I was wondering if the academy stug IV kit was any good?

It builds into a nice-looking model War-Machine.
It is however "old" Academy (ie Tamiya copy) - motorization holes in the hull, fairly ordinary tracks, large holes in the sills above the tracks......
Also, if you like the look of the Ardennes camo on the box-top and sides, it is not covered in the instructions, or on the decal sheet ....
It supposedly does have some accuracy issues - Mg-34 shield too big, side skirts and mountings wrong, some of the rear hull detailing not right - stuff like that.
I did the Ardennes finish with mine and it does look good - I'm not a rivet counter tho, so I guess it depends on your priorities.
It is also cheap here in Oz, about 1/3 the price of Dragons Stug III

Apparently its a Tamiya kit with some minor alterations. As a result, pretty much any review on the Tamiya kit will be applicable. Apparently the StuG IV is alright, but the DML version is better. I can't provided any links at the moment sorry.

Cheers,
Linz

I guess it depends on what type of modeler you are. If you just want your model to sort of look like the vehicle that it is supposed to be depicting then the Academy/Tamiya StuG IV is fine, but if you are going for accuracy I would highly recommend getting the DML StuG IV instead. I just finished the Tamiya StuG IV and being that I am an accuracy nut I had a lot of work to do. I spent close to $200 on AM stuff and spent 3 months scratch-building and fiddling with the AM barrel, PE, tracks, exhaust, etc. The DML kit would have taken significantly less time and probably would have turned out better, but I was looking for a challenge and I got it. If you want to see some pictures of my finished StuG IV click on the "Adam's Attic" link below and look for the pictures there. If you have any specific questions about the StuG IV itself, the model, the AM stuff, or references on the StuG IV please let me know as I spent countless hours researching the vehicle on top of the 3 months that I spent building it.

I've built the Italeri Kit and although it's quite old now, I thought it was a good.

As a rule I like the track details on all PzKpfw IV tracks by italeri.

The tamiya tracks have always been lacking in detail. Haven't built any academy Kits to date, but good luck.

I built a DML Stug IV Early about 18mos ago. That's a nice kit if you can get it. Indy links, lots of spare parts, and more accurate than the Academy knock-off/Tamiya original.

I know Adam built a nice Tamiya kit recently!

The only thing I added to my DML kit was a coat of zimmerit, a bit of putty and paint. I think the Academy kit needs more, unless you are building OOB.

Cheers
Andy

Thanks, that stug looks good avukich, so are DML and dragon the same company? :-)

Yes, DML is Dragon Models Limited. Also known as Shanghai/Dragon Kirin also adds some unique resin or plastic parts to DML kits to create a variant like the M-84 or T-72 Lion of Babylon.

Thanks, i was really wondering because i can only find dragon models at my local store, so now i know. thanks