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Building DML’s SiG 33B

Introduction

Throughout World War Two, the German military attempted to mount the Sturm Infantergeschutz (SiG) 33 15cm cannon on several vehicle platforms, one of which was a modified StuG III E. Designated the SiG 33B, 24 of these vehicles were ordered in 1942, 12 of which saw action at Stalingrad and were lost with the other 12 serving on the southern Russian Front throughout 1943. The base kit for this build is DML’s kit #6042 in their ’39-’45 Series together with Model Kasten SK-24 replacement tracks, Aber engine deck grilles, a turned aluminum 15cm barrel from Jordi Rubio, and a turned brass tank variant MG34 barrel from Model Point.

Lower Hull Construction

As one of DML’s older kits, many of the parts trace their heritage to the StuG III B and Pzkpw III kits of various types and ages. Construction began with the road wheels, sprockets, idlers, and return rollers as is customary and due to the multiple sprue attachments, quite a bit of cleanup was necessary along with some flash removal on some wheels depending. The lower hull, consisting of a single-piece tub, required only slight modification in the form of sanding off the molded-on escape hatch outlines and filling in some unnecessary mounting bracket holes for the earlier Pzkpw III vehicle types.

The suspension did require some extensive mold line cleanup on each arm and the instructions continued the history of reversing parts B13 and B14 in the instruction sheet. Some flash was also encountered on the mount arms and test fits with the road wheels revealed that not all of the molded holes on the inner halves were the right diameter to fit properly on the arms, requiring some surgery to correct. I quickly discovered that trying to force them on is not a good idea, snapping off not 1 but 2 arms in the process of dry fitting all the wheels. They were relatively easy to repair but something easily avoided in the first place with just a little care.