STUG III Questions / Advice wanted

[BITTIN]

Hello all from Massachusetts! Im recently retired and Tanks are one of the things I do to keep busy ..I have a Taigen Tiger I Mid a Torro KT and Mato Kt and working on a Torro Jagdtiger ..cut off the skirts and all that with all kinds of barrel/recoil/elevation improvements ..NOW! I want a Stug and have a few questions ..Options what I want to do vs Can do..$$ and electrics no issue
1.)Torro Panzer III Chassis with Heng long Upper hull..Can it be done? Im really having a tough time loving the Heng Long and its because of the Plastic chassis and all that..if thats doable has anyone done it?

2.) MATO ..Now I know theres some MATO haters and Im sure with good reason but my MATO KT after i fixed recoil and turret wobble runs amazing ..Perfect actually ..I get working on the metal hull and such is tough but it is doable

As those seem to be my only choices ..MATO .. Heng Long ..Torro / Heng Long hybrid whats everyones thoughts? Im not that Thanks in advance Im open to all suggestions as Im sure theres something Im missing

Dave

[Rob59]

Hi Dave.

Firts of all, welcome on here!
Well, I happen to own 5 StuG's.
Depends on what you want to do, there are lots of things which you can change or add.
In the Show Off section is one of my StuG's with 8 figures on it, so you can see what can be made of a simple, stock, plastic Heng Long StuG.
I added a railing, Zimmerit, Saukopf mantled, side armour made of aluminum and their hangers out of brass.
Took the front light off, StuG's did not have that, just the Notek on the bow.

When you go to the build section StuG, there is my current StuG project with topic name New Project.
This also is a Heng Long plastic StuG, bought for €128 shipping incl, from Aliexpress.
On this one I put Winterketten with metal sprocket and idler wheels, added a Saukopf, made a brass railing, and made the hangers for the side armour out of brass too.
The most time consuming on this one was repositioning the 6 return rollers.
From front to rear they need to be raised 3-5-5 mm.
But that is not necessary, just add schurzen and you won't notice they are at the wrong positions, or just leave it all the way they are which is okay too!

Check out my build/pics so you have an idea what is possible.
If you have any questions, just shoot me a message!
Rob.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

BITTIN, first: Go for it!

You hit the expert spot with Rob59, and no doubt other wizards will follow. I have not used a HengLong Stug upper with a Taigen/Torro lower, but generally the two are similar, so at least there is a chance that the only modification needed will be to devise a means to hold the hulls together (e.g. magnets). Here is something to consider: will you use the HengLong electronics or those in the Taigen/Torro? The former offers easier control of motion, especially, but not only steering. The latter offers better sound.

As to Mato: I struggled for two years with my M10, first because the tracks would jam and the gun elevation would fail (the poorly mounted servo would slip and the 360 degree turret rotation gizmo would intermittently fail. Now the M10 runs great, weighs a lot, and sounds superb.

[BITTIN]

Rob59.. thanks I will look at your pages as soon as I can .. Herr Dr Professor I remember your troubles when I got my MATO KT .. there are issues to be sure but now it runs super.. I’ll be using a Clark board and at some point all the tanks will be .. I mention the Torro / HL cross as it will offer the sturdiness I’m used to and the ease of the plastic upper to work on.. the MATO and that combo would be similar in cost .. I’ve looked on YouTube since I posted this and there is someone who has done the brand mix

[Rob59]

BTW, I added a Taigen lower to a Heng Long upper hull.
Fits, no doubt!
Did that on my early StuG-Ausf.-A, where I put a Tauchpanzer III upper hull onto a Taigen metal lower hull.
Only thing you have to change is the way to fasten the upper onto the lower hull.
You could use magnets for example.

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IMG_1848.jpeg (1.76 MiB) Viewed 827 times

[BITTIN]

SWEET!! Thanks Rob thats exactly what Ill do..Ive been looking at magnets for the Jagdtiger and Amazon has crap loads ..I still have to go look at your work ..will later

[BITTIN]

And while Im asking questions ..what are the best STUG III ref books?

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Take a look at the reference section: viewforum.php?f=76. I have some on the Stug, so if none are listed in the reference section, PM me and I will post some up.

[MrChef]

Here's a good primer online reference-
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/germ ... e_vignette

I have a HL Stug III that I'm saving for he right occasion. I contemplated the Taigen lower with a HL donor upper but I found a Pro HL for a deal I couldn't pass up. I also contemplated a Mato but the price of the HL won me over.

[Rob59]

Besides the fact, those Mato‘s cost quite a fortune, the metal is harder to work on compared to a plastic model, it can also be a challenge to keep the paint on!
Once I almost bought an all metal Mato Königstiger…..but finally I decided not too!
Would have costed me around €900 back then.
In the meanwhile I gathered 4 HL KT with the 7.0 elo‘s, which did not even cost me as much as the Mato would have costed!
If you do not drive not that much, I would recommend an all plastic one, which you always can upgrade when your finances allows it, and last but not least, they are way cheaper to buy compared to metal ones.
Rob.