Andy's 1/35 Tamiya Stug B

[Deleted member 7181]

I always admire the skills of PE users

Me too, perfectly square and not a drop of glue in sight. Makes me sick

I can get a good bond once it's finally gone off, it's just getting there that's the problem. Might try again with some activator today. I know it sends the glue white and crusty but should be okay for these parts that are getting painted afterwards.

If it's a success the next job is cutting the grenades off the kit part and scratching the bottom bit that'll then be missing. Of course I've got no rod or tube of the right diameter as that would be too easy, lol. Time to search through old sprues...

 

[Jakko]

Are these hand grenades? Then you can get a good number of them easily by buying a weapon set, like this old one from Tamiya:



(That’s both sides of the box, it doesn’t have a definite front side as such.)

IIRC it has six grenades in it, and you could make two more from the “multihead” one by making a single head from some rod or sprue.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Yes, the stick grenades.

I've modified some now but that picture comes in handy for the colours, as the instructions just suggest red/brown. A few pictures suggest more of a wood colour with grey/green ends, and that confirms it, thanks.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Slept on this one and decided to have another crack at it, so I threw some more coal on the fire and got the shed nice and warm. Well, above 10°C anyway Removed the more wayward parts and cleaned off the old glue, then simply a blob of CA, placed the brackets, held for a few seconds, and Robert's your Fathers brother! So much easier with a bit of temperature on your side lol

Still not perfect but I'm happy given the size of the parts involved, and a lesson learned for next time. (please excuse the sanding dust)



Chopped up the kit grenades that were moulded into a block, carving that excess plastic to make the "head" (don't know why I didn't think of that yesterday!) 0.2MM lead wire used for the dividers.



And mocked up with some white primer on the interior and a bit of paint on the grenades & seat. Might move the middle one over to disguise the worst bracket.

 

[Jakko]

that picture comes in handy for the colours, as the instructions just suggest red/brown. A few pictures suggest more of a wood colour with grey/green ends, and that confirms it, thanks.

The real ones usually had a bare wood handle with a painted head and (for the M24 type, which your kit ones seem to want to be) a painted screw cap on the other end of the shaft too. Paint colour would be field grey or (from about 1943 on, off the top of my head) dark yellow.

As an aside, the screw cap is there because the grenade’s fuze is activated by a pull cord running through the shaft. The soldier would unscrew the cap, pull on the cord and throw the grenade. The M43 model put the fuze on the top instead, for ease of manufacturing, and so had a bare wood end to the shaft.

 

[scottie3158]

Andy,
Your off to a great start with the PE.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks Paul. Bit of a false start yesterday but got back on track today

 

[JR]

Looking good Andy.

 

[Steve Jones]

Nice save on the PE. Always looks better with a coat of paint on it. Looking forward to seeing how you weather the interior.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks John & Steve. I'll probably find a picture of someone else's model I like and do my best to copy that

EDIT: Would these be red oxide under the interior white or straight to bare metal?

 

[Steve Jones]

Primarily red oxide chips as all the interior was primed this colour before a base coat was added. Depending on how much wear and tear you want to do you could always show a bit of steel coming through in the most worn of areas. Remember we are talking about a crew of Germans wearing hob nail boots jumping in and out of the Stug all day. Looks like the HS could be coming out Andy?? LOL

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Looks like the HS could be coming out Andy?? LOL

You got it! Might as well practice on the inside first where it's less visible lol

And yes, I can imagine these got pretty nasty inside. Thanks.

 

[Jakko]

Primarily red oxide chips as all the interior was primed this colour before a base coat was added.

Would StuGs be in red oxide primer for most of the hull, up to the sponson level, and with ivory above?

 

[Steve Jones]

As far as the initial primer goes the whole of the interior was red oxide. I would agree that Elfenbein would have been above the sponson as the base coat. However there are variations on the common theme

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Great work on the grenade brackets Andy. I wouldn't worry too much if one or two are wonky, I bet the brackets in the 1:1 vehicles got banged and bent in the heat of battle.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks Bob, I like your thinking!

I've put the gun together this morning





That lovely metal barrel. The Voyager kit has a piece of PE to fit underneath here, it looks like a retaining strap, but it's so delicate that I'll leave it off for now rather than keep hunting around on the floor when I knock it off!



And I couldn't do much about the inside of the sack so flooded it with a few coats of Mr Surfacer 500 which has helped disguise the pin marks and seam in there.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

OK, more questions lol

I'm a bit slow on the uptake but I've just realised that no matter how good a job I do of the interior, these ugly bits are going to stand out like a sore thumb.



I've done a bit of Googling but most people just seem to leave them like that, which is all well and good but since I'm trying to go a bit extra on this it doesn't sit well with me.

Vertical ribs and holes will be filled with some strip and rod regardless. Easy option for the floor would be to box around the front springy bit and over the individual bits. Won't be realistic but I feel it'll look better than just leaving it as is.

My model, my rules and all that but I'd like to hear your opinions, or if you've seen any other options out there.

Thanks

 

[BattleshipBob]

Thanks Bob, I like your thinking!

I've put the gun together this morning

View attachment 365821

View attachment 365822

That lovely metal barrel. The Voyager kit has a piece of PE to fit underneath here, it looks like a retaining strap, but it's so delicate that I'll leave it off for now rather than keep hunting around on the floor when I knock it off!

View attachment 365823

And I couldn't do much about the inside of the sack so flooded it with a few coats of Mr Surfacer 500 which has helped disguise the pin marks and seam in there.

View attachment 365824

Hi Andy the bracket is for holding on the protective cover for the gun when out of combat or driving

 

[Steve Jones]

You should have a floor. I take it the kit didnt supply one.

Somebody more knowledgable than me should tell you that there is a PE version out there somewhere. You could scratch build one but again creating the knobbly effect would be for someone else to advise on

 

[Steve Jones]

Heres the PE one

HERE