My Tamiya Stug III Ausf G is starting to look like a tank.
I have resculpted the Saukopf mantlet, and it may still be a bit too big but a way better than before. I have primed it with regular car paint primer and I think the basecolour is suitable for a dark green finish.

Saukopf-front view:



Concrete, steel, zimmerit, all made from Milliput.



Trying out the looks with dummy logs. Also showing the DT machine gun. Rear stowage rack is still to be scratchbuilt. Luckily the kit provides all necessary material now that I won´t be needing the sideskirts and supports...



Today I bought a set of German figures having a rest, I thought to use two or three relaxed guys on top of the tank. This will be a kit that will most likely carry itself without any action or humans but I thought it would make a nice scene, one of the guys could be a couple of steps back, taking a photo or something.

Comments and suggestions are welcome as always! I will be updating this thread on regular basis from now on.



Toni

Ok -I'm jealous (you got some good build time this weekend). You have made some great progress. Wasn't it just last Friday that you posted the first update? Nice job on the molding on the front. It looks much better. I agree, it's a bit big, but not bad and it could go, I'm sure with that add on there were variations in the modification.
Keep it up.

Yes, it's looking much better !
What will the groudwork in your dio look like ?

I like what you have done with the cement and the zimmerit, the texture of the cement is very convincing.
I would like to see more pics of the logs on the side though, and how you painted them.
Nice Job Toni,
The machine gun sheild could do with a PE replacement...
Andrew

I don´t know yet, I spend a few hours trying out different figures but 'it´s still not clear what I´m going to have them doing. It was looking very funny, though, having four guys up there all posing for a photo. Very attracting having four faces looking straight at you and smiling!
The groundwork will be very basic I guess, maybe some light sand and grass. Not heavy weather effects, not snow this time. Just a nice warm summer day.
Another activity they could be doing is that they could be attaching the logs with steel wire. I read that when they got these dunkelgelb Stugs from Germany, they attached the logs and oversprayed them with green after that. So one missing log could reveal dunkelgelb hull side with the German cross in it...
I´m not sure whether it was the case with this particular tank though.
If I find that interesting enough I will cut off the accuracy and instead show more of these special modifications within this one project. I think I´m going to use the kit´s rubber tyred return rollers painted all-steel anyway.




Thanks Andrew! The "logs" are just pieces of wood from my back yard and they are not the final ones. Just dummies to get a picture how it will look. I´m going to use real wood in the final setting too, I see no point in sculpting those as the nature provides me just the right pieces of wood. All I have to do is to see that the texture fits the scale.
What do you mean with the PE replacement? Do you mean that the shield is too thick or what? Is there a particular PE set for the machine gun shield and how does it differ from the kit´s shield?

Thanks,
Toni

If you find the shield too thick and you want to replace it, you may not need to by PE.
Is there some detail on it inside ?
I baught some brass sheet at a RC modeling shop. It is thin enough to be easily cut with scissors. That way, I can make simple shapes. Then, you have to add details : rivets...

So far, I've used it only once on a very simple shape : to replace the mudguards on an old tamyia sdkfz 223.

Hmmm....
Penpen, that´s a good one. The shield has some nice detail in it but it may be too thick and the details inside are easily replaceable. Besides after the war Finns made these shields of BT-7 armor so it could be a nice touch even if it would look a bit "home-made"!




Toni

Well Toni I must have been sleeping these days

Great job on that vehicle dude. I have seen several pics of that vehicle in Finnish use And you are really on the good way dude


Keep updating

Nice work Envar, looks good.

Hi Toni,

This is great looking tank! I especially like the cement as well as the Zimmerit.

I have a question, the machine gun doesn't seems to be German. (MG 34 or Mg42). Is this a feature on the Finnish Stug that they use a different machine gun?

Good work, now can't wait to see this thing finished!!!!

Yes. The Finns applied a Russian DT machine gun on these tanks. To fit it they had to make the hole in the shield wider and they also had a modification for the attachment.

Along the way I have noticed several inaccuracies that are going to remain in the final model, the top of the hull for example has some points where it would require even more scratchbuilding. I´m not going to try to make this model 100% accurate and the fact that some Finnish tanks had German crosses under the logs is too delicious to be discarded...
I will display this tank with some figures attaching one missing log so it will reveal some dunkelgelb hull side with German markings... So basically this model will show a great part of all the Finnish modifications in one tank.

I´m going to visit a model shop on Friday, at least I need some decals for this kit. Let´s see if I end up buying the Hot Barrels saukopf mantlet too....

This is my second armour piece in line and I guess I will go for better kits in the future. I can´t really compare the quality and the fun of building this excellent Tamiya kit to the cheap but crappy Zvezda kits...

Thanks for your comments!

Toni

Envar, I understand your feelings about good and expensive kits VS cheap and not so good kits... The only problem is that when you want to do something realy different, sometimes you just don't have the choice (I am definitely going to build my BTR 152)...

VERY NICE WORK

Good job Glad to see you take up the armor thing.

Time for an update!

I have spent several evenings scratchbuilding the rear stowage rack and some other stuff. Styrene strip and wine bottle foil were used for the stowage fence. Today I finally primed the whole thing and painted it green. I painted it with a number 3 sable brush and Lifecolor Dark Green acrylic and it took three hours, including all the wheels. If I only had that airbrushing place available... ARGH.
I noticed that I have to work out those single link tracks before attaching the upper and lower hull together. ARGH ARGH.
Next job will be painting all those rubber tyres for road wheels. ARGH. ARGH. ARGH.
I like the kit so far and the base colour gave it some serious feel of mass already.

Just makes me wonder. If I think of a single stage of work, they all feel like pain in the @$$ when doing it but somehow the build as a whole feels great...
I just can´t wait to get to the weathering part of the job!!!!






Thanks so far,

Toni

HEY! Just broke 900 posts! And still a Sergeant! Go me!

Looking good Toni....really good.

this is looking real good and I for one am looking forward to viewing the finished product

Test fitting the tracks. These vinyl ones won´t make it to the final model, the single link track frenzy starts next.
I painted the wheels with a mixture of black, field grey and dark brown. When I took them off the sprue I noticed a seam going along the wheel in he middle so I had to scratch it off. The edges of the acrylic paint teared and after painting those tyres again those tears will look very nice, like worn rubber! Weathering and pastels will make them look dusty and used.

The model only has one brush-painted paint layer on now but it looks slightly weathered already. So I´m going to be gentle with it. Wash with dark brown, then apply pastel chalks all over and wash it off with water. That should leave some dust and dirt in the crevises. Last I was thinking of giving it some drybrush treatment, first with gun metal then with lighter olive green.

I remember reading an article or post about making plastic single link tracks and there were useful techniques introduced. However I couldn´t find it anymore now when I need it.
Does it ring a bell to anyone?



Toni