JTs StuIG 33B

Hi folks, officially chucking me hat in the ring:


It will probably be a first batch vehicle sent to Stalingrad, in Panzergrey. I'm hoping it will be OOB, but you know how these things go.

Cheers
JT

Alright! now we will all get to see another masterpiece of building and one of your absolutley beautiful finishes. I'll race yah. And who ever wins will get a free box of Tim Tams from Jenny !


Gary

Ohhhh kewl , I reccomended a good book to Andy James which I have , 23rd Panzer Division which is dirt cheap for a 512 page book considering it is freight free .

Looking forward to seeing you perform your monkey magic JT

Jenny

Nice

I have the earlier release of this kit, but I don't know if I can bring myself to build it when DML make a smart kit version

Will be watching on for sure

Andrew

Tim Tams ohh yeah!!! I gotta get to the bench....

Thanks Jenny, that is cheap, I will get that book for sure! Monkey Magic -I'm sure I saw every episode:


Andrew, thanks for following mate!

Cheers
JT

Jenny Ryan wrote:Ohhhh kewl , I reccomended a good book to Andy James which I have , 23rd Panzer Division which is dirt cheap for a 512 page book considering it is freight free .

Looking forward to seeing you perform your monkey magic JT

Jenny

JT, the small blonde supreme commander is spot-on, the book is definitely worth the money. Good research on the division and gives a good history of these vehicles and as both of mine are Stalingrad escapees it's invaluable to me. I know yours is likely to be StuG Abt 177 (based on what you've said) so perhaps it's not covered by the book but I can still recommend it just for the background.

by Andrew C on Wed Nov 14, 2012 5:43 am
Nice Smile

I have the earlier release of this kit, but I don't know if I can bring myself to build it when DML make a smart kit version Embarassed

Will be watching on for sure

Andrew

Andrew, I have both kits on the workbench, yes the original kit needs a lot of work especially with the suspension, and I suspect the hull is too short as well... But don't let that stop you building it, I'm enjoying it and on completion you'll end up with a pig-ugly pillbox on tracks mounting a BFG 33B

Well monkey boy, where is some progress?

Erm......

Almost finished!

OH that concrete armour stug photomagraph is in that same book page 187

Jenny

You're ahead of me on the wheels JT! I haven't even got any off of the sprue yet

Almost finished
Go JT, GOoooo

It's a great feeling to start a new build after the last one is finished; I'm finally able to focus on this one.

Here are some photos showing the really short, sometimes non-existant attachment bridges to the sprue:


Note the idlers with those injector pin block thingies between the spokes


Sometimes I make my own sanding sticks from wooden paddle-pop sticks with sandpaper glue on. This one here was carved down first into a flat wedge profile, sanded smooth before sandpaper was glued on with super glue; now I can clean up those attachment points inside the spokes.


This is another home made sanding stick with a convex part, came in handy for sanding off this unwanted raised line between protrusions.


Small progress so far due to the amount of clean up needed.

Cheers
JT

John T wrote:It's a great feeling to start a new build after the last one is finished; I'm finally able to focus on this one.

Cheers
JT

Finished?

Focus?


I don't really understand the use of these terms in relation to modeling. Could you please use words that I Ohhh. . . . Look. . . . . A big squirel



Gary

G Cooper wrote: Look. . . . . A big squirel

And its chasing a buttermafly

Huh ???? Oh yeah great progress JT

Jenny

Gary, Jenny, you have to concent OOOthat IS a big squirel Hehehe haha ha.....

Ahem, what was I saying, oh yeah. Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever the spider does, do do dodo

Looking good John, those extra nodes on the sprues are a pain

Nice couple of tips for making sanding sticks

I do the same, however, I use double sided tape to attach the sandpaper.

I hadn't thought of shaping the sticks though, idea stored in the memory bank

Andrew

Andrew, thanks mate

Here is an update. I thought I would use the Magic Tracks in the kit, in fact it's the first time I've ever used them. There are some SBS blogs on the net which I will use as a guide.

It will be easier if the wheels can stay on the axles by themselves without being glued, to do this I had to add some lengths of stretched sprue and plain sprue to the return rollers and drive sprocket:


To keep the unglued individual tracks from moving around, some double sided tape was stuck to my steel ruler and the tracks were put together on the tape. Then Tamiya Extra Thin was added to all the links.


I didn't leave them to dry, I (carefully) lifted the tracks off the tape almost immediately. They already had a good bond after only a 10 -20 seconds. They were placed round the drive sprocket first, then pressed with my fingers into shape taking care to achieve a natural looking sag. The instructions say 93 links per side which I used at first, but 3 extra links were needed which I added while the tracks were in place. A piece of sticky tape was placed over the unglued join, on the idler.


Here they are dry, and yet flexible enough to be removed from the drive sprocket.


I will leave the wheels and tracks unglued, hoping that the fenders don't make it hard to fit the tracks latter.

Cheers
JT

Good blog on the running gear and tracks JT, they're looking good. I haven't tackled mine yet but now I know how to

Only trouble is now JT's ruler is mysteriously stuck onto the modelling desk . (Image in mind of a irate monkey wrestling to remove ruler from desk)

That really is a great idea , I was toying with the idea of doing something similar

Jenny

Hi Andy, I've only done the left side so far but it went well, hopefully the right side of tracks will go together just as easily.

Jenny Ryan wrote: (Image in mind of a irate monkey wrestling to remove ruler from desk)

Thanks Jenny, me too now!! It did stick to my elbow a few times, stupid thing!!

Hi JT:

Some kewl stuff there. One thing that I have seen (I also have never actually used a set of magic tracks) modellers doing is to glue the track to all the running gear. And then when that is dry and hardend they can remove the entire track and all the running gear as one piece. But that requires that none of the roadwheels, drive sprocket, idler wheel, and return rollers are glued in place yet. And also apparently you need to let the glue on the tracks really dry thouroughly as they will shrink a bit as they dry.

And my vision was of a krazy monkey with the ruler stuck to his hands trying to get it off. And the ruler just going from stuck on the right hand, to being stuck on the left hand, to being stuck on the right hand, to being stuck on the left hand


Gary

G Cooper wrote:
And my vision was of a krazy monkey with the ruler stuck to his hands trying to get it off. And the ruler just going from stuck on the right hand, to being stuck on the left hand, to being stuck on the right hand, to being stuck on the left hand

Or both hands and feet lying on its back on the ground break dancing

Jenny

Great hints on using the Magic Tracks. I, too, have not used them yet but am planning to on my F1. I'm getting to that point quickly.

Mark

Gary, Jenny, Mark, thanks for the feedback!

Yes I've seen that too Gary. Not the monkey thing, but all the running gear stuck together. I'm going to try just leaving it all seperate like this so that hopefully the painting will be easier, well that's the plan. When I'm finished I'll have a better idea of whether that is a good idea.

Delete 'Simon's Cat' (sorry Simon) and insert 'JT the monkey' (that looks like a cat)

Rather wishing I had filmed Meg (my idiot tabby) the other day, instead of rescuing her from her predicament. She has a habit of jumping onto my work bench when I'm building stuff. I also have a habit of dispensing a small quantity of CA glue onto some polythene sheet to use as a reservoir when struggling with PE. I don't think I need to elaborate any further on how this ended up. She's fine, but does now have slightly bald patch after I had to use the scissors on her fur