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


PlaStix

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Nice progress Stix, the RFM might have a parts breakdown to send you round the twist but at least it has a single piece etch ring for the idler.

 

Cheers 

Darryl 

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Thanks Steve @fatfingers and the instructions are still causing me a few issues - see my question below.

 

On 07/02/2021 at 19:15, Hewy said:

Good lord stix ,well applied etch details on the wheel rim insides 👍,  I'll hazzard a guess you won't be using mud texture and covering all that lovley pe detail

Thank you Glynn - with regards the mud - I am planning on using some but how much may depend on how well the rest of the build goes! My StuG could end up sunk in the mud if it doesn't look right!

 

On 07/02/2021 at 21:01, Robert Stuart said:

Ah, the joy of Dragon kits - random parts miss numbered - or not called out at all in the destructions. 
And why use one part when five will do?
Looks like you have made a good start there Stix ... and you are using the PE, I've yet to cut any of mine.
p.s. Don't look at blue A5

Hi Robert and thank you. Yeah I'm still having issues with the instructions - see below!! I did wonder about the blue A5s - but figured, because Dragon had mentioned Q, I'd see if they were on that sprue. Both the blue A5s and the Q22s look very similar.

 

On 07/02/2021 at 21:03, planecrazee said:

Excellent work Stix - loving the PE additions.  Pleased you managed to get to the bottom of the parts mystery.  Maybe Dragon just didn't want to make it too easy for us modellers and thought we might like a challenge of trying to decipher the right part no after they put the wrong one.  Well done for tracking them down and for flagging the issue for us BMers - although I think I'm personally somewhere off getting round to a Dragon kit!!!

Kris

Hi Chris and thank you for your comments. Yes Dragon do seem to want to make it 'interesting'. Dragon kits are good if a little too complex at times. With a bit of patience and good detective skills they build into good models. I have made a few Dragon models and have actually enjoyed them and been pleased with the results.

 

On 07/02/2021 at 22:08, modelling minion said:

Off to a great start Stix.

Those etched rims look really fiddly, something I would have definitely struggled with.

Hi Craig and thank you. I'm sure you'd have sorted them out okay with your skills!!

 

On 07/02/2021 at 23:03, f matthews said:

Wow-those rims look unnecessarily complex indeed.  Nice work tackling those-they do look great when finished, I’m just fortunate to be building one of the older ones with the single-piece circles!

HI. Yes they are too complex and, as Bob mentioned, these three part rings are what Dragon moved to from providing whole rings. Probably to save on materials/money. Thank you for your comments.

 

On 08/02/2021 at 00:01, Retired Bob said:

I mentioned in another thread that the older kits had a single piece ring that Dragon have replaced with 3 parts that are too large, some improvement!  That's the great thing with Dragon kits, when they mix and match sprues to make different variants, not only do you get lots of spare parts but you get a treasure hunt to find the parts to build your kit. :whistle:  Those suspension arm bumper stops were on sprue A in my kits.

Looking good Stix, a lot of the parts are the same as in my StuG/StuH kits :winkgrin:

 

On 08/02/2021 at 10:55, Retired Bob said:

A correction to my last comment, having had a nights sleep and check of my kits plans I have found the correct bits, parts Q38s are attachment supports for the track guards, the same parts in my kit are B11(B12) and G21(G21) good ole Dragon kits, they keep you on your toes. :undecided:

(Barely keeping up in North Yorkshire) :winkgrin: 

Hi Bob and thank you very much for your comments. Yes Dragon do seem to want to make modelling with their kits more 'fun'!!

 

On 08/02/2021 at 14:35, bigfoot said:

Looking good so far. Feel for you with those rims, thankfully the kit I’m building has the single circular PE pieces.

Thank you bigfoot. And the rings - yeah........rub it in!!!

 

On 08/02/2021 at 18:00, Jasper dog said:

Nice progress Stix, the RFM might have a parts breakdown to send you round the twist but at least it has a single piece etch ring for the idler.

Cheers 

Darryl 

Hi Darryl and thank you. It's good RFM provide single piece etched rings. I am very envious....but at least mine are done now.

 

I have made a bit more progress. All the parts are now on the sides of the lower hull:

50926881921_238e061b89_b.jpg

 

50926881861_477800061d_b.jpg

 

.........and I've attached some of the parts to the rear section of the hull:

50932937432_03a0b45315_b.jpg

....the remaining parts will be added once they and the rear of the hull are painted and some weathering has been applied.

 

I have got the hull, wheels, sprockets, return rollers and idlers all painted but, it was too sunny for photos when I finished painting and then too dark by the time I remembered I hadn't taken any photos of the painted parts!

 

Now to my questions - about Dragon's instructions. Someone, possibly, may have already made this kit or someone may know something about the actual vehicle - 

 

In stage 4, Dragon suggest the front additional armour plate (a18) is attached to the front of the hull:

50932937352_c8374503a8_b.jpg

But they don't really suggest, in the instructions, the actual location - how low or high it sits. And there are no locator pins or marks of any kind.. The cut-outs in the sides of the plate are obviously supposed to be near the pins on the sides of the towing section plates, but there's no definite place with regards these.  Looking through the later instructions, it seems to suggest the plate sits quite high and the upper front piece butts up behind it., I think. It is difficult to interpret the diagram concerned.

 

However, when I did a test fit of the upper front piece it seems to overhang the front edge quite a bit:

50932127053_7308cf552c_b.jpg

 

50932814821_036be39d92_b.jpg

 

If I glue the front plate on now - I may risk having to file back the front edge, of the upper front piece, before the latter will fit properly and this will mean I will lose most of the weld detail along that front edge. The front doesn't look right if the armour plate sits below the upper front section, as the thicknesses do not match and the weld detail would just sit on the front of the upper piece - not welded to anything. My thinking, unless someone knows better, is to wait until later - when the front upper section is secured in place - and then glue the upper back edge of the front plate, to the front edge of the upper piece (hopefully that makes sense!). This would mean the front armour plate only touches anything at the top and bottom edges. I don't think the change in angle will be too noticeable. If anyone knows how this plate should actually be fitted I'd be very grateful if they would let me know!

 

Also, another question if I may - should there be a plate which fits in the gap behind the front armour plate and the step in the front of the bottom of the hull? On a previous build, of a similar Pz.III hull, Dragon provided an angled piece which fitted up to the bottom of the hull and where the part a18 sits....or should sit. Dragon don't mention anything in the instructions and there doesn't seem to be a suitable sized part on the sprues. I'm wondering if the actual StuG didn't have a plate attached there and there was a step. The walkarounds and photos online, of this area, seem quite dark and at a very low angle - so it's difficult to tell if there is some armour plate in that section. If there are any armour experts out there, that know what should happen in this area, I would be very grateful. If I cannot get a definitive answer - mud may be liberally applied!

 

Thank you in advance for any help anyone can offer.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

I will hopefully post the photos of the painted parts on Saturday.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • PlaStix changed the title to StuG.III F/8 Early Production - Dragon 1/35 - update 3 - 11/02/21 - and a couple of questions
12 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Can't help you with your questions unfortunately mate, but I do like what you have done so far

Thanks Craig. Luckily Paul @diases (below) has answered my questions successfully!

 

11 hours ago, Hewy said:

Looks a good fit stix ,no one will know even if it is wrong  with some clever photography 

Thanks Glynn......so like all my models then!

 

9 hours ago, diases said:

Hi Stix. On your sprues photo, the sprues below your tracks appears to have a piece that looks about right.

On my Dragon pz3, it's S38 according to destruction

Paul

Hi Paul. You are a SUPERSTAR!! Thank you. You were quite correct - it was on the sprue you mentioned!! In my kit it's sprue D part 11.

 

On the parts diagram it shown as being used:

50935057382_874b725138_b.jpg

 

But in the instructions D11 isn't mentioned at all:

50935057362_4d821dd854_b.jpg

 

Only that part a18 should be fitted on the front:

50934937326_3353518c44_b.jpg

 

Because I was looking for a smaller plate just to fill the gap behind the front additional armour plate, I never noticed the angled front piece (D11) at all.

 

It is now in place:

50934251378_b07317e50e_b.jpg

. and just needs to be painted like the rest of the hull.

 

And the upper front piece should now attach as it should:

50934251448_f4806beb38_b.jpg

 

Thank you again for sorting this out for me!

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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  • PlaStix changed the title to StuG.III F/8 Early Production - Dragon 1/35 - update 3 - 11/02/21 - and a couple of questions - answered thanks to diases

As Paul says, Dragon strikes again, looking at your plans Stix, there are differences with my plans.  The inset diagram between steps 1 and 2 that tells you to remove the 3 pieces of plastic from the upper sides of the hull, that's not on my plans, I had work out why the upper part would not fit the hull. :wtf:

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23 hours ago, diases said:

Glad its worked out.

Dragon strikes again, on the instruction front. Be interesting if my Seelowe model has many mistakes.

Might be starting it soon, as MLRS is coming along nicely.

Cheers

Paul

Hi Paul. Yes I hope your instructions turn out to be a lot better than the one's in this kit have turned out to be!

Thank you again.

 

15 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

As Paul says, Dragon strikes again, looking at your plans Stix, there are differences with my plans.  The inset diagram between steps 1 and 2 that tells you to remove the 3 pieces of plastic from the upper sides of the hull, that's not on my plans, I had work out why the upper part would not fit the hull. :wtf:

Hi Bob. Yeah, the reputation for Dragon's instructions being on the poor side is certainly being borne out in this GB! I'm going to try and keep a better eye out with mine!!

 

As I mentioned above in my previous post - I have got a couple of thinned layers of paint on the lower parts - I used Humbrol's acrylic Desert Yellow (93), thinned with water and applied with a 7mm Humbrol flat brush:

50937544458_e452bf8907_b.jpg

 

50938342377_9b143dc6d6_b.jpg

 

50938342447_f8bc9529e4_b.jpg

 

50938234651_ea7a1f491f_b.jpg

 

And I have also made a start on the first 10 links of the tracks. They look okay and the ejector pin marks - which have been bad on some Magic Tracks I have used before - don't seem too bad on this first set. The marks are mostly very slightly raised and I have been able to gently scrape them off with a scalpel blade. And glued with Tamiya Thin:

50938526742_2b2eb19e39_b.jpg

With individual track links - I usually build them up into sections like link & length tracks.

 

Hopefully I will get some more work done on this over the weekend.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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  • PlaStix changed the title to StuG.III F/8 Early Production - Dragon 1/35 - update 4 - 13/02/21 - paint and tracks started

Nice progress Stix’s, I have had my fair share of battles with Dragon instructions over the years with various success. Coming along nicely though good luck with the tracks, I made a panzer VI of there’s a few years back. I seem to remember it came with a jig to do the top tracks with a sag, hopefully they put one in for the Panzer III?

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19 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

As Paul says, Dragon strikes again, looking at your plans Stix, there are differences with my plans.  The inset diagram between steps 1 and 2 that tells you to remove the 3 pieces of plastic from the upper sides of the hull, that's not on my plans, I had work out why the upper part would not fit the hull. 

And I've removed all but the front pair in my Pz III - they still make fitting difficult, but they are better at controlling side-to-side location errors (a fore-and-aft error is still possible).

@PlaStix You are making good progress, and the painting looks good.
I don't envy you those MagicTracks :fraidnot:


 

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Nice smooth painting Stix, having just finished my link length tracks the problems of scraping off the injector pin marks are the same, they have you apply the sag to the lengths of track between the rollers by gently bending them, but they tend to return to being straight but that's ok, most models have an exaggerated sag to their tracks. :whistle:  The magic tracks might be a bit more work but the end results are better.

Stug III

 

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On 13/02/2021 at 12:02, fatfingers said:

Aye up Stix,

Excellent progress so far 👍

Regards,

Steve

Hi Steve. Thank you.

 

On 13/02/2021 at 12:10, modelling minion said:

And he's off! Very nice base coat mate, lovely and smooth as usual, you even make Humbrol acryclics look good and that is no mean feat!

Nice start on the tracks too, glad that they don't look like they will give you much trouble.

Hi Craig. Thank you and you are partially responsible for the paintwork as you kindly got me the tub of Desert Yellow I'm still using!! :thumbsup:

 

On 13/02/2021 at 12:39, Ozzy said:

Nice progress Stix’s, I have had my fair share of battles with Dragon instructions over the years with various success. Coming along nicely though good luck with the tracks, I made a panzer VI of there’s a few years back. I seem to remember it came with a jig to do the top tracks with a sag, hopefully they put one in for the Panzer III?

Hi Ozzy. Thank you. Not sure mine comes with any jigs - I will check though - but I don't think so. I've made some of these type of tracks before - last time with winterketten - and they weren't too hard to do. 

 

On 13/02/2021 at 15:46, Robert Stuart said:

And I've removed all but the front pair in my Pz III - they still make fitting difficult, but they are better at controlling side-to-side location errors (a fore-and-aft error is still possible).
@PlaStix You are making good progress, and the painting looks good.
I don't envy you those MagicTracks :fraidnot:

Thank you Robert. As I mentioned to Ozzy above, I have made some Magic Tracks before and they weren't too bad. Hopefully these will be similar.

 

On 14/02/2021 at 11:03, Hewy said:

Lovley job pal👍

Thank you Glynn.

 

On 14/02/2021 at 14:49, AaronKSJ said:

Thanks for that info @PlaStix ! I've not tackled them yet, distracting myself with the interior for the moment. 

Hope the tracks work okay Aaron.

 

On 14/02/2021 at 23:05, Retired Bob said:

Nice smooth painting Stix, having just finished my link length tracks the problems of scraping off the injector pin marks are the same, they have you apply the sag to the lengths of track between the rollers by gently bending them, but they tend to return to being straight but that's ok, most models have an exaggerated sag to their tracks. :whistle:  The magic tracks might be a bit more work but the end results are better.

Thank you Bob and thank you for your thoughts on the tracks. I have an idea about getting the sag between the rollers. I'll try to remember to take some photos when I do them.

 

So - after the previous photos above - everything was give a very, very thinned wash of Revell's Gunship Grey. - I thin it with just water. Once that was dry, I used a very fine, pointed brush to apply some very thinned Revell's Anthracite in and around the detail. When dry - I dry-brushed everything Desert Yellow with a lightened version of Desert Yellow - the latter was made by adding some Matt White paint. In the photos below, you can also see I have painted the tyres with thinned Anthracite - applied thinned with a small pointed brush. The exhausts were painted with thinned Anthracite and then dry-brushed with Humbrol's Gunmetal.

 

50953197076_de2a25338e_b.jpg

 

50952496133_fbbf3aa6fa_b.jpg

 

Some closer views:

50952496048_a2e63c139c_b.jpg

 

50953196841_eba2ebdb85_b.jpg

 

50953298737_ae35bc97c2_b.jpg

 

50952495903_c7ec7fd059_b.jpg

 

I need to get some weathering started on the sides of the hull and on some of the other parts before getting the wheels, etc. attached and the tracks on. Also got to make the tracks!

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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  • PlaStix changed the title to StuG.III F/8 Early Production - Dragon 1/35 - update 5 - 17/02/21
On 17/02/2021 at 19:16, planecrazee said:

Looking fantastic so far Stix - your handy work with a hairy stick never fails to amaze - cracking job :thumbsup:

Kris

Hi Kris. That's very kind of you to say.

 

On 17/02/2021 at 19:37, modelling minion said:

A very neat job mate, brought out the details a treat.

Thank you Craig. Hope you are feeling okay today.

 

On 17/02/2021 at 19:57, Jasper dog said:

Really cracking on Stix, brilliant paintwork too, the detail really pops!

Couldn't even begin to produce a finish like that with a brush, superb!

Hi Darryl. Thank you very much. Needs must - haven't got an airbrush so I have had plenty of time practicing my brush painting techniques!

 

On 17/02/2021 at 20:20, Retired Bob said:

Nice painting Stix, always looks better when there's paint on.  While it's drying you can make a start on the tracks. :whistle:

Hi Bob. Thank you - yes, I have done a bit of work on the tracks as you can see below.

 

On 18/02/2021 at 08:12, Ned said:

Stix, that painting is amazing🤩. If I could get the top side of mine as good as your hull bottom is then I would be a happy bunny.

Thank you very much Ned. I'm sure yours will look great!

 

On 19/02/2021 at 06:34, Hewy said:

Beautifully done stix , real quality👍

Thank you very much Glynn.

 

I have been been doing bits and pieces on this over the past week.

 

I decided to do more on the tracks and I thought I'd show how I do the tracks around the sprockets and idlers. In fact I only build up/glue the tracks to each other around the sprockets. I apply the glue, Tamiya Thin, in the central section/area of the links - making sure it doesn't get anywhere near the sprocket's teeth. This is how it looks while the glue is setting:

50962393781_f14b750c4f_b.jpg

 

Once set - usually having been left overnight - I carefully peeled the tracks off the sprockets:

50961682993_bc259fa0fb_b.jpg

 

These can then be placed on both the sprockets and idlers as they have the same diameter:

50962393726_602503bf58_b.jpg

 

50961682918_cb0e19a4a0_b.jpg

 

Once the rest of the track sections are complete, then some paint and weathering can be applied, before they are assembled onto the wheels on the sides of the hull. The only other bits of the tracks I have done so far are for the lower runs:

50962393566_84152eaedc_b.jpg

 

I have assembled the pairs of wheels together and begun some weathering on the tyres using some very, very tinned Revell Aqua Gunship Grey:

50962393621_e7d634156a_b.jpg

 

Some of the initial bits and pieces have been added to the fenders:

50961682848_392b298663_b.jpg

 

Including some PE parts which will pretty much never been seen:

50961682773_8c8791eee8_b.jpg

 

I also started to do a bit of simple damage to the bottom edge of the rear fender flaps:

50962493772_8220329a92_b.jpg

After I add a bit more damage here and there, the fenders will be pretty much ready for some paint.

 

Finally - I have started some work on the upper structure:

50962727167_1ce18be691_b.jpg

 

I have to say I have enjoyed just pootling away on this. Nothing has been too stressful - although the PE tested my patience a little a couple of times.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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