StuG III (no. 24/2013)

[Michael Röder]

Before the new StuG III comes onto the market, I would like to introduce you to my Sturmgeschütz III from 2013. Perhaps one or the other will feel like doing a StuG III.

I was able to acquire the StuG in December 2018 through an exchange deal, and it arrived shortly before Christmas.
It was already assembled and painted. Motors, controls, etc. were not yet installed, but were included.

At the beginning of January 2019, I started dismantling the vehicle and then stripped the paint from the components.
Then the new building started. Unfortunately, I did not take a lot of photos in the individual construction phases.

For the detailing (which is very important to me) I used some components from Armorpax. Thank you Dave for your beautiful components!

Regards Michael

Here are a few pictures of the start of my construction:

[Roy Beukeveld]

Nice to see you are (re-)building a StuG, the progress already looks very nice.
Was the gunmount from Armorpax as well or did you make it yourself?
Have you decided on the colour scheme already?

[simon_manning]

coming together Michael, nice to see some build photo's, keep them coming, regards simon manning.

[Michael Röder]

Hello!
Thank you for the kind words!

@Roy: The gunmount on the roof and the connection plate is selfmade (3D print).
I designed some parts in CAD and then printed them. For this I will add pictures.
Because of the colour scheme, I'm already thinking about it. Possibly a colour scheme like that used in Normandy. It will depend on my painting skills.

[Michael Röder]

It goes on:

Next I want to show you how I worked on my sprockets. I found some inspiration for this here in the forum.
I processed the surfaces with the dreml, installed screws and added lettering.

The last picture shows test lettering for the wheel rubbers.

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi Michael, very nice work. How did you make the lettering on the sprocket and on the tires?

[Michael Röder]

Hello Roy!

For the lettering, I used 2 mm and 3 mm plastic letters from the model building trade. Since these letters are very expensive in my opinion, I printed the letters and numbers for the other components myself with the 3D printer. The lettering on the wheel rubbers shown here was only a test. I then did the lettering of the wheel rubbers on the model with various tire manufacturers. More pictures will follow.
I glued the lettering onto the components.

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hello Michael, the letters look very nice, and also handy that the format can still be 3D printed well, which makes it a bit easier and cheaper.
These small details make a lot of difference

[Michael Röder]

Hello!
Here are some more photos of my DIY-lettering.
The weathering of the wheels is not yet complete.
I have also attached a picture of the finished sprocket.

Thank you for the "likes".

[Michael Röder]

Lettering from the 3D-printer.

[Roy Beukeveld]

The sprocket wheel looks very realistic. Not only the roughed up surface and the lettering, but the weathering too.
I bet this project isn’t your first one

[Dave Dibb (Armorpax)]

Excellent work Michael!

Hi Roy,

If anyone does want to make this version we do make a remote MG mount but not the base plate for it. It originally went on my old Hetzer and Stug IV which had the base moulded into the upper hull.

Best Regards

Dave

[Roy Beukeveld]

.....If anyone does want to make this version we do make a remote MG mount but not the base plate for it.....

Hi Dave, thanks for mentioning it, I will look into it and keep it in mind for now. I haven't decided on the machine gun configuration yet.
I do like the remote variant though, would be nice to build it with a servo movement in it.

[Heiko Sattler]

Hi Michi
Schöner Baubericht ich bin gespannt wie es weiter geht Gruß Heiko

[Michael Röder]

Hello!
I have now dealt with the chains and pimped them up a little in color. Even if the paintwork is damaged or changed again by driving. But I can look forward to it during the construction period.