_GOTOBOTTOM
Campaigns: Ardennes Offensive
This is the campaign group for Ardennes Offensive
Hosted by Richard S.
Sensei's -Ardennes offensive - StuG IV
Sensei
Visit this Community
Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
Joined: October 25, 2003
KitMaker: 1,217 posts
Armorama: 799 posts
Posted: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 03:24 AM UTC
Ola, i decided to leave the Tamiya wespe aside and instead i built Italeri StuG IV, its now fully assembled, next to do is make damage to side armor and hull and start painting. This thingy will end up on a diorama.








More pics in my gallery.
all coments/critics/suggestions are welcome


Mirko
ShermiesRule
Visit this Community
Michigan, United States
Joined: December 11, 2003
KitMaker: 5,409 posts
Armorama: 3,777 posts
Posted: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 04:13 AM UTC
Good looking Stug. What are the letters on the skirts?
Sensei
Visit this Community
Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
Joined: October 25, 2003
KitMaker: 1,217 posts
Armorama: 799 posts
Posted: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 04:30 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Good looking Stug. What are the letters on the skirts?



:-) thise are "reminders" i was doing that last step late night like 3 am so when i was cutting all of armor plates together i marked them "L-eft" "R-ight" and "C-entral" #:-)


Easy_Co
Visit this Community
England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: September 11, 2002
KitMaker: 1,933 posts
Armorama: 985 posts
Posted: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 06:09 AM UTC
Nice looking stug, Ive got a terrific photo of one of them abandoned half in half out of a river during the bulge.
andy007
Visit this Community
Wellington, New Zealand
Joined: May 01, 2002
KitMaker: 2,088 posts
Armorama: 1,257 posts
Posted: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 08:36 PM UTC
Mirko,
The Tammy Stug IV was my first and only German build.
Yours is of to a good start can't wait to see it finished
steeldog51
Visit this Community
England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: September 04, 2004
KitMaker: 1,114 posts
Armorama: 0 posts
Posted: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 10:05 PM UTC
now this is looking sweet mate !
loos like a good clean build so far
nice to see you make reminders ! :-) i do the very same things :-) the side skirts look nice and thin very convincing! and the tracks look great very nice build !
the aerials look a little thick ?maybe ?
or could just be the light and i can see a slight flat spot on the top of the barrel but these are no problem at all .! so all together a great build of a cool subject
cant wait to see the paint mate ! keep us informed .
Elad
Visit this Community
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Joined: June 19, 2004
KitMaker: 458 posts
Armorama: 269 posts
Posted: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 10:35 PM UTC

looks good, what camo are you going to give it?

how are you going to paint the lower hull and running gear with the Schuratzen on or did you just temporarly tac it for the photos?
Sensei
Visit this Community
Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
Joined: October 25, 2003
KitMaker: 1,217 posts
Armorama: 799 posts
Posted: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 10:49 PM UTC

Quoted Text


looks good, what camo are you going to give it?

how are you going to paint the lower hull and running gear with the Schuratzen on or did you just temporarly tac it for the photos?



Well, im gonna paint it panzer gray with whitewash, schurtzen are not glued, im still considering how many of them to leave and need to damage them a lot

lover hull is already painted panzer gray and tracks are gun metal, just left to paint rubber parts on wheels.
Graywolf
Staff MemberSenior Editor
HISTORICUS FORMA
Visit this Community
Izmir, Turkey / Türkçe
Joined: December 01, 2001
KitMaker: 6,405 posts
Armorama: 1,850 posts
Posted: Saturday, December 25, 2004 - 12:27 AM UTC
nice built Mirko,it will look great on the dio. some damage on side skirts can look good too.
Merry Christmas (:-)
slodder
Visit this Community
North Carolina, United States
Joined: February 22, 2002
KitMaker: 11,718 posts
Armorama: 7,138 posts
Posted: Saturday, December 25, 2004 - 12:38 AM UTC
Nice job - Two quick points. The antenna look a smidge on the big side ? not really sure. The front left (facing) spare track holder bracket looks to have been pulled away from the hull. Is that on purpose or an oopsie?
Looks good, can't wait for paint.
lestweforget
Visit this Community
Victoria, Australia
Joined: November 08, 2002
KitMaker: 2,832 posts
Armorama: 1,500 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 26, 2004 - 01:18 AM UTC
Nice Mirko, its coming along excellent!
cheers
Puma112
Visit this Community
Florida, United States
Joined: January 19, 2003
KitMaker: 322 posts
Armorama: 183 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 26, 2004 - 03:02 AM UTC
Very good job.
Are the tracks from the kit or aftermarket?
Sensei
Visit this Community
Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
Joined: October 25, 2003
KitMaker: 1,217 posts
Armorama: 799 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 26, 2004 - 07:04 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Very good job.
Are the tracks from the kit or aftermarket?



The tracks are from the kit, vinyl ones, i really like them, they are perfect lenght, and they recieve colur nice.
Major_Goose
Visit this Community
Kikladhes, Greece / Ελλάδα
Joined: September 30, 2003
KitMaker: 6,871 posts
Armorama: 2,071 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 26, 2004 - 07:26 PM UTC
well thats a nice build so far Mirk o . Seems clean and correct .I hope u dont have any difficulties in painting with all stuff added up.
I look forward your upgrades
Henk
Visit this Community
England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: August 07, 2004
KitMaker: 6,391 posts
Armorama: 4,258 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 26, 2004 - 10:44 PM UTC
Looking good Mirko, just one thing. I don't want to be nit picky, but the StuG IV was produced from December 1943, and would not have been painted in 'Panzer' Grey, but in Dunkelgelb, and then probably in camouflage. But if you cover the whole vehicle in a 'new' white wash, that should not be a real problem.

cheers
Henk
Hohenstaufen
Visit this Community
England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: December 13, 2004
KitMaker: 2,192 posts
Armorama: 1,615 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 26, 2004 - 10:57 PM UTC
Looking good. I like the skirts & the tracks. I'd agree with Henk about the colour. Also the MG looks like an MG34, I think it should be an MG42 for the Ardennes?
Sensei
Visit this Community
Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
Joined: October 25, 2003
KitMaker: 1,217 posts
Armorama: 799 posts
Posted: Sunday, December 26, 2004 - 10:59 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Looking good Mirko, just one thing. I don't want to be nit picky, but the StuG IV was produced from December 1943, and would not have been painted in 'Panzer' Grey, but in Dunkelgelb, and then probably in camouflage. But if you cover the whole vehicle in a 'new' white wash, that should not be a real problem.

cheers
Henk



well i know italeri paint schemes ussually sucks, but mine has 5 diferent ofers, 2 of them are panzergray, one ardennes (with white stripes) and one grossdeutchland?

could it be that they out on 2 wrong schemes?
Henk
Visit this Community
England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: August 07, 2004
KitMaker: 6,391 posts
Armorama: 4,258 posts
Posted: Monday, December 27, 2004 - 06:38 AM UTC

Quoted Text

well i know italeri paint schemes ussually sucks, but mine has 5 diferent ofers, 2 of them are panzergray, one ardennes (with white stripes) and one grossdeutchland?

could it be that they out on 2 wrong schemes?




Mirko, I think the instructions are half cocked as usual..
Panzergrey with white stripes in the Ardennes? I think we can discount that option. Possibily Darkgreen with a locally applied whitewash instead of the normal camouflage, as some vehicles were painted darkgreen at the factory at that time, but not grey. Italieri has probably looked at one old black and white photograph, and decided that the vehicle was grey...
As for GrossDeutschland, not sure about their deployment in the Ardennes (I'm at work, without my references), but again, unlikely to be Panzergrey at any rate. Still, don't let my ramblings distract from the fine work you have done so far. If you are going to add the white wash, as it would have been just applied, you could cover the entire vehicle without the underlying paint showing through yet, as the wash would not yet have started to wear off. The bottom half could also be covered with a lovely layer of mud and dirt colored snowy slush, as the conditions in the Ardennes where rather muddy.

Cheers
Henk
Sticky
Visit this Community
Vermont, United States
Joined: September 14, 2004
KitMaker: 2,220 posts
Armorama: 1,707 posts
Posted: Monday, December 27, 2004 - 06:43 AM UTC
Nice clean build you got there, I would dump the kits antenna though, they look WAY too thick.
Blade48mrd
Visit this Community
Washington, United States
Joined: September 03, 2004
KitMaker: 1,185 posts
Armorama: 810 posts
Posted: Monday, December 27, 2004 - 07:50 AM UTC
Sensei -

Excellent looking Stug IV and should finish up rather nice for your "Ardennes" project. Would look sweet with some Panzergrenadiers or Fallschirmjager riding? I'll have to agree with Henk on camo and not likely to have seen the Panzergrey at Bulge. Might want to double check in DutchBird's "Order of Battle" he provided for "Ardennes" Campaign, as I remember GrossDeutschland as a Division was primarily in East Prussia. However when GrossDeutschland reformed in Nov 1944, it consisted of the Furhrer Grenadier Brigade and Furhrer Begleit Brigade both of which were at Ardennes assigned to 5th Panzer Army. Furhrer Begleit was in initial attacks and Furhrer Grenadier was reserve until about 23 Dec when it joined in. I believe the Panzer Regt had PzKpfw IV Js and Panthers, but not sure if the Pz Jaeg Abt had just Stug IIIs or IVs. I'll have to defer to someone else's expertise on that. Hope this helps some. Anxious to see the next installments of your build. Great job so far!

Blade48mrd
Sensei
Visit this Community
Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
Joined: October 25, 2003
KitMaker: 1,217 posts
Armorama: 799 posts
Posted: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 12:06 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Mirko, I think the instructions are half cocked as usual..
Panzergrey with white stripes in the Ardennes? I think we can discount that option. Possibily Darkgreen with a locally applied whitewash instead of the normal camouflage, as some vehicles were painted darkgreen at the factory at that time, but not grey. Italieri has probably looked at one old black and white photograph, and decided that the vehicle was grey...
As for GrossDeutschland, not sure about their deployment in the Ardennes (I'm at work, without my references), but again, unlikely to be Panzergrey at any rate. Still, don't let my ramblings distract from the fine work you have done so far. If you are going to add the white wash, as it would have been just applied, you could cover the entire vehicle without the underlying paint showing through yet, as the wash would not yet have started to wear off. The bottom half could also be covered with a lovely layer of mud and dirt colored snowy slush, as the conditions in the Ardennes where rather muddy.

Cheers
Henk



Thanks for all replies guys, i dont have any ref books so its hard to know theese things.

Now, HENK :-) you mentioned a darkgreen colour? this sounds interesting! you have any pics or something i can look? and what colour would that be in Revell enamels? or MM since i can only find those here.

I hope someone will know this little info so i can start painting the beast
Henk
Visit this Community
England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: August 07, 2004
KitMaker: 6,391 posts
Armorama: 4,258 posts
Posted: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 03:26 AM UTC
Mirko, I am trying to find my references regarding the German painting of AFV's, but can't find them.. My bookmarklist went awol a while ago, and I lost some good sites . The green I mentioned was olive green, which with choclate brown was the standard color to be used by the factories when painting camouflage schemes on the Dunkelgelb basecoat. I some instances the base coat was painted in dark green, presumably because of a shortage of Dunkelgelb. I has also been noted that in the later stages of the war some AFV's were camouflaged over the red oxide primer, using that as the base coat.
I'll keep looking for references, and will keep you posted.

Cheers
Henk
 _GOTOTOP