StuG.III F/8 Early Production - Dragon 1/35 - update 03/05/21

[Ned]

Blimey, that looks good. You have style

[PlaStix]

On 08/04/2021 at 14:30, modelling minion said:

Seriously impressive stuff mate.

The extra mud has completed the look of a vehicle in use without it looking over the top at all.

The stowage sets look interesting, you certainly seem to get a fair amount of stuff in each of them.

The HobbyBoss figures don't look bad at all, very nice in fact. Knowing of some of HobbyBoss' accuracy issues you could well imagine them to have three arms or two heads, or both!

Thank you very much Craig. I hope you and yours are keeping well. The stowage from Redog actually seems pretty good. There's a few air bubbles here and there and the usual amount of resin to remove - but it's easy to work with. The detail seems nice usually.

With regards the figures - I had exactly the same thoughts as you - then, weirdly - while searching in a cupboard for where I thought I'd lost a Tamiya German gun/ammo kit/set, I discovered a box that had exactly the same figures (.....in the exact same poses!!!) as the the ones I'm using for this project!!! Except these were from Tristar. I think the HobbyBoss figures are actually manufactured by Tristar. The figures in the Tristar box were actually in a slightly darker coloured plastic than the HobbyBoss ones. But they are identical otherwise. I didn't even know I'd got two boxes of the same figures. I must sort out my kit storage areas at some point!

 

On 09/04/2021 at 14:48, THEscaleSHOW said:

 

Hey Stix

 

Congratulations on the beautiful model 👍 🏆

The weathered 3 tone camouflage and the mud are very well done.

The additional equipment makes a good impression and also the figures look high quality from the details.

I did not know that Hobbyboss offers this quality. You can also see the Tamiya figures a great progress in the direction of resin.

The times of the monster soldiers seems to be gone for good 👽

Have fun and good luck with the painting!

PS: the 44 is also very cool 😎

 

MD

Hi MD and thank you very much for your generous comments. As I said to Craig, above, it turns out the HobbyBoss figures may actually be manufactured by Tristar. Please see my reply to Craig as to how I found this out.

 

On 09/04/2021 at 16:46, Retired Bob said:

Nicely painted Stix, that StuG looks seriously good, just hurry up if you are going to make some more before the STGB ends. 

Seriously, quality over quantity is always better.  How do the Tamiya jerry cans rate these days, I recall their older ones did not have the pronounced centre seam that the real ones have?

It will be interesting to compare the stowage items to what I bought and those figures don't look half bad.

Hi Bob. There's absolutely zero chance of me being able to complete a second kit in the time we have left.....as you well know!

The Tamiya jerry cans look okay to me - unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of them before I painted them...........or after even after I had painted them. They are not fixed on the StuG III yet, so I will try and take a photo of them tomorrow morning so you can see how they look. There's a couple of pics of the stowage items below in my next post.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[modelling minion]

5 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

I think the HobbyBoss figures are actually manufactured by Tristar

That actually makes sense as HobbyBoss have released some of Tristar's kits, including the Panzer IV if I remember correctly.

[PlaStix]

On 10/04/2021 at 14:45, Ned said:

Blimey, that looks good. You have style

Thank you very much Ned.

 

Only a small update today. The stowage I decided to use looked like this before it was painted:

 

After the paint was applied:

 

And this is how the two figures looked after they were painted:

 

I have also made up and painted the jerry cans but forgot to take a pic. Will try and take one tomorrow.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[PlaStix]

9 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

That actually makes sense as HobbyBoss have released some of Tristar's kits, including the Panzer IV if I remember correctly.

That's a good point. In fact I think I have one of them. The boxes from HobbyBoss, which have the ex Tristar kits in, have the yellow line around them...I think. Not sure which one I have though.........must do some sorting!!

Kind regards,

Stix

[planecrazee]

WOW - your ability to handle a paint brush Stix certainly doesn't stop at the model itself - your stowage items and figures are absolutely superbly painted.  The figures are so 'lifelike' and will absolutely take your already expertly done StuG to a whole new level.  Just fantastic - really can't wait to see the finished article now 

Kris

[PlaStix]

12 hours ago, planecrazee said:

WOW - your ability to handle a paint brush Stix certainly doesn't stop at the model itself - your stowage items and figures are absolutely superbly painted.  The figures are so 'lifelike' and will absolutely take your already expertly done StuG to a whole new level.  Just fantastic - really can't wait to see the finished article now 

Kris

Thank you very much Kris. You are way too kind!

 

As promised (above) - a couple of photos of the painted Tamiya jerry cans. They were painted separately, but I have already glued them together ready to go on the back of the StuG:

 

 

Next up I will be gluing the figures and stowage in place before making a start on the base.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

 

[Ned]

13 hours ago, PlaStix said:

I must sort out my kit storage areas at6 some point!

Storage areas? Plural? I've only got one stash - is this something else that I'm not doing right? I really need to up my game. 😀

[planecrazee]

5 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Thank you very much Kris. You are way too kind!

Credit where credit's due - that's what I always say and it's all deserved in your case. Loving the jerry cans 

[modelling minion]

Really good job on the Jerry cans Stix, nice subtle weathering mate.

[Ned]

I love a good jerry can. They belong in design museums, it's just perfect. I started collecting them after finding one at a flea market in Amsterdam years ago, but never got beyond owing that one (plus a British WD one that doesn't count!).

The ones you've got here Stix are earlier ones, before the lozenge shaped indentation was introduced after the first year or two of the war.

Strictly speaking, these are for fuel, not water, so wouldn't have the white crosses painted on them - they have 'Kraftstoff' pressed into the steel, not 'Wasser'. Wasser ones had a plastic liner to prevent rusting, not sure if the fuel ones did as well.

The sprue of jerry cans that you get in a lot of Tamiya kits have the correct stampings to give you a choice of contents, two say 'Wasser', six say 'Kraftstoff'. Good old Tamiya

Someone will now post pictures of Kraftstoff cans with white crosses slung on the back of a Tiger just to prove me wrong!

[Retired Bob]

10 hours ago, Ned said:

Storage areas? Plural? I've only got one stash - is this something else that I'm not doing right? I really need to up my game. 😀

Come on Ned, up your game,  I have 3, attic, shed and garage.  My man shed (10ft x 12ft) was supposed to be my only stash but it wasn't big enough so I've kept the other 2.  

[Ned]

57 minutes ago, Retired Bob said:

Come on Ned, up your game,  I have 3, attic, shed and garage.  My man shed (10ft x 12ft) was supposed to be my only stash but it wasn't big enough so I've kept the other 2.  

I've got a 1/1 scale Land Rover in my garage, does that count as a stash? It's definitely in kit form at the moment:

[PlaStix]

On 13/04/2021 at 09:18, Ned said:

Storage areas? Plural? I've only got one stash - is this something else that I'm not doing right? I really need to up my game. 😀

Only one?!! Dear oh dear!

...........To be fair my stashes are not large - just spread over a few locations....one on top of a double wardrobe unit, one stacked on top of modelling supplies cupboard, which also stores my figures kits, and the last one under my model display shelf. 

 

20 hours ago, Ned said:

I love a good jerry can. They belong in design museums, it's just perfect. I started collecting them after finding one at a flea market in Amsterdam years ago, but never got beyond owing that one (plus a British WD one that doesn't count!).

The ones you've got here Stix are earlier ones, before the lozenge shaped indentation was introduced after the first year or two of the war.

Strictly speaking, these are for fuel, not water, so wouldn't have the white crosses painted on them - they have 'Kraftstoff' pressed into the steel, not 'Wasser'. Wasser ones had a plastic liner to prevent rusting, not sure if the fuel ones did as well.

The sprue of jerry cans that you get in a lot of Tamiya kits have the correct stampings to give you a choice of contents, two say 'Wasser', six say 'Kraftstoff'. Good old Tamiya

Someone will now post pictures of Kraftstoff cans with white crosses slung on the back of a Tiger just to prove me wrong!

Thank you for the information Ned, Very useful. Luckily, then, my jerry cans will hardly be seen - the stowage is stored up in front of the jerry can area. Something to remember in future though!

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[Retired Bob]

On 13/04/2021 at 21:12, Ned said:

I've got a 1/1 scale Land Rover in my garage, does that count as a stash? It's definitely in kit form at the moment:

A 1/1 scale Land Rover in kit form, that's different but I guess it's a stash.

I lined all three walls of my garage with shelves at shoulder height, you can still get the car in and have a good kit stash as well.    

[Badder]

Hi, howdy, hellooooo and how are you, Stix,

Yes, I know, I've not been keeping up with GBs or anything else for that matter, but I discovered this was running and had a look in the gallery at those that have been completed. I see it's the same old wonderful modelling as always. lol. I was surprised not to see yours in there, the speed you churn things out, and what with stuggies being so small, but you are getting older, so you're bound to slow down a bit.

 

Smashing work as always. I can't fault a single thing, despite my wishes to do so! BTW, a supply wagon carrying the Jerry cans meant for water  was strafed and all the jerry cans were shot up. So they had to use ones meant for fuel, and painted white crosses on them. At a later date, those jerry cans reverted to fuel, but nobody could be bottomed to clean the crosses off. They figured if someone was thirsty enough to not smell the fuel when they opened the lid, they could bloomin' well suffer lol.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[PlaStix]

On 16/04/2021 at 05:24, Badder said:

Hi, howdy, hellooooo and how are you, Stix,

Yes, I know, I've not been keeping up with GBs or anything else for that matter, but I discovered this was running and had a look in the gallery at those that have been completed. I see it's the same old wonderful modelling as always. lol. I was surprised not to see yours in there, the speed you churn things out, and what with stuggies being so small, but you are getting older, so you're bound to slow down a bit.

 

Smashing work as always. I can't fault a single thing, despite my wishes to do so! BTW, a supply wagon carrying the Jerry cans meant for water  was strafed and all the jerry cans were shot up. So they had to use ones meant for fuel, and painted white crosses on them. At a later date, those jerry cans reverted to fuel, but nobody could be bottomed to clean the crosses off. They figured if someone was thirsty enough to not smell the fuel when they opened the lid, they could bloomin' well suffer lol.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

Hi Badder. Lovely to hear from you. I hope you are keeping well in these strange times. I know what you mean about struggling to keep up with things. The past year hasn't been as bad for us as I know it has for some people, but my work started back up from early May - last year - despite being in the main lock-down period. As my role includes Health and Safety I was heavily involved with getting our place up and running - even before May - while I was working from home. I was travelling on trains when I was one of about 3 or 4 passengers onboard - and this was was on London bound mainline trains! On one day I'm fairly sure I was the only one on a 5 carriage train. Then, for about 3 months I was having to walk a couple of miles from the train station to and from my place of work as the bus services in the area were suspended due to lack of passengers. Things are a bit more new 'normal' at the moment but there's still a lot more going on than when I proposed this and the "Less than a Tenner" GB which starts in about a months time!! Hey ho. Maybe at some point I will catch up with things outside the GB area!!

Thank you as always for your comments - they always make me smile, thank you. I have seen you have a video on YouTube - which I promise I will watch as soon as I get chance. Take care and stay well.

 

There has been a bit of progress with my StuG. The stowage was added and I used a some beige thread (which had been soaked in some thinned PVA and Dark Earth paint. I find the thread starts to look a bit furry if it's not sealed in PVA) to represent the tie-down ropes. The figures have also been fixed in place:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also started work on a simple base. 4mm MDF cut to shape (to fit on top of a Wilkos picture frame) with a coping saw, the edges rounded with glass-paper and the area for the tracks cut out with a craft knife and thin chisel:

 

 

 

I used a bit of styrene from the box of a store bought pizza to create the raised areas:

These were glued on with PVA glue.

 

Next up this will all be covered in filler - apart from where the StuG will sit.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[Retired Bob]

That is looking very good Stix, I really like the stowage and mud build up, it looks very realistic.  You may have noticed a lack of progress with my builds over the last week but my son was able to move into his new house last weekend, I, of course was pressganged volunteered to be the move driver and humper and dumper.  This coincided with the lift in the block of flats he was moving out of, not working, so everything had to be carried down 4 flights of stairs to the van.  I think they call it character building.  A couple more days of fixing up all the things that are not provided in a new build and I can get back to being retired and building models, though I'm worried about some of the ideas SWMBO is having, some re-decorating is more than likely in my future. 

[planecrazee]

Hi Stix,

That's looking absolutely fantastic - what a cracker of a model and the figures and stowage too are a triumph - each element just complements the next perfectly 

I can't wait to see the completely finished article including the work to your base.

Thank you, well done and waiting in anticipation 

Kris

[witjas4]

Awesome job!

W

[Badder]

On 4/18/2021 at 8:22 PM, PlaStix said:

The stowage was added and I used a some beige thread (which had been soaked in some thinned PVA and Dark Earth paint. I find the thread starts to look a bit furry if it's not sealed in PVA) to represent the tie-down ropes.

Hi again Stix,

My health's taken a bit of a nose-dive TBH. Being more-or-less housebound due to my existing illnesses AND the lockdowns has meant not enough exercise, and probably the increase in the number of roll-ups smoked due to 'boredom' hasn't helped either. But I am lucky enough to live in 'the sticks' so now the weather's improved I will be getting more fresh air by trying to walk across the field to the woods if nowhere else.  I can always eat squirrels until I have the energy to walk back across the field again. pmpl.

 

Your stowage looks fantastic and the tie-downs are of course, mandatory. With regards to the PVA treatment, I do the same as you, but in other situations I use thin CA. This soaks in and 'wicks' along the thread. I found this is especially good for making 'wire cables' because you can tack the thread tightly over an irregularly-shaped form to produce one, or more, sharp, or shallow angles, in the thread. Then after it's been treated with CA, you can remove it from the form and the thread will retain the shape. I've done this to make 'barbed wire' with kinks in the wire, rather than just the usual 'sag' and will be using that method to make some damaged barbed wire fencing in my  Pit Stop dio. Top tip and a bit of a plug there.  Oh, and thanks for the plugging of my YouTube vid lol. Please forgive my accent!

 

I suspect your base is all botanicalled-up by now, so I look forward to seeing which pansies and tulips will be featured, very soon.

 

 

Rearguards,

Badder.

 

 

[PlaStix]

On 18/04/2021 at 21:57, Retired Bob said:

That is looking very good Stix, I really like the stowage and mud build up, it looks very realistic.  You may have noticed a lack of progress with my builds over the last week but my son was able to move into his new house last weekend, I, of course was pressganged volunteered to be the move driver and humper and dumper.  This coincided with the lift in the block of flats he was moving out of, not working, so everything had to be carried down 4 flights of stairs to the van.  I think they call it character building.  A couple more days of fixing up all the things that are not provided in a new build and I can get back to being retired and building models, though I'm worried about some of the ideas SWMBO is having, some re-decorating is more than likely in my future. 

Hi Bob. Thank you for your comments. I was going to enquire this weekend about your progress, as I had noticed the 'Retired Bob factory' had gone a little quiet. Glad you were able to support your son with his move and I hope the re-decorating isn't too time consuming!

 

On 19/04/2021 at 19:14, planecrazee said:

Hi Stix,

That's looking absolutely fantastic - what a cracker of a model and the figures and stowage too are a triumph - each element just complements the next perfectly 

I can't wait to see the completely finished article including the work to your base.

Thank you, well done and waiting in anticipation 

Kris

Hi Kris. Thank you very much for your comments - you are way too kind. I have made a bit of progress with the base - as you will hopefully be able to see below.

 

On 20/04/2021 at 12:36, witjas4 said:

Awesome job!

W

Thank you!!

 

On 20/04/2021 at 15:03, Badder said:

Hi again Stix,

My health's taken a bit of a nose-dive TBH. Being more-or-less housebound due to my existing illnesses AND the lockdowns has meant not enough exercise, and probably the increase in the number of roll-ups smoked due to 'boredom' hasn't helped either. But I am lucky enough to live in 'the sticks' so now the weather's improved I will be getting more fresh air by trying to walk across the field to the woods if nowhere else.  I can always eat squirrels until I have the energy to walk back across the field again. pmpl.

 

Your stowage looks fantastic and the tie-downs are of course, mandatory. With regards to the PVA treatment, I do the same as you, but in other situations I use thin CA. This soaks in and 'wicks' along the thread. I found this is especially good for making 'wire cables' because you can tack the thread tightly over an irregularly-shaped form to produce one, or more, sharp, or shallow angles, in the thread. Then after it's been treated with CA, you can remove it from the form and the thread will retain the shape. I've done this to make 'barbed wire' with kinks in the wire, rather than just the usual 'sag' and will be using that method to make some damaged barbed wire fencing in my  Pit Stop dio. Top tip and a bit of a plug there.  Oh, and thanks for the plugging of my YouTube vid lol. Please forgive my accent!

 

I suspect your base is all botanicalled-up by now, so I look forward to seeing which pansies and tulips will be featured, very soon.

Rearguards,

Badder.

Hi Badder. I am sorry to hear that your health isn't great at the moment. I think this is the thing with the virus - it's not just the virus aspect of it all, but everything that's gone on, or not gone on, around it. Hope the walks in the fresh air start to help somewhat.

Interesting idea about using CA glue on the thread. I will have a go at that at some point. I wish I'd seen your post before I did the fencing on my base this morning! 

Only just sorted out the 'planting' on my base this weekend...........real life, at the moment, seems to be getting in the way a lot. I had hoped to be posting more regularly, than I currently am, in this STGB - let alone in the rest of Britmodeller! Mustn't complain though......

 

As I  mentioned to Badder - I have been struggling for time a little at the moment - so this project is taking a lot longer than most of mine do. This weekend I decided I needed to get the base a little bit further along. First I got some filler applied. Once dry I gave it it a couple of thinned coats of Humbrol's acrylic Desert Yellow:

 

Once dry I applied a very thinned wash of Revell's Gunship Grey. When that was fully dry, I dry-brushed a lighter version of the Desert Yellow all over and then, using watered down PVA wood glue I got the base layer of Woodland Scenics Blended Turf sprinkled on:

This photo was taken after the excess had been shaken off.

 

Once the turf/PVA mix was fully set, I started 'planting' a variety of Army Painter tufts:

 

Next up I made up some fencing using some twigs from the garden and some old Woolworths fuse wire (25p for a card of three types!):

The wire had some thinned Humbrol acrylic matt varnish applied first, to dull it down, before I applied some grey, Anthracite and rust washes. You can probably also see I planted some more tufts.

 

I then tried my StuG in place for a trial run. It's not fixed down or 'bedded' into the surface yet:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm probably going to use a bit of Vallejo Mud on the base - to try and tie the base in with the mud on the StuG and then, once the StuG is fixed in place - I may do a bit more weathering/adding scenic materials once I can see everything properly together.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Geo1966]

Wow! Looking really good Stix. The base with the fence is a masterpiece, as is the Stug!

George

[Hewy]

Beautifully done👍

[Retired Bob]

On 25/04/2021 at 18:55, PlaStix said:

I'm probably going to use a bit of Vallejo Mud on the base - to try and tie the base in with the mud on the StuG

Colour co-ordinated model and base, you think of eveything Stix.  Seriously that base is looking very good it's going to complement the StuG and figures perfectly.