A Hybrid Stug IV

[SCHWEREPANZER]

Hi All,

For those unfamiliar with the work of Michael Chan, you owe yourself a favor and look him up on his web-site (https://customtankfigure.com/whats-new.html). Earlier this year, he created a utterly magnificent Stug IV by mating the Das Werk Stug III G (early) upper structure to the Trumpeter Panzer IV H deck and chassis. Yes, true, it's not RC, but it is a magnificent piece of work enhanced with a largely hand-made interior and is of a piece of detail work as might be seen here. I was struck by the craftsmanship of the model and decided to try my hand on replicating, as best I could, only the exterior of his work. I don't have have an original bone in my body and I thought replicating the exterior should be easy enough. Not so. What follows is not a build report as such as I did not document every phase of the build process, nor is it necessary, as in a series of six u-tube videos, he explains and shows that painstaking work.

I'll just hit what I think are some of the highlights of my exterior build using the same major components and, if I may say so, a few homespun modifications. If I had known beforehand of its release, I might have waited and substituted the Trumpeter Stug III (late) for the Das Werk as the Trumpeter has more in common with the Stug IV than the Das Werk. But, that's all in hindsight, now.

My palms started sweating from the start when I knew I had a very high chance of destroying a perfectly good (an expensive) Trumpter Panzer IV kit by slicing off the rear deck from the upper chassis. The result of throwing caution to the wind, below.

I used the excellent Tamiya Thin Blade Craft Saw to excise the front and rear halves of the deck. and quickly reached the point of no return:

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The Trumpeter fenders would serve me well, but some of the molded tread work had to be removed to make a flatter surface for the Stug upper body to rest on. As in the prototype build, I had to raise the deck a little to accommodate the firewall between the engine and crew compartments. This was accomplished using Evergreen polystyrene strips which worked very well. Thanks, Michael, for your generous patience in answering the measurement questions.

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Some adjustments, actually quite a few adjustments, will be necessary, but at least the outline of the new Stug is coming faintly into view. More to come. A second copy of one photo sneaked in here, and I don't know how to remove it.....

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Yay! More! More! Encore!

[john1970]

Found the video's on youtube your link for the site sets off my antivirus and blocks it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFmby4zHLjo pt.1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UChPXOI1M20 pt.2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-sTRhorB5g pt.3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlccjjqQI3c pt.4

[SCHWEREPANZER]

Chapter II. Moving on a little further, "L" angle styrene strip was set in place at the base of the risers used to raise the fighting compartment. The 'bolts' are from Meng and add to the a more finished look. Similar, but a slightly smaller "L" angled strip was used to finish the mating of the fighting compartment and rear deck. The shell deflector in front of the cupola is from AFV Modeller. The late exhausts are from Shapeways. The 3D designer had added weld to the pipes and looked good enough as not to require self-added weld.

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As I wanted to add the remote firing machine gun, it required to make hatch panels to open differently. Had I waited for release of the Trumpeter late Stug III kit, the roof panels would have been correct from the outset. The spare tracks and hangers were gathered from the Teilbelhalter.

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My initial hope was that I could get the Asiatam driver's compartment block to fit properly. This proved to be impossible in my hands (though Michael Chan made the adaptation look easy). Working with my friend and fellow Forum contributor, Patrick H, we devised a custom driver's compartment that more than fit the bill and that I was 'chuffed' with (while also learning a bit of English idiom I was before 'hearing' it was unfamiliar with). And yes, the concrete facing does slightly overhang the base plate according to wartime photos.

Seen above, my initial attempt to fashion Schurzen mounting brackets. Ultimately these brackets from Shapeways were not used as they are extremely fragile. Trumpeter has an excellent 'Space Parts" department for their available kits and I have used them as a parts supplier several times, always with favorable results. In the case of the Schurzen hangers, I was able to purchase the parts tree containing the hangers for the newly (a few months ago) release of their Stug III G (late) which contains this feature. I needed two such parts trees. Unfortunately, Trumpeter will only allow purchase of one of any parts tree at one time. That resulted in two separate orders....and two separate invoices for shipping!!!

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With the driver's compartment pretty well in hand, the ersatz Stug was beginning to come together to where I could envision it more clearly. While Michael fashioned his beautiful Soukopf mantlet from the original trapazoid affair furnished with the Das Werk kit, I took the easy (and for me, only) way and bought mine...from AFV Modeller. It fit perfectly with the kit supplied mounting mechanism parts, unfortunately not documented with photography.

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That's about it for now...

[Ecam]

That's some pretty impressive work!

[tankme]

That's some pretty impressive work!

Agreed.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Wow, those Germans were clever: they used a green sponge to absorb the shell hits in front of the driver.

[SCHWEREPANZER]

By the way, NOTE TO ADMIN: If I have placed this report in the wrong place, please kindly move it as necessary. (PM sent).

Once again, a big thank you to Michael Chan for kindly providing the format for creating the Schurzen, the measurement of which I had been unable to locate in scale . These were created using polystyrene sheets from Evergreen Models stock. The proverbial problem of removing the Meng plastic bolts from their trees was solved using printed bolt heads from Liang (1.2-2.0mm). These were easily removed from their attaching spikes rather cleanly. They made for a smoother, flat mating of bolt to skirt surface.

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A few more details to be added....weld, new Schurzen mounting brackets courtesy of the Trumpeter 'Spare Parts' site, and more Liang bolt heads.

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Priming with Mr. Surfacer 500 spray puts the model in an entirely different light. pulling everything together, but bringing out all the warts to be cleaned up.

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For the eagle-eyed among us, you'll see some missing bolt heads on the fighting compartment roof; new shipment of Liang bolts ordered...arriving three weeks later.

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Thanks again to Patrick H, a working jack bracket whose upper hinge bracket and locking wing nut pivot properly, but which probably wouldn't survive in the elements. In fact, the latter didn't survive my handling, so the current pics show wing nuts to be missing. The 'C' hook bracket, again courtesy of Patrick H.

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Later chapters to come.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

To me, it's always exciting to see a build with its first coat of paint--generally primer. You have an impressive knowledge of sources for details, as e.g. the bolt heads. I am grateful, too, for the photos you provide of the way the Schurzen are mounted.

[Raminator]

A spectacular build, Ralph! You're a braver man than me to cut up two brand new kits, but the results speak for themselves. Much cleaner and sharper than the old Asiatam or Profiline resin kits. Well done!