AllenD's 1/35 Dragon StuG IV, Last Production '45 - Bob's StuG GB

[Allen Dewire]

Evening Again Good People,

Just a small update tonight as you can see I have been busy with some research and good banter….

Dude 2, That's a great idea John!!! At least the crew wouldn't go hungry…..

Paul, Thanks my friend and there is a bit more to come, I hope???

Pete, Thanks Sir, what would I do without you!!! I forgot again today...…………...

I am moving onto the side skirt portion of the build which is also a very tricky part too. The skirts were modified and mounted so they would move when the StuG drove up or down on the terrain. This offered a little more protection than if they were fixed in place like most of the StuG IV's. A reference pic of them,


Ok, so this poor StuG took 2 shots and was put out of action. The swinging skirts took a beating too, but you can see that they only had one attachment/pivot point and that was on the top of each skirt. There were 5 skirts per side...

I had to do some drilling to bring the Dragon pieces up to snuff. I could have purchased the Voyager PE skirt set, but my luck with CA lately has not been the best (plus I'm cheap at the moment). I also needed to make 10 pins to hold the skirts on,


The mounting pins were drilled out with a 1.0mm drill bit and then drilled through, top to bottom with a 0.40mm drill bit. the U shaped wire is from an old set of Friul tracks and is easy to bend. These will hold the skirts in place when the time comes. They still need a little tweaking….

Short and sweet tonight!!! I do hope to get more done tomorrow. Thanks again for looking in and take care.....

Bleib Gesund
Allen

 

[Allen Dewire]

Afternoon StuGgies Out and About the Livingroom,

I hope you are all hanging in there and staying healthy or on the road to recovery. For me, it's back to work on Monday, but for how long is anyone's guess. I'm still trying to get some good table time and riding my bike to get exercise…..

I finally got the skirt mounts glued on and while attempting to hang the skirts on one side, the middle 2 attachment points on the L frame popped loose from the mounts on the StuG sides. No big deal, but they were glued with CA. The front and rear points were glued with normal cement and held. Go figure....I did a test fit and found that they over-lapped a tad like I had hoped they would.

The StuG driving on flat terrain from the house,


The StuG driving up the hill to Aldi,


The StuG driving downhill to the pub,

They work rather well, but the pins suck! I have made new ones and will use them when I mount the skirts after painting. I only hope the other side goes as smooth as this side did. I'm still sorting out what Gerödel will end up in the back. I've searched through all my spare stuff from kits and unfortunately didn't find any chickens. I do have some resin bird sets from Olaf at Reality in Scale though…….

More to come and take care all....

Bleib Gesund
Allen

 

[JR]

Dude that's looking the dogs, plenty of soil heaps out side on the site to have a play with the floating side armour sheets.

Pity about the chickens, anyway they would need a small wooden box to sleep in at night

 

[Mini Me]

That's the "Bomb" Allen!!
Stay Healthy, Rick H.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Tanks Dude 2, I hope to get a bit more done before the weekend is over. PM a little later with new pics of the sandbox….

Tanks too Rick, I just hope the other side plays ball and works too. At least you can sit on the front porch and be safe….

Bleib Gesund
Allen

PS, Yeah, ok, now 10,005 comedians out of work until Monday...…….

 

[BattleshipBob]

I would have thought the lads from StuG life would eat posh food. Do Aldis have StuG only parking lol
Bob

 

[Mini Me]

Dream on Bob.

 

[MikeC]

Mein Gott, das ist ein Bausatz, den du da hast, Alter 1. Hut ab, weil du es versucht hast. Gute Arbeit, ich versuche nichts davon, diese Ablenkungen wären das Ende von mir.

And for those of us that don't speak German.

My god that's some kit you have there Dude 1. Hats off to you for attempting it. Good job I'm not attempting any of it, those distructions would be the end of me................... Well its roughly that ( according the Google )

You just ordered fish, cabbage and a gherkin to go....

 

[Jim R]

Hi Allen
Wonderful stuff. Love your swinging plates The further along you get with a build this detailed the more fragile it becomes so sticking as much together as you can is a good idea.
Jim

 

[MikeC]

Hello Youngster type that is now getting old and shakey,
Nearly missed this little masterpiece of yours. I was beginning to wonder if they had finally got hold of you and locked you away - sorry meant to say are you in isolation....
This really is a fun build, all the extras and the glittery stuff, another masterpiece on the way.
Now nodding off to sleep is part of the ageing process, as is dribbling in your beer and thinking you have had a free top up, so do not be dicouraged that now you will be met by those younger than yourself, work on the pitifull look at the bar while pretending to count out enough for a beer while muttering that the cat has not enough to eat and will the milk be off by the time you get home, and you can bet some kind soul (mug) will get you a full one.
Take care youngster and keep the build goingzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
Eh! what! who!
Oh yeah,
MIke.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Kind of Bob....They have monitor's in the ground of each parking place and if you stay there for more than 1 1/2 hours you can get a parking ticket. With a StuG III or IV, not a chance in hell that you would get a ticket!!! It's the fear factor…...………..

Mr. Older than me, Mike type person, I think it is time for your next shot and let poor John enjoy his meal. We both know he's really ordered Saure lunge und Kloß....And hey, you definitely just made my day older one!!!!! LMFAO!!!!

Thanks Jim and you are so correct!!! It is getting to the point that you have nowhere to hold it, let alone work on it. I have to be so careful....

Bleib gesund
Allen

 

[BattleshipBob]

Kind of Bob....They have monitor's in the ground of each parking place and if you stay there for more than 1 1/2 hours you can get a parking ticket. With a StuG III or IV, not a chance in hell that you would get a ticket!!! It's the fear factor…...………..

Mr. Older than me, Mike type person, I think it is time for your next shot and let poor John enjoy his meal. We both know he's really ordered Saure lunge und Kloß....And hey, you definitely just made my day older one!!!!! LMFAO!!!!

Thanks Jim and you are so correct!!! It is getting to the point that you have nowhere to hold it, let alone work on it. I have to be so careful....

Bleib gesund
Allen

Its amazing what a nice high exposlive shell will do the cooked meat display.

StuG's park free!!!!

 

[Graeme C.]

The swinging schurtzen are rather good, I've never seen them on a model before, nice work Allen.

 

[JR]

Kind of Bob....They have monitor's in the ground of each parking place and if you stay there for more than 1 1/2 hours you can get a parking ticket. With a StuG III or IV, not a chance in hell that you would get a ticket!!! It's the fear factor…...………..

Mr. Older than me, Mike type person, I think it is time for your next shot and let poor John enjoy his meal. We both know he's really ordered Saure lunge und Kloß....And hey, you definitely just made my day older one!!!!! LMFAO!!!!

Thanks Jim and you are so correct!!! It is getting to the point that you have nowhere to hold it, let alone work on it. I have to be so careful....

Bleib gesund
Allen

Ha, I indeed do have sour lungs !

 

[Steve Jones]

Terrific banter and a crackin build. Glad your replacing the pins. The side panels are the DBs

 

[Jack L]

That is Ingenious Allen!!!

 

[Allen Dewire]

Late Afternoon All StuG Lovers,

I hope are still hanging in there and staying well. I worked all last week, so table time has not been plentiful. I am trudging along slowly, but surely with this baby.

A big hearty Thanks to Graeme, Stevie, Jack and the rest of the Rabble for your support. Late StuG IV's and StuG III's did have this field modification of swinging side skirts. I guess this late in the war you needed all the protection you could get, even if it wasn't a perfect solution.

I have been working on the bits and pieces known as "Gerödel". Gerödel is the crapintheback as PaulE would say. Again, this late in the war and with supplies or re-supplying, being almost non-existent, one had to carry whatever you could to keep on fighting. Fuel, water, ammo, mines and other fine sundries were loaded on the back. You just had to be careful not to block the 2 intake grates for the radiator or the air filters. Going through the spare parts boxes, I found a lot of things to use such as,


These are just some of the items one could use for Gerödel. I won't be using the MP-44 or the Panzerfaust for this. You could also use some of these etch parts too,


I did say some of these items….The StuG IV wasn't an Imbiss wagon folks. The damn cleaning up of all the little pieces was a very time consuming task. I had to be careful and not break any parts. You can also see that these came from a variety of old kits by looking at the color of the plastic used. It was time to start throwing a few things in the back to see how thy fit,


The grenades were for the TC's use if attacked at close range or just to piss off the enemy. This is just a test fit and it isn't too bad. Another shot from the side,


And from the other side,


I'll probably hang the bread bag and the gasmask tin from the fencing for effect. I do have other tidbits I could use too. Hey, nothing is carved in stone yet. Lastly, I drilled out the the tow cable ends and made a pair of them,


The wire was supplied in the big Voyager etch set. I just cut it in half and went crazy with the CA to glue the ends in place…...

That's it for tonight good people. Work calls in the morn and I do need my beauty sleep. It doesn't help much, but sounds good...…..

Try to Moggell on and of course all C, C, and C most welcome. Have a great week and Please take care!!!

Bleib Gesund
Allen

 

[Mini Me]

Allen, you didn't happen to find any chickens on that etched brass sprue did you? JR is gonna be pisssssed if there's no chickencrapintheback!!!
Stay Healthy, Rick H.

 

[minitnkr]

Look'in good, but I'd gladly trade a coffee pot for a couple AT mines.PaulE

 

[scottie3158]

Allen
All looking mighty fine to me.