StuH 42 Production of Alkett Company

The box art of TAKOM 8004 

An abandoned late version StuH 42. Both of the C-hooks were hung up and I thought there was only spaced armor on the driver's vision port.  

Late Production StuH 42 with side-skirts. This reference photo also depicts the 3rd painting option on TAKOM 8006 instruction. 

It was probably an early production StuH 42, notice the muzzle break for its 105mm L/28 howitzer. Many of the late version StuH 42s on reference did not have muzzle break.  

An early version StuH 42 with the same manlet and machine gun shield as StuG. Ausf. G., the drive sprocket is also classified as early type. 

The box art of old Dragon 9058, one of the famous Dragon products which was no longer available in marketplace. 

The box art of TAKOM 8006. I have double check the instruction booklets of TAKOM 8006 and Dragon 9058 and I found the 2 two products were almost identical except for the side skirt armors. 

The common chassis for all Panzer and StuG III 

12 Torsion bars 

4 Suspension springs 

The gap of road wheel is a little bit wider, so I just cut all rods of 12 inner road wheels (That is the advice from Panzermeister36 on his Youtube channel). 

The steel return rollers (late 1943/early 1944 Alkett version) are spare parts from Academy 13531 

Actually, except for the traditional rubber return rollers, Academy 13531 provides two types of steel return rollers for modelers to choose; first type is the one I applied in previous photo (also referred as late 1943 or early 1944 version) and another type was the first 2 return rollers in this picture (denote as late 1944 version). I believe TAKOM 8006 only offers the late 1944 version for modelers. 

Upper hull and fenders are molded together . 

Spaced armor on front lower hull 

Engine decks 

The shelves for S-mine are installed. I will use the 3D printed smoke candles from RFM 5001U to finish the 2 sets of S-mine. The reason I switch to RFM’s 3D components is that smoke candles provided by TAKOM is out of scale. 

Front spaced armor  

The basic upper structure of StuG III 

Unlike the Panzer III, the case holder for spare road wheels were welded on engine decks. 

The manlet of early version StuG G. 

I drill some holes on both fenders to settle the C-hooks. 

The original 75mm L/48 gun with muzzle breaks which provided by 8004. 

Time to make a replacement. The plastic 75mm L/48 gun is substituted by a 105mm L/28 metal barrel. 

The appearance of metal barrel is so damn cool. 

All the frameworks and shelves for side skirt armor are spare parts from Academy 13531. 

The only drawback is that there is no rifle line inside the metal barrel. 

I promise that next time I will not start a new project until the prior project has been done. My Tunisia Tiger I of 501 Abt. was on strike since early December…………. ? 

The Academy 13531 actually offers tons of spare parts for modelers to do revision works. 

Again, it is necessary to add a jerrycan case at the rear of vehicle, I will do this in the first 3 days of 2022. 

My next concern is how and where I can find some side skirts. Maybe DIY is one of the good options for me? 

The 3D printed smoke candles of RFM 5001U.  

I think the size of plastic tube that provided by TAKOM is a little bit smaller compare to the 3D printed part. Moreover, I do not want to waste valuable spare components of my initial Tiger I, that is why I switch to use these 3D printed tubes. 

Reference photo for smoke candles on StuG/StuH (Screenshot from Panzermeister 36's Youtube channel) 

Ok, all 6 smoke candles have been installed. Hmm... it seems that size of tubes from RFM are still smaller. 

The next activity will be the installation of jerrycan case and that is also the last assembly task before airbrushing. 

The jerrycan case at rear has been added 

The rack for spare tracks 

Next, airbrush the base coat  

One of the good friends to fix the PE components ~~~ say Hello to soldering tin, say goodbye to instant cement (you still need it when you attach the PE on plastic). 

Base coat - XF-63 

Next would be the chipping color 

The chipping color was done. 

I am using the XF-9 as chipping color. 

The top coat and camouflage will be applied in next couple of days after the chipping color is fully dry. 

Tri-color camouflage has been airbrushed 

The Tamiya new introduced XF-88, XF-89 and XF-90 looks pretty decent. I do not find a very big difference between XF-88 and old XF-60. 

Comparing the XF-90 to old XF-64, the XF-90 is much darker than XF-64. 

Chips have also been applied. 

12 road wheels are all assembled. 

Spare road wheels on engine decks. 

The decals have been applied. 

Next task will be track assembly and tow cables on fenders. 

Tracks and some other accessories. 

All the tasks have been done ~~~ Project close