Tamiya Sturmgeschutz IV sdkfz163

[Smiffy]

This is my very first work in progress build log for a model ever and my first model I have built in the last 15 years.. The will be an awful lot of firsts for me along the way such as photo-etch parts and airbrushing. All my previous models I built when I was younger were painted with a hairy stick.

A brief history courtesy of Wikipedia:

Sturmgeschütz (or StuG) meaning "assault gun" was a series of armored vehicles used by both the German Wehrmacht Heer and the Nazi Party's Waffen-SS armored formations during the Second World War that primarily consisted of the StuG III and StuG IV. The most common of the two, the StuG III, was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III. The StuG III was initially designated "StuG" but with the creation of the StuG IV it was re-designated the "StuG III" to distinguish the two. Initially they were intended as a mobile, armored gun platform, providing close fire support to the infantry to destroy bunkers, pillboxes and other entrenched positions. As the war progressed a number of aspects of the StuG series made them a valued supplement to the panzer forces.

Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 a significant problem developed when it was discovered that the main armament on the Panzer Mk II, III and IV tanks were all inadequate to deal with the newer Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks. The main German anti-tank gun, the 37 mm Pak 36, also proved unable to penetrate the armour of these Soviet designs. Though a more powerful 75 mm Pak 40 gun was being developed, the turret of the Panzer Mk III, Germany's main battle tank, could not handle the larger barreled gun. It was found, however, that the turretless StuGs had enough room in the crew compartment to handle the 75 mm Pak 40, and this modification was made. The new vehicle proved to be an effective tank destroyer. Not only was its main gun powerful enough to knock out the new Soviet tanks, but the Panzer Mk III chassis on which it was based was highly mobile and reliable, and the increased armour plating combined with its low silhouette made it a difficult vehicle to destroy. The StuG III became Nazi Germany's most produced armored fighting vehicle during World War II, with some 10,000 examples produced.

The StuG was used primarily within the Sturmartillerie, a branch of the artillery in the Wehrmacht.

In November 1943, Alkett, a major StuG III manufacturer, was bombed as part of the RAF campaign against Berlin, and Alkett's StuG production declined from 255 StuG IIIs in October 1943, to just 24 vehicles in December. In a December 1943 conference, Hitler welcomed the suggestion of taking the StuG III superstructure and mounting it on a Panzer IV chassis to offset the loss of production of the StuG III. This restarted the Sturmgeschütz IV project, which had earlier been considered and rejected. The superstructure of the StuG III Ausf. G was mounted on a Panzer IV chassis 7. The Krupp plant, which did not produce Panzer IIIs, used the Panzer IV chassis with a modified StuG III superstructure, with a box compartment for the driver added. Combat weight was 23 tonnes, lighter than the 23.9 tonnes for the StuG III Ausf. G. On December 16–17, 1943, Hitler was shown the StuG IV, and approved it. To make up for the large deficit in StuG III production, StuG IV production received full support.

Onto the kit, this is the Tamiya 1975 vintage kit with the space for a motor and batteries in the hull.


Horrible kit tracks and the two hull halves


Spare tracks, barrel, cupola, fenders etc


Skirzen which will be separated and concrete armour


Wheels and suspension


Detail parts and poly caps


The usual Tamiya instructions and decals






Eduard PE Zimmerit


Eduard PE detail set




Dragon Panzer IV individual track links, I expect to have to modify these somewhere along the lines to get them to work with the Tamiya kit




I intend to depict a Sturmgeschütz IV 121 StuK 40 L/48 of Sturmgeschultzbrigade 907 which was used on the Gothic Line in Italy 1944.

A profile picture of 121

[Smiffy]

Only a small update for part 2 as I have no CA to start attaching the PE Zimmerit.







More to follow when my CA arrives.

[Noobmodeler521]

Looking good so far, can't wait to see how that photo etched zimmerit comes out!!

[RFeeney]

Looks like fun!

[fred29]

looking forward to seeing the tracks

[Jscale32]

I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[Smiffy]

Thanks for all the nice comments, I've been rather busy with work of late. I now finally have time to show an update, albeit a rather large one.



Part 3 is a tale of minor surgery to the kit, building the barrel,PE Zimmerit and gluing the top to the bottom half of the hull.


Front and rear fenders removed and the rear deck sanded smooth in preparation for PE


The barrel assembly completed. Would have liked a metal barrel but I may have spent the money on another kit..




PE Zimmerit on the front of the hull. I decided to do this be before anything else to keep the barrel from getting in the way






Hole in the lower hull filled with sprue melted in a 10+ year old bottle of Humbrol liquid poly - Vintage.


Lower hull PE Zimmerit




Hull haves glued together and final PE Zimmerit parts attached. Looking at the pics there's a flue places to add more CA, that will be my job tomorrow


















So that's my first real foray into the world of Photo Etch. In part four I will be taking a break from PE and assembling the track links. At this stage the wheels, sprocket and idler aren't glued into place just push fit so I could see how things were starting to look.

Thanks for looking.

[McClane187]

Great looking StuG so far.. kutgw

[Stokesy44]

Looking good. Love the PE Zim, very nicely done

[Smiffy]

Thanks for the kind comments McClane187 and Stokesy.

[PrivateMansoor]

Looking good uptil now smiffy

[Smiffy]

Thanks PrivateMansoor, much appreciated.



Part 4, assembling track links and more track links. Its actually quite therapeutic once you get into the swing of it. Fortunately the only modification I will have to make to the Tamiya kit to use the Dragon track is thin out the teeth on the drive socket. This was achieved with a light sanding of the teeth on the inside edge of the sprockets.

The first length of track assembled and held in place with a trusty bottle of Stynylres


The second length glued and drying. Thanks to Panzermeister36's YouTube video which was used as a guide


After taking this photo it dawned on me that I had put this length of track on the wrong way round, Bo****ks!


All fixed, it was here I found out Tamiya drive Sprocket is a little too wide for the Dragon tracks. It could have been a lot worse.


Knocked up a few links for the front as the look far superior to the kit parts, also added the commanders periscope, the return rollers and other bits


A bit of battle damage on this side caused by slippage of scalpel...






Thanks for looking.

[Smiffy]

Been a while since I have updated my build thread due to lack of time to do any building or the time to do an update. I'm at the stage now where th Stug is pretty much ready to prime

Many firsts in this update, most notably folding PE. Not at all as bad as I thought it was, I really wasn't looking forward to doing the shielding for the gun or the fenders. Though they weren't as frustrating as I was expecting them to be.

I thought I'd jump in at the deep and and start by folding the basket to hold the spare road wheels








Then the shield for the machine gun






I then filled and sanded the back of the Schurzen and separated the plates. I might have broke on the the clips that holds the front Schurzen on the RHS but conveniently looks like damage Also folded and added the fenders along with a few other details.

[Stokesy44]

That is fine looking work. Excellent PE and Zimmerit. Really makes the kit stand out.

[Smiffy]

That is fine looking work. Excellent PE and Zimmerit. Really makes the kit stand out.

Thanks Stokesy much appreciated. Got some spare time today so onto part 6



A day of first for me, first time ever using an airbrush! First time ever using Stynlyrez! A brief mini review of Stynlyrez and a total noob to both the primer and airbrushing: Its incredibly easy to use, very forgiving even with my ham fistedness and lack of airbrush skill. Most certainly a recommended product. The H&S Ultra has definitely been well christened.

First let me introduce Herr Schmidt, who very nearly got a van Gogh when I was removing flash and seams

[OliveDrab]

The Stug is really coming to life, keep up the great work

[privatepete]

Hi looking very good like the PE zim a lot, never used it myself might give it ago so keep up the good work

[Smiffy]

The Stug is really coming to life, keep up the great work

Thanks very much

Hi looking very good like the PE zim a lot, never used it myself might give it ago so keep up the good work

Thanks very much, the PE Zim was really easy to use and I think just adds that something extra over the stock kit.

[Noobmodeler521]

Looking good so far, cant wait to see how this turns out. Especially that figure, although I my opinion the Van Gogh would fit very well

[Oddball007]

Awesome work can't wait to see it finished.