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Armor/AFV: Axis - WWII
Armor and ground forces of the Axis forces during World War II.
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Stuh 42 interior?
BBD468
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Posted: Friday, November 11, 2011 - 03:52 AM UTC
Hi all,

i am building the cyber-hobby Stuh 42 Ausf.G OOB. i would like to detail the fighting compartment with some scratch work. problem is i dont have any good interior references. ive already detailed the radio equipment outside that im realy not sure what to do. kit is wonderfull but doesnt have much goodies for the interior. I could use some pics or links to references. Thanks for any responces.

Gary
panzerbob01
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Posted: Friday, November 11, 2011 - 11:26 AM UTC
Gary;

Hi! I would be willing to bet that the interior lay-out and equipment was largely the same as that of the StuG G types, barring the stowage of maybe fewer - but - larger main-gun rounds. So, if you look for pics of the StuG III G interior, including pics of any AM interior kits and the extant interior stuff provided in the several newer CyberHobby and Dragon "G" kits, you should be able to piece together quite a bit of stuff. This, at any rate, is the way I think I'll tackle doing one of those latter pretty soon!

Cheers!

Bob
WARDUKWNZ
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Posted: Friday, November 11, 2011 - 01:09 PM UTC
Hey Gary . This site has a review on the Dragon version of this model and they show pics of all the plans ..which includes the kits interior ..heres the link
http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/article.asp?a=3816
This site has some nice pics of a model a gent has made and the interior pics should give you the info you need on the firing compartment . site link
http://planetarmor.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5831
The drivers position should be pretty much the same i would think .

Phill
BBD468
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Posted: Friday, November 11, 2011 - 01:47 PM UTC

Thanks Bob & Phill for your replies. looks like i now have enough to get a good & fairly accurate interior for this Stuh 42. thx again gentlmen!

Gary
panzerbob01
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Posted: Friday, November 11, 2011 - 03:43 PM UTC
Gary:

Took a spin around the Web - I found something else you might find useful: See "toadmanstankpictures.com" site - he / Tiger Model Designs has available a CD full of StuG III G pics - these are, I believe, pics of the "fully-restored" ex-Finnish Army "G" in the Littlefield Collection. Again, while not a StuH 42, it's probably pretty close in terms of the general gear and detailing and the driver's compartment (which does not get kitted in the newer Dragon / CH kits).

Cheers!

Bob
Frenchy
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Posted: Friday, November 11, 2011 - 10:21 PM UTC
Jacques Littlefield's StuG III pics can also be found on svsm.org :

http://svsm.org/gallery/stug

http://svsm.org/gallery/StuGIII

HTH

Frenchy
BBD468
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Posted: Saturday, November 12, 2011 - 09:00 AM UTC
Hi Bob & Frenchy,

Thanks gentlmen for the references. ive used the info to do a bit of work on the Stuh today so im gonna post some pics to show. its probably not accurate but i think it close enough. heres what i have so far.




Thx
Gary
panzerbob01
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Posted: Saturday, November 12, 2011 - 09:29 AM UTC
Gary;

Radios look really nice - almost like I could reach over and select a freq.! The conduiting and cables look good, too. The first question I have at this point is "are those the kit radios?" _ if so, WOW - much much nicer than those the D supplied with some Pz 1 derivative kits... Those look the part indeed.

And next Q: "how are you going to do up those radios (paint and detail faces) when they are apparently fixed in place in the hull?" That comes from a recent experience I had where I mounted a Tristar German receiver into a semovente - the T - radio came with a nifty PE frame mount - so the mount went into the hull, and (after first trying painting it in the rack.... ), I detailed the radio outside and installed it afterwards. Only way it could likely work for me.

Are you planning on having the hull top loose so that you can open it to display your likely-to-be stellar interior work? Please post pics - I'll be watching!

Bob
BBD468
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Posted: Saturday, November 12, 2011 - 02:21 PM UTC
Hi Bob,

The radios are the kit parts. ive added the cabel and handles with coppert wire. every thing is just sitting in place. ive basicly built the entire model exept the magic tracks but left most of the super structure in sections top front, fireing compartment, then rear engine deck. ill post pics of it in pieces. the radios are removable and have a light coat of primer and will recive the complete detail of paint which im a little nervous about. the top will be removable so to be able to see inside.



Thx Bob
Gary
panzerbob01
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Posted: Sunday, November 13, 2011 - 09:19 AM UTC
Gary:

I'm impressed (both with Dragon's radios and your assembly and detailing thereof)! And from what you show, they seem available and easily handled for painting!

I found that detailing the Tristar version was easy and straight-forward: the first big question to resolve is what color to paint the cases and face-plates... there are actually a few good pics on the internet of these vehicle radios - most show them being painted in a version of what some folks used to call "field-gray". I sprayed mine with black Floquil RR enamel, and followed with ModelMaster "graungrun RLM 74" enamel, which seems to look close the part to many of the available radios. There are other colors used - but not white nor sand, so far as I can find.

The mounts would be the interior color (in your StuH, probably a version of "elfenbein" or off-white) .

You can get a very good idea of the gauges and dials from several available pics - knobs were generally black, and connector fittings... various!

To fill the dials, I used a pointer brush and very thinned white enamel, plus other colors (green, cream and red) in appropriate small places.

That set you have is a lot of radios and extras, and will look mondo great when done up! I'll be waiting!

Cheers!

Bob
retiredyank
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Posted: Sunday, November 13, 2011 - 09:24 AM UTC
This looks like it will be one detail heavy kit. I'll be keeping an eye on it, if you are posting a blog.
Plasticbattle
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Posted: Monday, November 14, 2011 - 05:38 AM UTC
Nice interior Gary. I wrote somewhere else here today ... its amazing what a little wiring can do and what it adds to an interior. A few pieces of personal stowage and you´ve have a plenty busy interior for what can be seen through the hatches. Nice start mate!
BBD468
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Posted: Monday, November 14, 2011 - 11:47 AM UTC
Hi,

Bob, Matt, & Frank, thanks for your kind and inspireing words. this is only my second interior and the first in which ill be doing scratch work. my first interior was the Academy tiger 1 early with interior OOB no extras. i didnt think of doing a build log but i will definatey post updates as i go along. im attempting to build the ammo and powder charge storage boxes as well as the gussets from side wall to floor. also have some dragon radio head sets to add. i will be able to get more done if i can stay away from playing Battlefield 3

Thx
Gary
BBD468
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Posted: Monday, November 14, 2011 - 04:10 PM UTC
Hi all,

here is a little update. i think its turned out better than i expected.needs a little more refinement but here it is


Thx for looking.

Gary
retiredyank
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Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 01:41 AM UTC
I hear you on Battlefield 3. But, it's almost a clone of CoD: Black Ops. If you can, spring for MW3. The graphics are unparalelled.
I check in between MW3 missions.
BBD468
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Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 05:13 AM UTC
Hi Matt,

I got CoD World at War when it came out and i couldnt stop playing for months online. think i lost years worth of being a productive human being playing that darn game. so i have to play BF3 spareingly.or ill get lost in it. i did manage to get a little done on the interior. i made the powder charge boxes 2 different ways and the plasticard was so much easier than the brass. just wanted to experiment a little. heres a couple of pics.



Thx Gary
panzerbob01
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Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 07:57 AM UTC
Gary;

Nice racks! They will look the part, but I would suggest that they need to be further "west" and not block access to the radios! Both for operation and for R&R of the sets. What are you thinking of for ammo?

And, Yeah. Sheet styrene is way easier to work with than is sheet brass in many cases, from my experience!

Bob
BBD468
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Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 12:40 PM UTC
Hi Bob,

i have adjusted the rack to expose the radio. ive also taken off the brass canister and am building one to better match the bottom canister. the more i looked at it the more i didnt like it. as far as the ammo i havent even looked that far ahead yet. thats something i need to reference as im not even sure what the projectiles and powder charges look like. im also unsure as to the wireing and routing of the headsets and where they plug into. all the photos i have leave me scratching my head a bit because they all seem different and alot of the details are a bit obscured. i could definately use more info and advise. ill have more pics later on. Thx Bob and everyone for looking.

Gary
panzerbob01
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Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 01:08 PM UTC
Gary:

Here's some stuff "Frenchy" supplied in another thread dealing specifically with the subject of German AFV radios (the thread title was "German AFV raido", with that mis-spell - ) posted in Armor back ca OCT 20.

quote:[You mean radio ?

These sites may be helpful :
http://www.armyradio.co.uk/arsc/customer/pages.php?pageurl=/publish/Articles/William_Howard_German/German_Tank_Radios.htm&js=n

http://panzerfaust.ca/AFV%20interiors/germrads.html

http://www.desyatnik.com/index.php

Frenchy]quote


There is also a post in that thread with a nice diagram of a typical set-up with phones and mic and power supplies, etc. Go to the "search" box at the top of this page and put in German AFV Raido, and hit "search". This will give you a list of hits and the top one will, I think, be the thread we are speaking of.

The phones (2 sets) either plugged into the receiver in the lower left corner front using a small 2-prong jack, or into a multi-socket box which in turn was plugged in there. Other key bits for you will be the antenna lead plugin, the bus connectors between rcvr and trsmtr (which you have), a mic (on trsmtr), and the power supply line(s).

Cheers!

Bob
BBD468
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Posted: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - 09:25 AM UTC
Hi Bob,

Thanks for all the info. its all a bit confusing to me but i think i can sort it out. there is one diagram that you supplied that i think will be very productive for me. just need to study it close. i definatly now have a great sence of what colors to paint the radios, knobs, dials,etc. in going forward if i make any mistakes please feel free to correct me or point out anything i might need to tweak a bit. i dont need it to look 100% accurate but i dont want it to look like i just kinda made it up as i went. Once again thanks Bob for your input and advice. it is very much appreciated.

Gary
BBD468
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Posted: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - 03:09 PM UTC
Hi all,

did a bit of work today. lots more to do.


Thx for looking.

Gary
BBD468
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Posted: Friday, November 18, 2011 - 10:40 AM UTC
Hi all,

heres some more progress. should i start a seperate build log for this project? or keep posting updates here? didnt intend on a build log but ive kinda turned it in to one i think. thanks for any advise on this.



Thx for looking.

Gary
panzerbob01
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Posted: Friday, November 18, 2011 - 03:11 PM UTC
Gary;

Oh oh...

Don't want to be a wet-blankie here, but that right-side ammo rack still occludes that radio... meaning you are building it as if they installed the radio as a one-time "well, here it is and that's that" deal and then put the ammo rack in... In the real vehicle, those radios needed to be accessible and able to slide in and out of those racks for servicing.

Hey! don't get me wrong - I think you have done a great job and I love it, but this one does stick out in an uncomfortable way!

Bob
SdAufKla
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Posted: Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 03:44 AM UTC
Hi Gary,

I really like what you're doing here, and I can also really appreciate the issues you're running into! I'm doing a similar interior for my StuG IV late, also based on one of the DML kits.

Oddly enough, it was those dang radios that snared me too - They're just too freaking nice to hide away inside the model, but once I decided to show them off, one thing lead to another, and before I knew it, I was caught up in a full-blown fighting compartment interior job!

At about the same stage as you're in right now on your StuH (trying to stuff the ammo racks into their proper places) I discovered that the issues I was having were caused by the simplifications and compromises that DML had to make with the kit's superstructure. When DML designed the kit part, they obviously weren't thinking about adding an interior, so there are some missing details on the interior front wall.

However, the main problem that I ran into was that the kit parts are much too thick which reduces the available space inside the fighting compartment. The main place that this affected my build was in the ammo storage areas. The kit superstructure walls reduce the available space by 1.5 - 2 mm depending on where you're measuring. This meant that my ammo racks (which are based on the fixed prototype dimension of the shell diameters multiplied by the number of shells in each rack wouldn't fit!

What I had to do was thin down the interior thicknesses of the superstructure walls on either side of the opening for the gun. The outside interior walls also need thinning, but there's not much you can do there since that begins a ripple effect with the other interior details. But the inside walls next to the gun opening can be thinned down quite a bit.

If you do this, it might allow you enough room to move your ammo rack slightly forward reestablishing the visually proper spacing with the radios and other side sponson details.

Here's a picture of what I'm trying to describe. On the upper left is my StuG IV and on the upper right is the same area in your StuH. The areas in the red ovals are where the missing interior superstructure parts are needed, and the red arrows show the interior walls that need thinning to fit the ammo racks.



The bottom photos show the same areas in a couple or restored StuG III G's. Realizing of course that the ammo racks for the StuH and the Stug IV were different, you can still see how the available space the the front of the superstructure was used to store the ammo. (And for the StuG III / StuH how the driver's entry / exit clearance was reduced by the superstructure intermediate wall.)

Anyways, I really appreciate what you're doing here and just how hard it is to get all the correctly sized additional bits to fit into the reduced sized model kit superstructure.

However you decide to proceed, you have my complements!

HTH, and good luck! I'll be looking forward to seeing how this one all comes together.
BBD468
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Posted: Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 06:37 AM UTC
Hi Bob & Mike,

thanks for your responses. im going to adress the ammo storage problem again. didnt quite get there the first try. Mike i didnt think at all of shaveing of that area to make more room. thats gonna make a huge difference and should do the trick. as far as the superstucture thats missing ill definately ad that on the driver side however the ohter side im not so sure. ive made my ammo storage box i bit to tall so i will chalk it up to the learning curve and leave it off. im happy with the box and dont want to make another...and i may be a bit lazy. dont tell anyone! ill post pics when i have adjusted things a bit. Thx again gentlemen.

Gary
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