Tamiya Stug III Auf.B

[armor fiend]

What the!?! Rubber tracks!?!

Well, it looks like a fun kit, but so far the pieces aren't fitting well. A little loose or over sized.

Gotta say, though, I'm loving the Tamiya extra thin cement that a guy I met at a hobby shop up in Gainesville, FL showed me.

[Panther F]

Rubber? Did you mean vinyl tracks? I've heard nothing but good things about Tamiya's Stug III Ausf. B and plan to get one soon to go with all my other Stug builds.

I started using Ambroid Pro Weld liquid cement last year and tube glue now is a thing of the past.

[armor fiend]

Vinyl, rubber, all I know is it's flexible. I gather it' so the stug can be made into a radio controlled vehicular.

The review at Perth gave it high marks, but just starting on it last night I was comparing it to how well the DML Pz IV F2(G) fit together. You could almost dry build that whole kit.

I still think I'm going to have fun with it.

[armor fiend]

Every single piece needs has a seem that needs to be trimmed, and there's even flashing on some pieces. Plus the plastic is too hard and scratches easily.

On the other hand, the suspension is groovy.

[alanmac]

Hi

Sorry but it doesn't sound like you are describing a Tamiya kit to me. They may be light on detail at times, even suffer like all makers from inaccuracies, but I've never read about poor fitting parts, and flash as you are describing.

Tamiya kits are well engineered and cleanly moulded. The rubber tracks with facility to motorise them in 1/35 scale went out years ago. Sounds like you've got hold of a very old kit dating back to the 1970's. Even then flash and fitting was never an issue in my experience. Got a picture of it or a kit reference number ?

Alan

[armor fiend]

The plastic is dark gray, if that helps any. The instructions say copyright 2005. The kit number is 35281*3000. Box says copyright 2005 also. It's got photo etched parts and an aluminum barrel in the kit, which is why I picked it up instead of the $20 Stug G.

As for pix, the digital camera broke and the wife has it off being repaired. So no pix for a while.

I hope this isn't representative of Tamiya. The books and the websites say the Tamiya Stug III B is the best version in the box.

-------

The screw heads on the sides of the fighting compartment were missing, so I drilled those in . . . not too well though. Definately not in a straight line, but this is a learning kit, though maybe I should practice on cheap kits instead of $40 ones.

[armor fiend]

I have discovered an error in the Tamiya Stug III B. It uses the wrong idler wheel. It has the right one in the kit, but it doesn't fit. So I either have to drill out the idler or sand down the axle.

Early Ausf. Bs did use the Ausf. A idler, but they also used the Ausf. A drive sprocket , 36cm tracks, and the forward return wheel was slightly further back. In other words, it was externally indistinguishable from the Ausf. A.

This is kinda of obvious, so I wonder why none of the reviews have mentioned it.

[armor fiend]

Also, I don't know whether this is a defect or not, but according to Sturmgeshütz III In Action, the gunner sight was internal, hence the opening in the front of the armor. The external gun periscope was added with the Ausf. C, when the geniuses who developed the Stug realized that putting a hole in the front armor might not be such a good idea after all, and finally sealed it up.

Also, supposedly the early stugs had a canvas connecting the cannon and superstructure, to keep rain and dust out. Not sure how to model that.

[Sticky]

Dude, the kit idler is correct, the pic you show is a StuG E. The sight thru the roof is an indirect fire sight, teh direct site fit thru the opening in the front plate.

[armor fiend]

According to Sturmgeshütz III In Action, the old idler was used on some Bs. I've got pics of Bs with both types of idlers.