StuG III F - DML - Finished w/ Minor Update 4/3/13

[bbd468]

Hey Bob,

Life tends to do that very thing...and often... But your back in tha saddle and your paint job looks great. Im liking the tone variations ya got. Keep it comin Bob.

Gary

[afvfan]

Managed to grab a couple minutes to get on and catch up with the comments here. I sure will be glad when things get back to "normal" next week.

Andy - Thanks. I'm not really happy with it as I went overboard with the lighter shade in a couple areas. I need to go back in with the darker shade to straighten it out.

Tojo - This slow down is killing me. I can't wait to be able to put more time into it.

Bill and Gary - Thanks to both of you. Like I mentioned to Andy above, I need to do a little backtracking. Once that's done, it should be full steam ahead.

[afvfan]

Well, "next week" turned into two weeks, but I finally have something to show for my time. The first part of the weathering is on. I'm letting it dry now so I can add a coat of gloss for the decals. Then, it'll be on to adding the rear stowage, and the final dirt and dust. I'm still playing with the camera. I'm getting closer, though I'm still having to play with the photo program too much. The 1st picture is the closest to the actual color of the vehicle.

[noll]

Looks awesome!

[TRM]

Very nice work there Bob!! Love the color and of course the chipping!!!

[sfcmikej]

Great looking paint Bob.

Mike

[406 Silverado]

Looks great in these colors. Only thing that catches my eye are the streaks of the fenders !! These are flat surfaces so my opinion is there would be pooling and not so much streaks on them. I am sure these will go away pretty much once surted up.

[deafpanzer]

Great update! Just noticed the spare tracks on the side inside the actual tracks... my first time ever seeing those and I think its awesome!

[wbill76]

Looking good AG! The add-on tracks for the lower hull are a nice touch, crews would do anything for just a little bit more protection in those areas especially given the vulnerability to AT rifles before Schurzen were introduced.

[afvfan]

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I must apologize for seemingly not being around as much. I'm having loading issues with the site and it just takes way more time than I have to be more active... at least until I can straighten the problem out.

Noll and SFC - Thanks. It's coming along better than I'd hoped.

Rob - I debated the streaking after doing it on the fenders. She'll have a fairly heavy dust coat on the fenders that should tone them down a lot. If not, I've got plenty of paint!

T - Thanks. The chipping is all "old school" pencil work.

Andy and Bill - I thought it was a neat idea that's not seen too often. I ran across some pictures in a couple of books I recently acquired with the set up. This StuG is actually a composite of a few different ones I saw in them.

[wing_nut]

My my my doesn't that just look a treat. Pencil huh? Looks graet.

[armorguy]

Great use of color and tones !

[afvfan]

Marc - I used a dark grey prismatic pencil. It worked out fine, though I've got to get a better sharpener to get a finer point on it. And, if anyone is wondering, the rear deck was left untouched since the stowage will pretty much cover it all.

Thanks, Armorguy.

[Leon]

Bob, awesome work on the paint and chipping.

[afvfan]

Thanks for the comment, Leon.

End of the week ... time for another little update. Plodding right along. Work was done on the logs, wheels, and weathering (still have to dust the wheels though). I added some dried mud to the lower hull and under the fenders. The pics were done outside, and I finally have a true representation of the color.







Next up is finishing the wheels, running the tracks, and working on the stowage. I should have another update by mid next week.

[Leon]

Looking good Bob.

[bullardino]

Great one, Bob

The concrete looks real and the weathering is great

[ogrejohn]

Mighty fine looking work there Bob!

[wbill76]

Some nice progress to show for sure, looking forward to the next round.

[wing_nut]

really love the look of that concrete

[deafpanzer]

Agree with Marc... dig the look of concrete on the StuG!!!

[panzerjager.]

Wow! I wish my next StuG looks like this
Concrete looks like...concrete!

Darío

[afvfan]

Everyone - Thanks for the positive comments. They are appreciated!

The paint really brought out the concrete better than anything I had hoped for. I had debated about painting it the same as the rest of the hull. Now, I'm really glad I didn't. It looks so much better raw.

I'm also glad I decided to go with the black "replaced barrel" look. This is actually the first build I've ever done doing so and like the "character" it adds to it. I left the muzzle brake the original color figuring it was just removed from the original barrel and added to the new one.

The dusting took care of the streaks on the fenders that Rob pointed out earlier. That's okay, as I was really undecided about them to begin with, and like it better without. Once I get the vehicle numbers on, I'll finish adding the dust to the clear spots on the sides of the superstructure.

My one debating point now is the 2 logs. I think the umber wash I put on them went too much to the red side. Any opinions?

[Leon]

Bob it looks like it.Hard to tell from the pics.

[Deleted]

looks fab very impressive

[afvfan]

Mar 10, 2013 12:48:05 GMT -5 Leon said:

Bob it looks like it.Hard to tell from the pics.

The last 3 pics are pretty dead on as far as the color of everything goes....at least they are on my monitor. I have to keep reminding myself that not everyone's settings are the same.

Thanks Sniper.

[TRM]

Excellent Bob!! Color looks spot on!!! Looking forward to your end game!!!

[afvfan]

Mar 10, 2013 18:32:43 GMT -5 TRM said:

Excellent Bob!! Color looks spot on!!! Looking forward to your end game!!!

End game?? Geez T, I can't think that far ahead!

I did end up redoing the 2 logs. That reddish tint they had just bugged the heck out of me. I've also been working on getting the tracks together. This will be the first time I've done the individual links in 2 sections so I can remove them for painting. I quickly found out there's not much room for any kind of sag in the upper section and still be able to pull it out. That's kind of a bummer.

Further updates in a day or two....

[dupes]

Sweet build! That concrete is cool, as is the replacement barrel - also dig the spare tracks on the side of the lower hull. Don't see that very often. Nice!

[Tojo72]

Thats reaaly different,love all of those details