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Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:42 am
by Estnische
Herman’s Krieg Schwein and 43Rd RecceReg’s Asiatam Stug IV got me interested in a Stug build. TankArmy had a bit of a run-out sale on them and so Santa lobbed one in my Xmas stocking.
Sturmgeschutz_III-3.JPG
Normally I’d consider a Stug as interesting as a ham sandwich. But I knew the Finnish army put them to good use in their struggle against the Russians, and the Finns are good friends of Estonians, so I gained some interest. A Finnish Stug, or ‘Sturmi’ as they tagged them, would make a straightforward but rare build based on a Heng Long. I could only find two other Sturmii conversions, one done by Buckeye back in 2012, which was excellent, but there was no build story.

I did a little digging into Sturmi history and found a comprehensive collation of info and photos on Andreas Lärka’s Finnish armour website. After the Winter War against the invading Red Army in 1940, the Finns received little or no support from the ineffectual League of Nations. They had to cede more than 10% of their country to achieve a ceasefire. With no other countries offering help, they went to Germany to purchase fighting equipment. Although Finland was not part of the Axis powers, Hitler was willing to supply them as it meant that the Russians would be busy on another front. Stugs were utilitarian and comparatively cheap and the Finns bought 30 ausf Gs in 1943 and another 29 in 1944. Based on their experience against the Russians, and realizing that they would have to be self-sufficient, they modified the Sturmis to suit themselves. The fact that the Finns didn’t lose, meant that plenty survived in Finnish service long after the war, and are still around as ‘gate guards’ with plenty of good quality reference photos and details on Andreas’s website. These do have to be used with some caution, as the Finns made several changes to their Sturmis in post-war service, including removal of the concrete add-on armour.

This clean photo of Ps531-22 is a rare period photo from 1944, showing no zimmerit. Interestingly from my point of view, the Finns donated it to an Estonian military museum in 2008:
Sturmi Ps531-22.jpg
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Typical Finnish mods included:

• Bullet splash shield around the mantlet
• Driver’s visor shield
• Use of captured Russian Degtyaryov ‘DT’ machine guns
• Modified loader’s shield to suit mounting the DT
• Relocating the spare road wheels from the rear deck to the upper hull sides
• Storage box where the spare wheels used to be
• Deletion of ‘schurzen’ side armour and grenade launchers
• Armour plates bolted between the return rollers
• Use of frontal concrete armour
• Deflection armour around the commander’s cupola
• Relocation of some tools
• Centrally mounted front Notek light only
• Finnish camouflage

First batch features included:
• Square gun mantlet
• Smooth drive sprocket caps
• Rubber track return rollers
• North-south split of the loader’s hatch

Second batch features differed with:
• Saukopf gun mantlet
• Bolted drive sprocket caps
• Steel track return rollers
• East-west split of loader’s hatch

What will really make this happen are some of the aftermarket bits available for Heng Long Stugs, especially the Atak concrete armour kits, and a DT machine gun made by Diorama Freak.

A Sturmi build is in the making…

By the way, I just love this photo. It shows a Finnish crew (commander Börje Brotell, gunner Olli Soimala, driver Sulo Kauppi and loader Armas Launikko) and their Sturmi Ps531-10 sitting in the summer sunshine in a brief moment of happiness. Its worth clicking on just for the rare clarity of a wartime image.
Finnish Sturmi Crew.JPG

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:00 am
by HERMAN BIX
One of my most favorite AFV's...............

I'm following on Mr E, can't wait.

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:12 am
by Marco Peter
Kriegschwein made by Herman? Oh my!

I 'stole' that name for my StuG, never knew haha!

Image

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:05 pm
by Soeren
Great thread, following along.
By the way, is there a review of the HL Stug and how accurate it is out of the box?

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:41 pm
by Marco Peter
You B&W picture looks just like the Finnish StuG in Bovington.

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 2:44 pm
by 43rdRecceReg
Ahhh...well, I shall be watching this one with great interest. :D I wonder how you will tackle the elevation issue, Estniche, and what form of gun it will sport? Clearly, a BB type is out, and I assume it must be slated for some sort of IR system installation, I hope, performed by some sort of
6in high red-coloured manic mechanic. Servos and a bespoke controller, perhaps, would be the likely choice? :thumbup:
I think I can modify the barrel and saukopf to accept part of the Tiger 1 mantlet, in partnership with the Taigen flash and recoil system I've bought, on my Jagdpanzer... This will mean altering the primitive Asiatam gun support platform, and pivots that came with the kit.
I'll leave you to install the fancy radio, and choice white interior on yours! :thumbup:

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 3:12 pm
by PainlessWolf
Good morning,
"I did not choose the StuG Life, it chose me." Telling words indeed! ;o) I love a good StuG build and rare ones even more so. Following along.
regards,
Painless

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:04 pm
by Estnische
Soeren wrote:Great thread, following along.
By the way, is there a review of the HL Stug and how accurate it is out of the box?
An interesting question. I couldn't find any criticism of the HL Stug, apart from the airboxes. If you go to the What To Fix On Your New Tank section there is little for the Stug, unlike the Tiger I. As a representation of an Early Ausf G, I think its pretty good.

Here is all I can find:
W00-01.JPG
Like the real thing, Heng Long uses the PzIII lower hull. It is not surprising as they are identical apart from the side escape hatch that apparently only 30 or so early Stugs had and not the Ausf F or Ausf G. (Edit: just read in Panzerwrecks 7, that 170 Stugs were built with side escape hatches in 1944) Also, there is a slot that appears to be for the old style receiver switch, which needs to be filled.
W00-02.JPG
This is a second batch Sturmi, fully restored, but featuring post-war modifications. Notice how the track dips slightly after the rearmost return roller. On the Heng Long the track stays level. Its only slight, and doesn't bother me enough to relocate the return rollers higher.
W00-03.JPG
Just for the rivet counters, there is a bolt missing behind the central Notek.
W00-04.jpg
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\
In a real Stug there should be enough room to squeeze a standard German radio under the casemate roof. It doesn't look like it on the Heng Long.
W00-05.jpg
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The airboxes should be open on top with screening mesh. Apparently the Heng Longs have always been closed. The first ones had a sticker to imitate the mesh, and they were later changed to have a moulded mesh. Some of the aftermarket bits include open airboxes from Asiatam and photo etch mesh.
W00-06.JPG
Most of the tools on the upper hull are moulded in, which is not impossible to fix, just painful. And lastly, the airboxes are correctly tapered from front to rear, but my Stug is blessed with a right-hand airbox on the left-hand side. The glue monkey must have known it was wrong, as the right-hand side fits neatly. I guess he ran out of stock.

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:11 am
by Estnische
43rdRecceReg wrote: I wonder how you will tackle the elevation issue, Estniche, and what form of gun it will sport? Clearly, a BB type is out, and I assume it must be slated for some sort of IR system installation, I hope, performed by some sort of
6in high red-coloured manic mechanic. Servos and a bespoke controller, perhaps, would be the likely choice? :thumbup:

I'll leave you to install the fancy radio, and choice white interior on yours! :thumbup:
Hey Roy,

This is an older stock 27MHz jobbie with IR, not BB. I plan on leaving the electrics alone apart from adding an RC5HL to convert to 2.4Ghz. There is precious little room in a PzIII chassis, and any I gain I hope to use for a bit of detail inside the loader's hatch, such as the model radio.

As for the manic mechanic, perhaps Loki might be a more appropriate Nordic replacement?
loki.jpg

Re: Sturmi - A Finnish Stug

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 7:43 am
by Raminator
Looking forward to seeing how you go with this, mate. I've got a mate planning on converting his HL Stug into a Finnish one, hopefully I can use your build to inspire him to get off his arse. ;)

I took some photos of Bovington's Sturmi that might be of use to you. I can dig them up if you like, I think they cover stuff like the concrete and log armour, waffle-pattern zimmerit and steel return rollers.