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My First StuG “Löwe”.


Corsairfoxfouruncle

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Morning everybody... well Im ready for paint. DjyKjM6.jpg
Ive painted the two spares and one of the road wheels in Panzer grey. The idea being is that several road wheels were damaged at some point and these were stripped from an AusF.F or F/8 hull that was a parts queen. 

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The hatches are only taped shut for the moment. 

Ive followed a build online and reversed the cupola hatch to open forward. As apparently some were constructed incorrectly with the periscope facing backwards.
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Their is a better explanation in the last 8 minutes of the link in my first post. Now I'm down to the three camouflage patterns of choice. Any thoughts or ideas ? First. 
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Second.

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Three.

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These are the decals I have any idea’s as to whats best for the eastern front ? AJZM0wA.jpg
 

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Please feel free to ask questions, post comments and or add thoughts. 

 

 

Dennis

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Hi Dennis. Fantastic news that it's ready for some paint! All three camo patterns look like they will be 'interesting' to paint but I think my favourite is the second one. Can't wait to see the paint going on. :popcorn:

Kind regards,

Stix

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Hi Dennis, the StuG has come together quickly for you. I agree with Stix, I like all three schemes - my favourite is No.2. 

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       Good night everyone... Well I ran through all my current paint first off I was able to finish the rolling stock. 
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I then painted all the less visible and hard to reach places by following @PlaStix’s technique. I literally scraped every last bit of paint out of the jar.zryy8EA.jpg

 

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So now its just waiting for the new paint to get here next week. With your help I’ve eliminated scheme 3. No this StuG. doesn't come with skirts but I plan on carrying the schemes onto the actually vehicle. Im kind of still in the middle but am leaning towards two myself as An overall green with the splotches in Dark yellow looks different. But then again so does the honeycomb scheme. I guess tome will tell on that one. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts.  

 

Dennis

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        Good morning everybody... Well the tracks are painted and the running gear mounted.

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I took the time to brush a little steel on the edges to simulate wear on the drive sprocket and idler. ZdcHoEn.jpg
I gave the track bits a base coat of black. Then covered them in a Mix of steel with a few drops of copper to give them an ever so slight brown tone. 95UJDgV.jpg

 

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I will add these to the chassis tomorrow or Saturday. Seeing as the lower hull is virtually done then, I only really need paint the upper hull next week once the paint is here. I might possibly add some camouflage to the lower hull but not much. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 

 

 

Dennis

 

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Looking really good Dennis, I hope to be at that stage over the  weekend to. I like the grey road wheel, it breaks the colour up nicely.

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Hi Dennis. I hope you are well. Lovely progress on your StuG. Good to see the wheels, sprockets and idlers on and the tracks ready to go on too! :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

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8 hours ago, Foxbat said:

Like your tracks. I have my own method now I know they shouldn't be silver but I'm never convinced it looks right.

 

Andy

I read a post up in Armor a year or two ago. Something about German tank tracks having a small portion of Manganese. This gives them a greyish brown tinge. Here is a link to a similar discussion seeing that I cant find the thread here. 
 

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=187982&page=1&ord=0

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40 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I read a post up in Armor a year or two ago. Something about German tank tracks having a small portion of Manganese. This gives them a greyish brown tinge. Here is a link to a similar discussion seeing that I cant find the thread here. 
 

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=187982&page=1&ord=0

I remember it being a hot topic on here not so long ago, and I specifically remember there being a lot of discussion around manganese and what colour alloy that gives. What I aim for is a dark metallic brown with almost gold highlights but all matted down. What I get still isn't like the pictures I've seen, but it's getting closer.

 

Found the BM discussion, it was about 5 pages down already: WW2 German Track Colour

 

Andy

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        Good evening everyone... Well I did the tracks today ? Im not sure if they're oversized in scale or if the tank is incorrect, but Ive got a decent amount for stowage.
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I say they're oversized because I had to clip major chunks off of the individual ones just to fit on the drive and idler wheels. EZdHQ0L.jpg

 

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I also added a bar of sorts across the front to hold extra links. Its not finished so don't judge it just yet. Here are the side views and you can kind of see the bunching up on the two bad spots. WIpywUS.jpg

 

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This seems to be a common issue with Takom kits, as it also happened with my M3a1 Lee build. Maybe its time to look at Friul tracks or the similar plastic/resin ones. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 

 

Dennis

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23 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

This seems to be a common issue with Takom kits, as it also happened with my M3a1 Lee build. Maybe its time to look at Friul tracks or the similar plastic/resin ones.

Thanks for the heads up Dennis, I have a Takom Lee M3, looks like I'll be replacing the tracks.  :like:  The StuG's coming along nicely.

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Hi Dennis. Well, despite the issues with the tracks, it looks great so far. Very strange about the tracks. You'd hope, in this day and age, that kit manufacturers would be much better at this kind of thing! I too have a Takom's M3 Lee - I will do a bit of investigating before commiting to starting it. I was thinking I may make it if the M3/M4 STGB got through the voting at the end of the year. Got plenty of other things I can build in that GB though!

Kind regards,

Stix

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8 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Dennis. Well, despite the issues with the tracks, it looks great so far. Very strange about the tracks. You'd hope, in this day and age, that kit manufacturers would be much better at this kind of thing! I too have a Takom's M3 Lee - I will do a bit of investigating before commiting to starting it. I was thinking I may make it if the M3/M4 STGB got through the voting at the end of the year. Got plenty of other things I can build in that GB though!

Kind regards,

Stix

To be 100% honest it may also be my Gorilla ham fistedness as before the last M3/M4 group build and the M10 Achilles I built. I had never done a link & length track set-up. The Stug is only my 3rd attempt and none have been perfect fits ? Though I will tell you one thing I learned from the M3 build. There is a section between the drive wheel and the first bogie or road wheel on either side. You need to make this section from single pieces to give it a slight droop. Do not under any circumstance use the track assembly guide and Tamiya extra thin. I almost glued an entire section of track to it.

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I’m not sure the instructions are particularly helpful Dennis, as the number of links for the rear say 10 I use 8 to bring over the idler. One side fitted better that the other as I have a slight gap on the top right side.

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19 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

I’m not sure the instructions are particularly helpful Dennis, as the number of links for the rear say 10 I use 8 to bring over the idler. One side fitted better that the other as I have a slight gap on the top right side.

That could also be the issue, I think its a combo of oversized links and no test builds from Takom to figure it all out ? 

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Just tried a comparison of drive sprocket and individual track links to Dragon's III J.   The Takom sprocket is maybe 0.1 to 0.2mm less in radius, which gives a slightly less overall diameter - would that be enough to require a few less links?   It shouldn't because they both have the same number of guide teeth.

 

Track links are near identical between the two, both match at the widest end, but at the narrow end, Takom's is just a hair wider - but this should not pose a problem.  I was able to place three links on the sprocket (all Takom parts) and the fit was good.  How many are required before problems arise? 

 

Stating the obvious, but just to be sure, there is only one way you can build the tracks around the sprocket.  The wide end of the link has to go down first over top the previous, the opposite approach won't work.   Another thing is during the construction phase of the sprocket halves, one has to make sure the teeth are in sync.  Just like the road wheels, the sprockets parts do have some play when mating them together, so a visual checking when gluing is necessary.

 

regards,

Jack

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