Feature Article by Jamie Haggo
By now you have probably seen my model of Dragon’s lovely little StuG IIIG in 1:72 . It’s a fantastic little kit but I had the idea to do the same vehicle but in the larger, more popular scale.
However, as is typical things didn’t work out that way. I was about to start painting when I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to paint the model in a different scheme. But more of that later.
Take a look at: Conclusion, gallery and pdf…
Lower Hull
It won’t be surprising to you that this model will be much more complicated and detailed than its 1:72 little brother (which was pretty detailed itself). Anyway, with a long involved project looming (looming because I don’t really like the building bit) I got started. As is traditional, that was with the wheels. The original vehicle had rubber tyres so I did some very subtle wear on these with a coarse file and a scalpel blade. Many people go way over the top with this, they see old vehicles in museums and replicate what they see but bear in mind those tyres are around 70 years old and consequently the rubber can deteriorate quite badly. My advice is to look at period photos for your reference.
With that it was onto the suspension. It’s important to keep everything level (unless you’re doing a diorama of course) and Dragon really helps out the modeller here as the suspension arms are keyed to ensure alignment. Also, the internal details are provided in case you want to get a full interior detail set which is a nice touch.
Now it’s time to break open that Voyager photo etch set and wow, what a set. Pretty much everything is included and it’s real value for money. The rear exhaust covers and mesh go on first. Made up of multiple parts they fit well and if annealed, they are easy to bend in order to replicate damage.