches from plastic sheet cut thin and pieces of leftover PE fret. The Schiffer Sturgeschutz book has some good photos to use as a guide.
    

6. The commander figure is a DML figure from the late Pz Crew set (Wittman's crew) with a Verlinden head. The crewman is a Tamiya figure from the Pz Crew at Rest set with a Verlinden head. Both figures were painted mostly in oils. I base coated in acrylics, then added a home mix of olive green oil with yellow and black to do the assault gun uniforms. The flesh was painted with a base coat of Polly Scale Israeli tan followed by raw sienna oils.

Copyright ©2002 - Text and Photos by Andy Herbert. All Rights Reserved.