I do build occasionally LOL.......Dragon Stug IV early.

[detailfreak]

cracked this one open and of course the urge to assemble was quite strong sooo.


assembly of the lower hull was a bit of a pain as the frofront hull extensions seemed a bit thick.Could this be the monday syndrome or are the molds showing thier age?


other than the afore mentioned irratation I ventured onward.


my habit of skipping about on the instructions is evident,as you can see the fighting compart and firewall have been dry fit.Also the main gun assembly is near completion.




Well thats about it for now.Picked up a set of Eduard zim for it and it turns out that it is for the earlier 6043 version ,DOH!!! Must find zimmerit..
Thanks for lookin and please speak yer mind.



Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

[bbd468]

Hey Greg, Great start on the StuG Buddy! Im always up for a StuG build....BOOKMARKED!!!

Gary

[deafpanzer]

Have same kit in stash... I will be following this. May the force be with you!

[Leon]

:)I'm in Greg.Nice start on the StuG.

[wbill76]

This is a fun kit to build, have at it!

[TRM]

Yes Sir! I'm in!!!! Looking forward TO IT! I have the mid, this is just making me want to build!

[Deleted]

That's a good start Greg .

[detailfreak]

Well now I really didnt think it had been two weeks since the start of this affair,where does the time go?
Well lets get straight to some mug shots.




Most of te large sub-assaemblies are in primer now.


as you may have noticed the shrouds over the brake cooling ducts have been hollowed out and the inspection hatches drilled and pinned to make the hinges workable.


all of the roadwheels are cleaned up,primed as well as sprockets and idlers.Verlinden panzer IV engine compartment is in the early stages of fitting as is the RJ products drop in drivers compartment.more to come.

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

Could it be??? Naaaaaaa he never builds anything.

Tony lee

[Leon]

Looking good Greg.Off to a nice start.

[detailfreak]

I know I know,and he loses his way and has twenty or so un-finished shelf queens,I know.LOL thanks for checking Tony,been keeping a close eye on your nashorn progress.KKKOOOOOLL stuff there now my friend..

[wbill76]

Woohoo, we have progress! keep the momentum going Greg!

[deafpanzer]

Glad you are back!!! Safe to guess that ice fishing season is officially over? LOL

Nice start on the StuG!

[bbd468]

There he is!!! Greg, your back! Nice update man, keep bringin that StuGification!!!

[Deleted]

Nice! I do like the odd stug!

[detailfreak]

Ok,have been working a bit on the stug,as mentioned the verlinden engine compartment is being used. The floor section was cast thick and needed to be sanded down,enter the electric sander and some 36 grit,this made fairly short work of the excess material.Oh and this was done outdoors so the breeze carried the dust away.The floor section was aligned using the cross brace and the left and right bogie mounts as reference points.



The engine mounts were cast directly to the verlinden piece and offset the engine to close to the centerline of the floor so these were removed with ,ahem,surgical like precision.Now the engine could be adjusted to line up with the exhaust openings.




This was roughly the position prior to surgery.

The engine now could be moved to better align it with the exhast openings.



The engine mounts as well as the engine block were drilled and a piece of brass tube inserted to hold them in place.This was done so that I could position the mounts and would not continuously knock them off,you know,the sausage fingers attached to ham hands.LOL





And surprise ,the Atak zimmerit from Jadar arrived fri. morning so I got to itchin for some fixin this stuff in place.Just a wee bit of trimming here and some push and shove and also remember to remove the bolt detail from the hull sides.Voila!!



Well thats all I have for now,I must determine the best and hopefully easiest way to attach the stuff.

[wbill76]

Atak zim is my favorite go-to provider, nice progress on that engine compartment Greg! For the Atak, I've found that for large panels Gator Grip (or similar type glue) works best and just use CA gel to tack down edges if needed. For smaller pieces, I will just run liquid glue under it and let the capillary action pull it down then press gently so it will 'stick' into the slightly softened plastic underneath to create a bond.

[deafpanzer]

Zimm is looking great! Have to get one of those Atak sets... all I have are from Cavalier.

[detailfreak]

Well well well here we are in june and the april showers are still falling,at least we do not have the likelyhood of them there twisters.Keep yer heads down my southern comrades.
Ok ,I've been working this Atak zimmerit using CAA gel and a professional grade interior wood glue and so far it seems to be working fine.So with that I'll just go right to the pics.

Attachment Deleted

these rear panels were applied using only the wood glue.

Attachment Deleted

as were the front.

Attachment Deleted

and the upper casemate.









overall all this is nicely engineered stuff,I usually sand the back of the sheet/s until the pieces are released from the carrier making the very thin.Use caution and sand slowly.
Thanks for looking and as always your comments are welcomed.

[Deleted]

You've been busy !

[detailfreak]

I have and double posting too I see.May a moderator please remove one.


Consider it done,Greg!
CB

[bbd468]

Hello Greg,

Man that Zimm looks awesome! Ya done a fine job. Thats Atak Zimm is tha Best? So ive heard anyways.

[Deleted]

Looking good Greg.

I don't miss torrential thunder storms and tornadoes one bit. In fact since I moved from the mid west, two tornadoes have wrecked havoc on my old neighborhood.

G

[wbill76]

Hope you dry out soon! One word of caution regarding the zim at the front just above the final drive housings. You're going to find that you'll have to remove a bit of that when you go to fit the front mud flaps as DML didn't design them with any tolerance for the added zim. I've had to do that on every single Pz IV-based chassis kit of theirs I've built when using the Atak stuff. Do a test fit and you'll see what I mean and just where you need to do a little surgical removal. That area is hidden away by the sprocket and flap once installed anyway so you won't be able to tell that the zim isn't present.

[detailfreak]

Good point Bill.In all likelyhood they would not have applied in these areas anyhoo.

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

My gun is bigger than yours

Love that ATAK too
Tony lee

[406 Silverado]

oh man this is VERY nice. Love the primer color and especially the zimerit. Should look cool with the motor in there.

[armorguy]

The art of attaching Zimerit ! I like this one !

[bullardino]

Great job, I finally managed somehow to see your pics. They didn't show until this evening.

[detailfreak]

Jun 6, 2013 13:51:04 GMT -5 tonylee-Rest In Peace said:

My gun is bigger than yours

Love that ATAK too
Tony lee

Aint how big she is Tony its to what effect ya use it.