discussion Bowcat's 1/35 Tamiya Stug III Ausf G "Finnish Army"

[Mr Bowcat]

Afternoon Stug fans.

I made a small start on mine yesterday, only a couple of hours although in that time I got most of the lower hull finished. I didn't realise how small these things were, when I got the lower hull out I had to check the box front to make sure it was 1/35!

Box, sprue and progress shots below.

 

[Guest]

Taking a seat now Bob, as need all the help I can find.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Welcome John, though not sure how much help I will be.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Good start Bob :thumb2:

 

[Allen Dewire]

I'm in and she's looking good so far Bob!!!

 

[Steve Jones]

I have to admit I did do a double take when I saw the hull and checked it wasnt 1:48 :smiling2: Good luck with the build Bob.. Big fan of your painting techniques so hopefully it wont be long before we see the wet stuff

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers guys.

It's going together so quickly I limited myself to an hour tonight. In that time I got most of the upper hull done, and started on the gun. Some big gaps on one of the parts so filler applied, although I doubt any of it will be seen.



Then just as I was finishing up I found this on one of the sprues.



Poor little fella had multiple attachment points and some nasty seams, but was all better after a little surgery with a number 11 blade.

That's a bottle of TET he's standing on to give an idea of size.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Morning Stug fans. :smiling3:

I've been working away quietly getting small bits (tools, jack, guns, etc) off sprues and cleaned up. Nothing interesting so haven't taken pics.

Last night I had a test fit of the upper and lower hulls, where I noticed that not only are the underside of the sponsons littered with ejection pin marks, but also there is a big hole each side into the interior.



Although with the tracks on this probably wont be seen I decided I wanted to close it up, so dug out the thinnest plasticard I had and set to work.



It will need a touch of filler, and scale thickness is probably now completely wrong, but I think aesthetically it's better. :smiling3:

 

[Steve Jones]

It drives me up the wall when I see those types of gaps under the fenders and it always seems to be Tamiya. Great to see you have covered them up as you do see the holes once the wheels are on. Great work

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Steve.

On that note I got the primer down today.



Before that though, I had a couple of things to take care of. First up was the track sag. I tried a technique I saw on you tube which involved gluing some thin wire to the inside of the guide horns.



It seems to have worked quite well.

Next up were the logs for the sides of the hull. The molded on straps looked a bit thick, so I hacked them off and found some PE straps in the spares pile. They look a lot better.



My mind has also turned to a base for it, and I found a couple more figures on the sprues. True they are wearing German uniforms, but I've removed the iron crosses and by the time they are painted in Finnish tank crew colours I don't think it will matter.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Looking good Bob:thumb2:

Looks like i need to do some catching up°

 

[Steve Jones]

Nice to see you starting on the wet stuff Bob. The wire sag idea has worked well. Great stuff

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Steve.

Yes, a little too well as I don't think they should be quite that "saggy". The good thing with this method is it can just be adjusted, in fact the track are now flat again for painting, I will re-introduce the sag at the end when they are weathered and fitted.

 

[scottie3158]

Bob,
looking very nice. I love the idea of the wire to form the sag, it looks very effective.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Paul.

Yes it seems to have worked so far. I used the inner core of picture wire for this, then used the outer part for the tow cables, so no wastage.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Morning all.

I've been a bit under the weather recently so not much Stug building has occurred, although I did manage to get the figures painted.

My plan for 2020 is to get better at figures, it's an area I struggle with, particularly the eyes. In retrospect I wish I hadn't tried to paint the pupils in, I know many people don't at this scale.

 

[Steve Jones]

Nice to see you up and about Bob. If your looking to improve your figures next year it shouldn't take too long as these are wonderful. Great stuff

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Steve.

I just want to get better at faces, I have certainly improved since by early attempts but know I can do better with some practice.

So for the last few days I have been getting the camo down. If this was German tri camo I would have just freehanded it with the Airbrush, but the Finnish army had hard edge camo which meant masking, never easy on an AFV with all the lumps and bumps.

To try and accurately mimic the box art I scanned the painting instructions then after a quick calculation printed them out at 147.7% so they were 1:1 with the model. After spraying the lightest colour I cut out the shapes from my print, transferred them to masking tape and applied them. Not a quick process.



The 2nd colour was applied then it was just rinse and repeat with the masking and 3rd colour.




After unmasking she looks like this.



I'm quite happy with the result. There was a little bit of paint lift from the PE grilles which I have touched up with a brush but otherwise the lines are quite clear and distinct.

Unfortunately that is now how it is going to stay for a few days. I'm a dining room table modeller, and the missus apparently wants the table clear for Christmas. Bloody cheek!

Cheers,

B

 

[Guest]

Lovely masking job and a great result!

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Andy.