Dragon StuG III Ausf. F/8 Late Production With a Twist!

[wbill76]

Build log for Dragon's 1/35 kit #6644 StuG III Ausf. F/8 Late Production w/Winterketten.



This build will be finished as one of the 4 StuGs that saw service with StuG Battery 90 in North Africa with the 10 Pz. Div. between Jan-May 1943.

[wbill76]

Journeys always begin with a single step...and in this case the first one deals with the inevitable road wheels! I put together a short run of 16 links of the MK workable tracks to serve as a guide to ensure the sprockets and idlers were properly aligned and gapped so there wouldn't be any issues there. The idlers got their kit-supplied PE inner rims, the road wheel halves were removed from the sprues and their mold seams sanded down, and the return rollers assembled to kick things off. Not a dramatic first step but a first nonetheless!

[wbill76]

Progress on the StuG resumed as usual with the bulk of the attention going towards Step 2 which deals with the torsion bar suspension and various details for the hull sides. There are a couple of instruction pit-falls to watch out for, the first is that the angled hull nose plate, D11, is shown installed in the step but without a number call-out. It's important to install this part first before you add the hull towing eye extensions (parts B13/B14) as they interact with D11 in terms of fit and placement. The second pitfall is parts Q38, they are really Q22 as you need four of them and Q38 is a real part on the sprues but is the shovel that installs later on with the rest of the tools.

The neat thing about the way Dragon designed the suspension is that the middle four road wheels on either side can be made workable if you remove the mounting pin that the swing arms attach to on the hull plates. These are easily clipped off and sanded smooth to allow the suspension to work, always a plus when using workable tracks like I am but also to help ensure that the arms will all sit level on both sides. The front and rear wheels are fixed in position however due the shock absorbers being all one-piece, so no luck there.

There is another small thing to point out that is actually part of Step 1. The idler mounts take a half-moon shaped part, B2/B3, that matches up with the rear hull plate to create the full idler tension housing. It's virtually impossible to install this correctly as called for in Step 1, so I waited until I had the plate installed to add those along with the idler mounts themselves. The final drive housings were also added but the sprockets left off to make it easier to paint and detail them separately.



Steps 3 and 5 deal with the rear hull plate details and the air vent screens and deflectors. The sharp eyed among you will notice that the rear plate is already installed in the above pic. That's due to the fact that the plate needs to interact with the idler mounts, so I added the engine exhausts to the plate, installed it into position, then added the four braces for it to flex out the rear part of the hull properly. Once that was dry, then the rest of the rear plate details were added. My pic of the Africa StuG shows it had the rear towing pintle, so that option was used. Kit supplied PE screen was installed and then the deflector pieces added.



Next up will be starting work on the fenders and casemate structure!

[wbill76]

I've made a lot of progress as a result of the 4th of July holiday and apologize for the large number of photos in advance. This is driven more by how Dragon designed the way all of the upper hull components come together than my desire to torture you with a ton of pics!

First I had to study the instructions and figure out what goes where. To that end, I started on the fenders as called for in Step 6 and got them all cleaned up and their braces added but left off all the tools and small parts for later.



If you follow the instruction order of things (not recommended!), Dragon would have you wait until the very end step to install the casemate, interior, and engine deck together as a single module along with the fenders and glacis plate. This would require a level of precision in terms of how all the parts go together that would be hard to achieve in my view so I did things a little different. I started first with cleaning up the glacis, casemate shell, and engine deck platforms and did a mock-up test fit with all the components to see how they would go together. Everything plays nice, but the fenders have supports that slide under the glacis, the casemate depends on the fender supports to site correctly, and the engine deck has to trap the edges of the fenders just right...so waiting until the end to achieve all this is risky to say the least.



So far so good, but the other question remained about how to best deal with the interior and gun mount. The fighting compartment bulkhead slides into slots in the lower hull and this in turn helps 'spread' the top of the hull to the right width. So rather than attach it to the hull, I used the hull to place it at the proper spot and then carefully glued it in place with the interior floor but didn't glue the floor into place yet. I did assemble the base of the gun mount from Step 13 and installed that into the floor.



The rest of Step 13 assembles the gun mount and all of its details.



And a test fit with the floor mount shows it will sit just fine...but you can't secure it in place yet as the way it interacts with the casemate requires a little bit of contortionism to achieve.



A simple test fit with the casemate along with its roof plate ensured that the alignment of the gunner's periscope sits properly and lines up with the opening in the hatch.



Step 14 assembles the main gun barrel and block mantlet. The block mantlet and barrel can't be installed until the casemate is in position but you need the end of the barrel to line up properly with the D-shaped opening in the gun recoil housing. To achieve that, I slid the block mantlet over the housing as a dry-fit and then glued the barrel and components in one by one until the full thing was built and all aligned correctly. After the glue set, the mantlet and beyond portion was removed so it could be installed separate from the mount.



This next part is best described as bringing all the other parts together to form the upper hull. I returned to Steps 7 and 8 and added most of the details there to the casemate in the form of the driver's plate and add-on plates. It's worth noting here that there's no 'M' sprue of clear parts, those are on a 'V' sprue, so bear that in mind. I'm opting not to install the roof mounted MG since that's a feature that wasn't fitted until early 1943 and was only done to some F/8s.



Step 9 adds the side panniers to the casemate along with other details. Since I'm closing all the hatches, I didn't bother with assembling the radio gear and installing it but will add them to the spares bin for possible use on future projects. Same thing for the 'rabbit ears' periscope, this is only needed if the commander's hatches are going to be open. I drilled out the antenna mounts to take 2m brass RB antennas later on.



That brought me to this stage in the build in terms of components that all have to work together to get the upper hull together...as you can see, it's a lot!



And since the photos will tell the story...here's how I determined was the best way to get it all together:

#1 Install the glacis and interior floor and bulkhead to spread the hull to the right width.



#2 Fenders come next, using glue only at the front and middle edges to secure it in place. I did have to modify the 'notches' at the rear in terms of using a square needle file to cut them deeper to allow them to fit correctly.



#3 Add the casemate and gun mount next.



#4 Install the engine deck, it's a tight fit, almost a snap fit. I only needed to use slight finger pressure at the very rear to get it close up correctly with the fenders and hull edge.



#5 Finally install the block mantlet and gun in place. This is best done after completing Step 12 which adds all the details to the glacis plate including the access hatches and Notek light. I added the bolt-on armor for the hull nose as well now that I could get it lined up properly with everything.



Step 10 came next, adding all the hatches in the closed position to the casemate roof. Part Q34 from Step 16 is used to trap the gun mount into place and complete the roof assembly. I used the pre-formed brass 'cage' for the sight cover as it's got the best in-scale appearance vs. the styrene cage option also included. Unfortunately I forgot that I intended to leave that hatch loose to make it easier to paint it and the scope and ended up gluing it in place without thinking.



Rounding things out, I completed Step 11 that installs all the access hatches for the engine deck. The instructions don't call out the separate hinge parts, G40, so you have to hunt for them on the sprues to figure out where they are. The spare track tail gate from Step 16 was also added.



Next up will be attending to some of those fender details before this one heads over to the paint booth.

[wbill76]

Spent some more time working on the details but didn't quite get to the painting stage. All the tools for the fenders were cleaned up and test fit in their various locations and Griffon PE handles added to the various clamps that had molded-on handles and full clamps replacing the ones for the axe. The placement of items on the right fender is particularly tricky as the 'foot' of the jack is too long and had to have its stub that goes inside the body trimmed back to allow it to sit at the right length.





Work continues on the workable tracks and then it will be time to prep for the painting to begin.

[wbill76]

Once things settle down for me for a little bit, work will of course resume on this StuG!

[dupes]

Ahhhh yes, this would be the one.

[wbill76]

Jul 13, 2014 8:49:13 GMT -5 dupes said:

Ahhhh yes, this would be the one.

Glad you found it!

[totalize]

nice progress thus far Bill.

Like the theatre of choice too.

[wbill76]

Thanks Dave, I always try to find something a little interesting with a build and this one certainly qualifies.

[wouter]

nice to see the StuG here again...would be nice to see the GB fired up here as well

Cheers

[wbill76]

Thanks Wouts! That would be nice to see or at least see some of the great builds in progress move over.

[Tojo72]

Looking good Bill,I really enjoy the DML Stug's

[wbill76]

Thanks Anthony, this one hasn't had too many surprises but just enough to keep Dragon's reputation intact.

[Deano]

These Dragon kits are great and you are doing a good job of it as usual Bill

[wbill76]

Thanks Deano! Spent the day watching old TV shows on Netflix and assembling the MK tracks. Normally I'd do that while a football game was on or something but since it's out of season, just had to make do.

[TRM]

Another fine drag over Bill!! Nice job relaxing and getting some tracks out of the way!! Making me want to crack mine open!! LOL!!!!!

[bigjohn]

Looking good Bill. I know you'll work your magic with this one.

[DennisM]

When I saw the first picture I wqas wondering how you going to fit a Hummel barrel onto a Stug. It took me a minute to realize it was a box of track links. I am an idiot.

[wbill76]

T, I'd say go for it but where would you find the bench space for another project on the go??!!

BJ, thank you sir, magic right now means one track link at a time...90 down, another 90 to go!

Dennis, I can imagine that...but no worries, not doing a FrankenStuG here that's for sure. Either way, it's good to see you along for the rid.

[deafpanzer]

Really liking this very much especially the periscope guard... did it really come with the kit??? Maybe Dragon finally got the message that they should offer more for its price?

[wbill76]

Jul 14, 2014 12:51:08 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Really liking this very much especially the periscope guard... did it really come with the kit??? Maybe Dragon finally got the message that they should offer more for its price?

The kit not only included the PE guard, it also included a styrene option to achieve the same thing (although it doesn't look as good IMHO) so people that don't like PE could still achieve a similar look.

[elco]

Nice to see it pop up here but we realy need to continue the Stug GB here

[wbill76]

Jul 14, 2014 14:47:08 GMT -5 elco said:

Nice to see it pop up here but we realy need to continue the Stug GB here

Thanks Elco! As for the GB, just shoot Rob or T a note about getting it set up and I'm sure they won't mind doing it in the GB area. I'll keep my build here in the Armor forum not because I don't want to participate in the GB but because I'm probably going to finish this one pretty quickly now that I have more free time.

[elco]

GB is realized, yeaah! It would be great to see it there again Bill. It doesn't matter if your fast or slow right?

[wbill76]

That's true Elco! I'll still follow along with the other GB builds though. I've never been a regular participant in them, it's a pretty rare thing in fact. I've done exactly 2 GBs in the last 5 years for example. It's just not something I really get into personally, probably because I tend to build just one thing at a time. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy seeing the work that others do in them though!

[406 Silverado]

Very nice, and clean Bill. That is a very nice kit, I had fun building it.

[wbill76]

Thanks Rob, been a fun one so far...will be even more fun after I get the tracks done and can move on with the paint and weathering work.

[DeafStuG]

Good Job and all plastic parts joints are very neat. I had enjoyed read with this topic.

[wbill76]

Thanks Jeremy, glad to have you stop by.