Like with my tiger, there's a smallish deception here, since I actually finished this model months ago, but only completed the weathering just last night. I'm pretty pleased, but only because of the way the pigments worked out. Somehow the kit left me feeling unsatisfied. It's Tamiya's Stug III G, and it goes together very, very fast. In a way, I guess i was prejudiced against it - having spent £22 I expected a bit more from the kit than a simple shake-and-bake. I guess I should have got some AM parts to make up for this, but £22 was at the upper limit of my budget for such a small vehicle (crazy logic, I know, but that's how my modelling mind works!)

Anyway, here are the pics - any feed back would be much appreciated, because although I'm overall pleased, for some reason I just can't fall in love with this one.

I think it's a good overall presentation Beebop. I think the strongest suit is your weathering. Good dust on horiz surfaces, good streaking on the vertical ones.

May I offer two observations though?

The StuG III ausf G was produced after German AFVs switched over from the dark gray to the dark yellow basecoat. You'll get some "accuracy" challenges.

Secondly, omit the chain. Even from the pictures you posted, the links clearly are the twisted type that one would expect to be in jewelry -- not like the tow chain in the back of a wrecker or a heavy AFV.

Aside from these, I think it's a very nice job.

Ooops. Correction is due here. The earliest few vehicles in the ausf G series were released in dark gray paint. (however these had a few differences from the Tamiya early Stug IIIG).

Thanks for the comments - I always had some doubts about the chain and I think you're right about removing it. It is, as you say, formerly from jewelry and so looks a bit funny.

I'm pretty sure I'm ok on the Panzergrau colouring, since i've seen reference pics of Stug 3's in grey rather than dunkelgelb. I'm also very sceptical about the level of consistency the germans applied to following camouflage and painting directions from on high. The profusion of schemes throughout the war gives the lie to any idea of regimented standardisation.

That looks like a Stug! Very nice for a "Shake and Bake" job.

Hmm interesting comment Beepboop. I think what you actually pay for in a Tamiya kit IS the fact that it goes together easily! I know there are some kits that have higher levels of accuracy (e.g. Dragon or AFV Club), but speaking from experience they are not always easy builds (half track hull alignment on Dragons & the AFV Club artillery pieces are very fiddly), so sometimes it's nice to have something that goes together easily! Having said all that, I think your results speak for themselves (with the reservations voiced elsewhere about the chain). Remember too that the Stug is basically a very simple vehicle (compared to say a Tiger or Panther or PzIV), so there really insn't that much to it. If it really bother you I suggest you do the AFV Club LeFH18 next!
The Tamiya Stug III is boxed as a "Fruhe" which I gather is an early version, so maybe they just scrape into Panzer Grey. I'm sure that the changeover wasn't instant, with the high attrition rate on the Eastern Front, I wonder if a delivery would be held up because it was the wrong colour! However, with the Third Reich you never know!!!

I agree with the fact that weathering is your strongest point and that the chain does tend to stand out too much.

A very wel done job overall.

Ditto to jazza and also those tracks look good. Are they individual links or vinal, anyways the sag looks very good.

cheers

Philip

Nice model, love the tracks!
regards

Is it the lighting in the photos or is the running gear done in green pastels?
Or maybe I'm color blind (too much time under the bench lights)
Great weathering job on the dunkelgrau.

Hello Beepboop,
I think you have a done a very fine job. I think the weathering and paint job are very well done. If I could offer two suggestions. First, add a little rust color here and there to help break up the monotone colors. Besides, tanks rusted as well as anything else. I think the rust color would help the tracks as well. My second suggestion is this, add some stowage. Stug crews were notorious for packing anything that wasn't nailed down on the rear decks.

Ragnar

Good looking Stug III Ausf G. You did a great job weathering, and I like the Panzergrau scheme here. Good to go

Keep up the good work !

Cheers !!

Alpen

I agree with pzkfwmk6 above. This looks like it was weathered with two distinct colors, brownish above and greenish below. Distracts from an otherwise nice build.

That's a very nice Stug. Are you going to put it in a dio?

A few things

1) Add some stowage. It would bring life to the model.
2) Add some rust. Rust against dark gray is very nice.
3) I like the weathering. Personally, however, I'm not quite sure if I like the weathering on the lower hull. It's green while the weathering on the upper hull is in dust color. I'm not sure but it's a bit awkward for me.
4) As a final touch, it needs a figure.

Well done.

Angela

Excellent build and weathering.

The only comment I have is about the MG Shield. The shield is held in place by the front half of the loaders hatch and would not stay in place if the hatch is closed.

If you have the Squadron/Signal book "Sturmgeschutz 111 in action", photos on page 37 shows how the MG shield is locked in place by the front half of the loaders hatch.

Good eye Fred about the MG shield!

Another note to beepboop: As I look at your kit more and more, I get more and more impressed with your weathering. The way you have the edges of the tank cleaned of the dust due to crewmembers climbing it or just wind or fauna scratching it is very convincing!

No more of the "frosty" Verlinden/Greenland edges with white drybrushing, eh?

One last thing is that I can see the inside of the drive sprocket needs more dust/dirt. Looks kinda clean.

Again thanks for the feedback everyone - in the words of a British supermarket, every little helps!

Ok, in response to some issues raised:

1) The different weathering colours on hull/superstructure. Believe it or not, they are both weathered with exactly the same pigment - Mig's European Dust. I hate to use the lame-sounding "it came out funny in the photograph" excuse - but the flash photography highlights the superstructure in an odd way - they don't look that different and the hull certainly doesn't look green to the naked eye!

2)MG - yagpanzer. That's very interesting what you say baout the positioning of the MG shield. I wish they'd mnetionied it in the instructions! What happens to the MG itself when the tank is buttoned up? Do they take it inside the tank, or does it somehow lie flat with the shield?

3)Stowage - an excellent idea, thanks for the suggestion Angela. Only thing is, I don't have any! I guess that Verlinden or someone does a set? Any reccommendations? I think I'll probably do a whole new Stug - maybe a very early version from Dragon - and go the whole hog with stowage.

4)A figure. Figures are the terrible gaping hole in my repertoire of modelling skills, such as they are. I can just about do the uniform OK, but the face and hands always make my efforts look like a extra from Night of the Living Dead. Seriously, all my models would look like comedy pieces if I put one of my figures in! Hope getting the better of experience, I have just ordered the Dragon Gen 2 Desperate Defense set, and so I guess I'll mess around with (and probably mess up!) them to try and acquire some talent.

5)Dio. If only I had the time or space, I would put everything in a dio. I really think that a dio setting makes everything look so much better. But I barely have the room to cram my models as they are onto a bookshelf, let alone if they were on a 1' square base! I also suffer from a very dusty house, and as it is my models get covered in fuzz in no time - i'd hate to put the effort into a dio just to see it fade and degrade due to "real life weathering". Once I get a bigger place, and can put in a clear display cabinet, I hope to put quite a few of my finished models into a dio setting. I've always wanted to put a Stug on the back of a Famo trailer, so perhaps this little guy will end up there someday!

6) Worn edges - ericadeane. Thanks for the compliment. I do try to keep the edges clean in my models, although it came out more by accident rather than design in this case. I was trying new techniques with pigments, and by running heavy flows of enamel thinner over the dusted pigment, the edges was naturally washed clean without any direct effort. I personally - and it's just personal preference - have really gone off using the "progressively-lighter-shade" dry-brushing method: I just ain't never seen a vehicle in real life that had all it's raised surfaces traced over in a lighter shade of the base paint! Whilst i think it can make for a "pretty" model, drybrush highlights just make a model look too cartoony for my tastes. That said, some of the best modellers swear by it, so I guess I just don't know how to do it properly!

Beepboop,

The MG was stowed inside the crew compartment when not being used. IIRC, on the rear wall of the crew compartment.

Page 33 of the Squadron book shows a loader fitting an MG 34 to the gun shield.

Thanks for the update yadgpanzer - handy to know. I acutally was looking at a pic of at Stug with its loader at the MG and I can now see exactly what you mean - the front flap of the loaders hatch comes forward to proper the MG shield in place.

Sticky - I'm certainly no authority on varients of Stugs, let alone their paintschemes, but here's the pic I went on when I decided that I didn't have to paint this one yellow:





Clearly, this was never painted dunkelgelb - looks to me like winter whitewash fading on top of a schwarzgrau base. Is this some kind of even earlier varient of the Stug III? What's the difference?

Cheers.

Beepboop, Very nice StuG. Like the others said the weathering is very nice. I have no problem with you painting it dark grey, but just note that smoke grenade dischargers were installed on StuG's built from Feb - May 1943 so they would not be found on a grey StuG.

Oh okay. It does look green.




Well, you can buy Academy's Allied and German Accessories. They're quite cheap. You can also make some of your own (i.e. tarps made from facial paper, gun cleaning rods from plastic rods, boxes, etc.)





Well, that's okay. Take your time. Try to practice on scrap ones. I think you can use this link for a technique. I've been using this technique for my figures.

http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/figures/mbheads/mbheads.htm

Angela