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Fabian D. (nng)
DE

StuG III Ausf. A "Raptor with a broken wing"

Album image #1
kit on the left, AM and spares i want to use on the right... pretty much an equal game 
 

Album image #2
first relocating the first support roller and removing the rim for the escape hatch 
 

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removing literally all detail, including weldseams 
 

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new weldseams with Milliput 
 

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looks like almost done, but only 3 Parts of the kit 
 

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adapted suspesion 
 

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adapted suspensin part II - note the differen appearance of the shock absorbers 
 

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adapting bumpers 
 

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new weldseams - note: I´ve removed some of them later on. The triangular shaped armor was only bolted on. 
 

Album image #17
same here for the weldseams o the additional armor 
 


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filling for the rear mudflap is missing, a spare Dragon part helped me out 
 

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Dragons try on the smoke candle rack...  
 

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Based on my resach Voyager is wrong here, the smoke candels shouldn´t be visible from above. 
 

But an improvement, for sure. 
 

Album image #29
changed Voyager PE 
 

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Album image #31
For an explanation see my comment below, added 12.12.2014 at 14:49:54 
 

Album image #32
new cover from scrap pe 
 

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decided to do at least some interior, build a "potato smasher" rack 
 

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added some spares, although I think it´s just a 5cm... 
 

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Tow cable clamps had to be rearranged, Eduard & Dragon weren´t correct for a Stug A 
 

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New screws hold the addon armour in place 
 

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How to turn bolts in screws, right to left. Process is dicribed in my comment posted 26. Dec 2014 22:56:35 
 

Album image #38
Wittmann, consisting out of the figure wih the leather jacket from the Panzer Aces, an arm from the Stug kit, Legend head and another stolen arm from the Tamiya StuG B 
 

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His gunner, almost ooB, new head and I had to add a small "skirt" with green stuff (light green here)  
 

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The Eduard toolbox is too high on it´s own, but it works with the plastic part from the kit 
 

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As usual Tamiya Panzergry with some highlights 
 

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Modulation with Mig Blue for Panzergrey 
 

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little Wittman seems to have mind of it´s own. Guess the guys still need some little adjustments.  
 

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Comments

19 October 2014, 19:30
John Van Kooten
Nice! Looks like quite a bit of effort has already gone into this one 🙂 good job so far! 👍

I take it the removed detail is added back in (in case it needs be added back in) with the Eduard PE set? Or are you scratchbuilding that?
20 October 2014, 06:06
Fabian D.
Thanks John, everything that really belongs there will be replaced with the Eduard set. I've no clue what these small triangles were for, maybe location pins for ventilation domes that later models had. Given the fact that this kit has only 200 parts (apart from the tracks), it's more or less the same effort as building a modern smart kit.... although it's a bit more messy😉
20 October 2014, 08:03
Fabian D.
The nose is down😉 Meaning the running gear was adapted, to make it look like the frist torsion bars were broken.
21 October 2014, 19:38
John Van Kooten
You have even worked in the compression of spring! Very cool! 👍 it really does show the weight now, much more so than on a "regular" StuG. Well done!! 👍
21 October 2014, 20:23
Fabian D.
Thanks, but otherwise the absorbers wouln´t have fitted in😉
it took me some time to realzing the solution is that simple, though. I´ve just used a small saw, cut the ribs off, and glued them together again. I´ll show the entire procedure later on.
21 October 2014, 20:31
John Van Kooten
No, they wouldn't have fit, you're right😉 haha!

Ah yes, of course, the width of the saw blade creates the space needed to make them look compressed. Indeed a simple solution 🙂 Good thinking! 👍 looking forward to the procedure 🙂
21 October 2014, 21:25
Fabian D.
John, you already got the procedure, nevertheless I got you a pic of it... sadly though "a bit blurry"😉
Tracks are on now. A bit more work than usual, but not too bad as you can do it while wathing some TV... Mouldung of the tracks is surprisingly quite sharp, although some of the hollow guidehorns aren´t really hollow. But that can be fixed.
24 October 2014, 22:50
John Van Kooten
Awesome! Thanks for showing how you did that with the shock absorbers! 👍

The tracks look fantastic!! The track sag is PERFECT! Well done, mate! 👍 👍
And yeah, lol, I also always watch TV / a Movie when I'm doing tracks 😛
24 October 2014, 23:31
George Bacon
You're doing a great job!
25 October 2014, 01:17
Fabian D.
You´re not raising expectations here, do you? 😄
25 October 2014, 16:08
John Van Kooten
Haha!😉 Just calling it as I see it, mate 🙂 many people seem to exaggerate the track sag quite a bit, too much in fact, but on your tracks it really looks convincing!

Oh by the way, concerning the closed holes in the guidehorns of the tracks, was that caused by flash or are the holes actually closed solid, i.e., as in a molding defect?
25 October 2014, 16:51
Fabian D.
I´ve gone for a bit more sag as usual, as the vehicle is sitting lower than it should, so there is a tiny bit more track which can accumulate on the support rollers. But all it´s "drawn by eye".

I haven´t noticed the issue before I took the pics. (maybe too much TV?😉 ) Most of is is just flash and easy to remove with a pin vise and a 1mm drill. Not by drilling, but by just ripping it out.
Although some links suffer from heavy flash. (Which seems indeed to be caused by a little defect on the moulds.) Those links add up to 3 or 4 in both track runs (all hidden, but one just behind the second roadweel) So it´s no real issue, but could have been prevented by a closer look in the beginning😉
25 October 2014, 17:05
John Van Kooten
You have definitely thought it through concerning the track sag! 👍 Great attention to detail!

Alright, as long as it is strictly flash then indeed luckily not too much of a problem 🙂 I did notice it on the one track segment behind the second roadwheel and the one between the second and third return roller and it seemed (almost) closed solid. It looked kind of "worrying"😉 but it isn't, so that's great! 😄
25 October 2014, 17:16
Fabian D.
Just as I said, a bit more work than sorting them out in the beginning, but nothing that can't be dealt with. I've continued with some minor plastic work and started soldering the PE boxes for the rear fenders. Easy start and not beautiful, but hidden afterwards. I think the tool box (pic 15) will cause more problems. .. but more to that tomorrow
28 October 2014, 23:33
Fabian D.
Re-thought the entire weldseam-thing. Scratched all that Milliput out angain and started with stretched Sprue. Looks way better now and is 10 times faster aswell...
1 November 2014, 00:22
Es-haq Khosravi
Great job!
1 November 2014, 00:42
Fabian D.
Thanks Essy😉
Currently working on the PE and tool clamps... a vast improvement over the kit parts. Speaking of the PE, I´m a bit dissapointed, so far 4 latches (as on the engine deck) are missing. They are indicated in the instructions, but I can´t find any more of them....
6 November 2014, 16:05
Gábor Bélik
Following
6 November 2014, 16:31
John Van Kooten
Ouch! Sure is bad that parts are missing? 😮

However, it looks really great!! The PE tool clamps are indeed way better than the plastic molded ones 👍 Still following this great build! 🙂 👍
7 November 2014, 10:52
Holger Kranich
BÄM! Great work on the pe´s, Fabian! Looks really fiddely! I tryed to make such clamps from a Voyager set, it really drove me nuts! 😄
7 November 2014, 10:57
Fabian D.
I guess I can hide the missing parts (I´ll put stowage on the rear hatches and open the cew hatches)... but still a bit annoying, as they look completely different to the parts they replace.
Thanks for your prise concerning the tool clamps, but to be honest, Eduard is an esay game (at least compared to the Aber or Voyager clamps)... It´s a single piece assembly, which means you only have to do the bending. Removing the plasic tool clamps is harder then the assembly itself😉
7 November 2014, 11:22
John Van Kooten
Indeed! lol 😄

I absolutely LOVE the Eduard clamps for exactly that reason! That they are one piece items! 👍 I have even bought extra sets of them, so that I can replace other brand's clamps with the Eduard ones 🙂

For instance, the multiple piece Aber clamps are a disaster waiting to happen... at least, in my hands😉
7 November 2014, 12:34
Kerry COX
Simply amazing work Fabian. You now have a new fan. Well done mate 🙂
7 November 2014, 12:57
H K
Some great PE work 👍 And the StuG looks good too 🙂
7 November 2014, 17:04
Fabian D.
Thanks Mates... I was a bit discracted, but I did get something done😉
But I think the Figures will ceep me busy for some time...
17 November 2014, 09:46
Gábor Bélik
Looking good.
17 November 2014, 11:29
Fabian D.
I´ve build Voyagers smoke discarger. But I think they have missed to cover the top. Not entirely shure, but it looks odd...
8 December 2014, 10:54
Kerry COX
Fabian, Your build would be a lot more enjoyable if you could put some more commentary at the base of your images instead of letting us guess what going on mate :-/
8 December 2014, 15:10
Fabian D.
Hi Kerry, seems like there were two issues here. Somehow the last three pics were uploaded twice, as I hadn´t noticed that, one set was with captions and one without.
Second one was: I wasn´t done with reseach. That´s why I cept the caption so vauge, I wasn´t shure, I just had the feeling there was "something wrong". I think I have sorted that out, so I´ve added a more precise caption (and deleted the three extra pics).
If there is still somthing unclear, please feel free to ask, I don´t bite 😉

@All: It seems like the Voyager Set for the smoke dischargers doesn´t capture all detail. (One might say it´s wrong...;) ) Well, it apperars to me that the smoke candles shouldn´t be visible from above, hence there must be a cover missing. (I can´t verify that to 100%, I could have missinterpreted a picture, for shure.) What I can say, the alingemt of the metal hangers the chains are attached to is wrong (at least as long as we assume there was only one variant of this device). While Voyager´s have an offset to the right, the rack should have been centered.

All clear? I don´t think so. Give me some time to build it up. I´m not shure about copyrights here (A´m I allowed to add a pic from a book?), I can´t find this image online... it´s in here: Page 28. Excelent shof of a Pz II Ausf F´s rear end.
SCM Book: Panzer IV und seine Abarten

 
8 December 2014, 16:23
John Van Kooten
As far as I know there was indeed just one version of the smoke dischargers. I am not sure what Voyager had in mind with that particular set of parts for the dischargers??

As long as images are for discussion purposes only, I don't think it's a big problem to post them. Although technically it's a violation of copyrights.

There was a cover on top in all samples of the Pz.Kpfw.III with smoke dischargers I have seen. See images below. Especially the drawings. The last one is from the instructions of Dragon kit 6639 (Panzer III 5cm Ausf.G Early Production).

[img1]
[img2]
[img3]
[img4]
[img5]
8 December 2014, 17:01
H K
They looked strange ( and still do 😄 ) on my Panzer IV Ausf. D DAK 🙂
Thanks for sharing the images John.
8 December 2014, 17:17
Fabian D.
Thanks for the additional images John, they´re more helpul than mine. The set is supposed to depict the same thing.
I´m leaning more and more to the conclusion that there is quite a lot messed up... Basicially there is every single detail wrong. Those little hooks are mirrored and can´t be placed directly above the candles. That´s why it looked soo odd all the time. (But´s that´s not all.) Shit.
8 December 2014, 17:26
John Van Kooten
You're welcome 🙂 I hope they help 👍

Btw, HK, did you use aftermarket smoke dischargers as well? Or did the ones from the kit look strange?
8 December 2014, 17:28
John Van Kooten
Ouch Fabian... That's not good 🙁
8 December 2014, 17:29
H K
I used the ones from the kit, which are plastic with some PE. ( more PE than your example of the instructions)
8 December 2014, 17:32
John Van Kooten
Hmm! If the kit parts themselves are bad then it's something we're going to have to watch out for in other kits as well then. Thanks for the warning! 👍 I have made a note of it 🙂
8 December 2014, 17:45
H K
Don`t forget, this Panzer IV is a weird mixture of the Super Kits and Smart Kits.
8 December 2014, 17:51
John Van Kooten
Haha! Yeah 👍 The problem with Dragon is, that usually a lot, if not all, parts from most of their kits come from somewhere else. So going by that logic at least one other kit has those faulty smoke discharger parts as well... probably😉 lol
8 December 2014, 17:59
Fabian D.
Thanks for your pictures again John, verry helpfull during the correction process.
Here is a detailed desciption of how I´ve changed the Voyager parts to an acceptable result, which isn´t perfect, but at least miles closer to the original. (compare to images 29-32, I´m referring to numbers and parts given in pic 31).
Step 1: You have to cut the little extensions on part A7. One hole has to stay there, the other one has to be cut of. (You might need the part "blue A" later on, so I recomend glueing the chains on first.)
When you´re glueing the chain on the smoke candle, do as shown in my sketch, do not fit the ring on the chain ontop the small dot on the candle.
Step 2 shows the constuction of the cover, an "in kit soulution"😉 The cover has to be cut out and fitted on the back of part A3 (see pic 32).
Smoke candles and modified part A7 can be fitted in as shown in the instructions, I recomend attaching the chains later on. You have to use wire insted of the styrene rod as this doesn´t fit in the holes.
Now the tricky bit: the assembled candels in their rack have to be turned around and the chains have to be fitted on the opposite side as shown in the instructions. The end of the chain, with the "blue A" is now to be glued on the rod (which you replaced with wire) (Blue markers). I´ve added a support underneath to improve strength, which won´t be seen once fully assembled.
Last but not least, the cover on you tank. Add the rack later and fix it in a way the candles are about hoizontal. If you´ve done everything right it should look like in pic 29/30. If not I either missed something in my instructions, or you´ve done something wrong. I´d feel better with the latter one 😛

12 December 2014, 13:49
John Van Kooten
LOL @ that last sentence 😄😉

That looks GREAT, Fabian! you've turned something so-so into something stunning! Really good 👍
Thanks for the step-by-step revised instructions! Very helpful 👍 👍
12 December 2014, 15:07
Kerry COX
Fabian, I am really impressed with the Voyager PE as I bought some to update my "Ontos" and the detail is amazing. Your build of the StuG is just beautiful mate . 🙂
12 December 2014, 17:23
H K
You nailed it 👍
12 December 2014, 21:39
Fabian D.
It´s a pleasure to share my work with you guys. 🙂
In case you were wondering about the figures I´ve added to the project, they are not the standard StuG crew, and that´s on purpose. 😉
I´ve found a pic of Wittman and one crew member showing him in what appears to be a leather jacket, while the other one seems to wear an infanty field jacket. This is an extra detail I didn´t want to miss. If they wore exactly that outfit as they broke the torsion bars is to be honest, speculative, but not entirely wrong.
[img1]
 
12 December 2014, 23:02
Fabian D.
More reseach brought more problems to the light. As the StuG A was build on a Pz III E chassy, the mountings for the tow cable should be the same. Well... they aren´t.
Dragon made this kit out of a StuG B wich features correctly the alingement as seen on the Pz III G chassy, but is wrong for the StuG A.
I´ve slightly changed the clamps, not 100% correct, but as good as it gets...
Decided to do a little interior aswell, but I´m lacking reference and motivaiton to go the full way. That what´s now in there won´t fool "the noisy IMPS judge with the torch", but I have no intentions in that direction😉
23 December 2014, 23:47
M.Julian Marles
Looks great! Yet again Dragon disappoints with mixing old sprues with incorrect features. :/ ...rather than do a proper tooling. Still, it turned out pretty awesome! 🙂
23 December 2014, 23:52
Fabian D.
Thx... well that kit is from the 90ties, years away from Dragons glory days. Shurely, overal (surface) detail is dissapointing, Acurracy is sub standard. One of the reasons I said to myself "Srcew it!", but i took it literally. 😉
The roof features a lot of bolt detail, which is wrong again. Instead of that, there should be screws. I decided to ignore it at first, but found a pretty cool way to repicate them. It´s not my idea, but it works pretty good. I´ve used the hollow needle of a Revell glue (which had almost the right size), and fixed it in my hand drill. Place it ontop of a bolt and "drill" a circle around it. Remove the bolt and add a slit. Touch up or round edges with plastic glue preverably Tamiya extra thin. (Pic 37 shows the process) Here is a link to the buildlog this hint came from: military-models.net/stug-iii-f8-casemate/
26 December 2014, 22:22
Fabian D.
Figures are now almost ready for paint. Had to do more "frankensteining" than I intended at first. Thanks to Greenstuff not that big Problem. Way easier to handle than Milliput...
9 January 2015, 11:58
Fabian D.
Paint and Decals are on. Slight silvering on one of them, but considering their age, not that bad.
18 January 2015, 12:32
Fabian D.
Tracks are on, frist brown wash aswell.
20 January 2015, 23:23
George Bacon
Stunning, simply stunning! 👍
21 January 2015, 04:21
Andres Wright
Great @Fabian D !!!
21 January 2015, 06:15
Gábor Bélik
Stunning!
21 January 2015, 07:16
Fabian D.
Thanks Guys... appreciate it. Been busy with rather unpelasant stuff lately but now back in the game. It´s been a long way, but we´re getting closer to the finish line.
Put some dust on and the figures in today, some more touchups, some work on the tracks and it´s finally done...😉
29 January 2015, 13:41
Fabian D.
The StuG is done. Finally.😉
I have to say I´m quite pleased with the reslut, didn´t expect this as I started. Thanks for you participtation, great to have such a helpfull community at hand. 👍
31 January 2015, 23:19
Choppa Nutta
👍
31 January 2015, 23:31
Clifford Keesler
Awesome work.
1 February 2015, 02:39
Gábor Bélik
Great finish!
1 February 2015, 07:32
Fabian D.
Thanks Guys.
@Michael: That´s what was still left to do, had to cut a bit of the leg off and fix the figure properly. It does still look a bit odd as the vehicle itself isn´t even by my design. But measured to the ground he is now exactly 90°😉
By adresing that issue some of the skin got messed up, but I will fix that some day... all hail to procrastination😉
2 February 2015, 21:38
Gerald
Nice work 👍
3 February 2015, 00:37
Ulf Petersen
Very nice model!👍
3 February 2015, 05:50
Fabian D.
Thank you. 🙂
3 February 2015, 08:48
Es-haq Khosravi
Great job Fabian!
3 February 2015, 13:50

Album info

Wittmann´s StuG III Ausf. A, nicknamend "Bussard" with broken torsion bars, as seen on the picture below.
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55 images
1:35
Completed
1:35 StuG III Ausf. A (Dragon 9031)1:35 2m Aerial (Antenna) (RB Model 35A02)1:35 StuG.III Ausf. A (Eduard 35828)4+

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