STUG III Asiatam Heng long

[xrad]

Thanks! I found some nice copper plates(for skirt) at the hobby shop...have not figured out how to cut a nice straight edge yet..

[xrad]

Excellent Stug website:

http://www.stugiii.com/home.html

[xrad]

Painting:
1) Gunmetal for all crack, hole, grooves, grates...etc..
2) panzer grey over whole tank two coats..don;t fill in all the nooks and cracks you painted in step 1
3) few light sprays of testors olive drab and some cammo dark brown form hardware stoe (use both VERY sparingly to create a cammo pattern)
4) Few light sprays of semigloss IVORY (hardware store). USE VERY LIGHTLY. it will cover all your hard work.

NOTE: in between each coat, I do a HARD wipe (not my butt) on the model. especially hard worn areas and edges. By Hard wipe, I mean crinkle up some aluminum foil and hobby shop receipt paper and wipe , twist , dab at the necessary areas.

5) then go back and touch up areas (like your tank crew would) where needed. Of course, you have to use a 1/16 brush so it looks good.

6) next will be rust and dirt and final coats of testors dullcoat.

Cheers.

[Plastic scouser]

Your stugs looking great xrad, love the job you've done on the schurzen brackets

Cheers Ian

[xrad]

Thanks Ian!

Nearing the end:
Finished the dirt /rust/snow/whitewash. Wheels done. Got the flash unit from RCCommand (Thanks Bill!). hooked up and installed. worked great. Had to fix loose elevation and fan power wires. Added fine rust dirt detail to hull and tracks.

The recoil mod with one micro relay to run the motor plus the rx18 board mod allows the flash to synch with the barrel movement perfectly. Still have to check IR.

Pics below.

Video w/recoil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZK4xTG7frg

[littletankman]

Hi Xrad . Can I ask you how you fixed the brass skirt mounting brackets to the tank please . My last atempt I drilled through and pinned them with very small pins and added a drop of glue . Im well on the way with my mounts now . But Im zimmeriting my one in the waffel pattern and I think I need to do the sides atleast before I mount the brackets. Your Stug is excelent by the way.

A ndy

[xrad]

THANKS for the props!

When I built the skirt frame, I incorporated an EXTRA right angle bend at all the upper mounting points. The brass frame (all one piece around the outside of each 'A' frame) extends about 5mm into hull through drilled holes and superglued in place (just the tops, the bottom of A frame is just 5 min epoxied in place. This way the skirt frame has a way to support itself. I used the same method with the rear frame. The 'extra' right angles and ground to have a sharp edge so that it looks like they are on top of the body, not in it.

For the waffle pattern, make yourself a small reverse pattern in a square piece of wood and just stamp it into the 'zimm' putty.

Finally done. a good twenty hour project. Not much compared to the JP (months). But this time it was more enjoyable because I just stuck to what was available rather than trying to make some crazy suspension or gearbox setup. Same with electronics.

Added fuel barrel, tow cable, extra 5 links of track to hull(fixed with brass rod and wire). Made rear fence. Soldered one piece top surround in place. Rear housing track. My soldered fuel fitting on the front armor plate popped overnight (due to too strong split washers) . So the front hull plate was removed and drilled to fit the Asiatam upper hull retaining screws. painted the extras. Oh, and the HL sticker decal are basically worthless, but the size is right. So I stuck one next to the right area and hand painted a copy in black surrounded by some fresh Ivory white.

NOTE: if the machine gun shield is 'up' position, then the front door of the hatch should be 'open' as well because it has a locking tab that fits into the shield to hold it in place (on the real tank, anyway). Some Stugs have the hatch doors rotated 90 degrees in position...saw them this way with a remote MG.

Only thing not done is wire up the IR system.

Works great, looks great. i think this is the best of the HL models due to detail and different builds you can do.

Total cost...hmmmmm...not pretty.

Tracks: 125
hull: ~200
HL Stug: 100 (delivered)
extra electronics: 75
metal return rollers: ~20
photo etched/ brass/ little bits: 60
Asiatam motors: 80

about 950,000 lire!!...ouch...did not seem like that during the build... But the fun in building was priceless!


NOTE: the tank looks much better in real light. the rust and dirt are not pinkish. just digital mush...

[tankmad]

Nice work on the stug its looking good.
Stevie

[xrad]

Thanks Stevie.

I have not decided about the side skirts yet. Can;t find a way to cut nice straight edges.......

[littletankman]

Hi Xrad ,
Im making my skirts from styrene so will cut with sharp craft knife and a steel rule . If you are making them from metal cut them on a bandsaw with a fence . Shame your not in the UK , I could of done it for .

Andy