Building a StuH with Missing Links and a "Ghost" Paint Job
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Raise your hand if you have built a few StuG III's in your lifetime. Go ahead, don't be afraid to admit it. See, feel better now. Of course, everyone has built a StuG. There is almost an endless variety to choose from, cool camouflage patterns abound, schürzen, more on-vehicle accessories than in my wife’s closet, and battle damage- can we talk about battle damage? What more could a modeler want. This article will show how Missing Links help build my StuH and finished it with what I will call a "ghost" paint job. I had not built a StuG in a while and I was in a sort of crazy moods, you know, one of those "what can I build that you don’t see everyday", kind of moods. I was scanning the DG on Axis armor and there it was. On January 4th Jean-Baptiste Verlhac posted a question on Missing Links about these StuG III's with scalloped schürzen protecting the area below the fenders and spaced armor protecting the tank above the fenders. What an unusual feature! Oyvind Leonson responded with a wonderful post showing sketches he had made and lots of good information. I was hooked! I contacted Oyvind off-line and in no time, he had sent me a black and white and a full color picture he had made in 1/35th scale, plus some additional data on the tank. What a guy! Other responses lead to more information, including unit assignment and even color pictures of the real thing! Note: Jean-Baptiste Verlhac's StuG is now available for viewing in the Missing Links Gallery. Background The color pictures shown on the internet came from a Spiegel TV show shown in Europe called "The Third Reich in Color" and it showed a sequence of StuG's and StuH's training near the Oder River, referred to as "Oderfront StuG's." There is some debate over which unit the tanks are assigned since the vehicles show no markings, but the best guess is that they belong to StuG Brigade 184. This information is from research from John Nelson. Where did I get this information? Missing Links, of course! They were in the area, and they had been issued new tanks in that time frame. Now, how to get a hold of that film?? Back to Missing Links, of course! I posted a query about the film, wondering if it was available, how to get it, etc, etc. What I found was it was available from Spiegel in Germany. I also got a reply from Ulrich Mössner in Germany who said he had the movie on DVD and he would be glad to send me any pictures I wanted! Say no more, say no more! I told him what I was interested in and within a week, I had 25 or so pictures of the Oderfront StuG and StuH’s. Decision time- do I do a StuG or a StuH??? I went with the StuH, just to be a little different. You know, short barrel, no muzzle break, kind of an attention getter. Oyvind's pictures were based on one of the StuG's in the film, and since I was modeling a StuH in the film, some changes were necessary. I took Oyvind's black and white picture and made a copy. I made a transparency of the picture, flipped it over and made a copy (now I had both sides of the tank). I then took my handy-dandy copy of Achtung Panzer on the StuG and made copies of the top, front, and back and I was ready for coloring. Using the pictures as much as possible, I recreated what I though the camo scheme would be on this tank. Of course, there were no clear pictures of every side of the tank, so some creative speculation was used on unknown parts.
Basic Build The main kit used was the DML Late StuG III. Since the StuH had the early trapezoid mantle, one from the Tamiya Early StuG III was confiscated. The barrel is an Elefant one and the photo-etched set was from Eduard. About the only change to the kit were lots of bolts and rivets that were cut off the rear plate. It seems the longer the war went, the fewer bolts and rivets were placed on the rear. Conserve metal and cost anyway you can, I guess. The Extras The main difference is the addition of the new schürzen and upper spaced armor. The upper spaced armor was in use on StuGs before. It was a double thickness that can be seen on early schürzen added at the top. I used Oyvind's sketch and the schürzen from the Tamiya kit to make new ones from .10mm plastic sheet. These were cut and then glued together to make one long piece with the seam in the middle of it. Tiny holes were drilled at the top to represent mounting holes not used on the StuH's. A tiny rivet was glued in place under the holes to represent the mounting bolt. The mounting pieces that attached the armor to the upper hull were made from scrap photo-etched stuff and cut and bent following the references. Once again, small rivets were glued on to represent the mounting points. The bottom schürzen were make from copies of Oyvind's sketch out the same plastic with a proper size hole drilled in them for mounting. The lower schürzen were mounted in real life on an "L" shape piece of metal attached to the fenders. On top of that, they welded a short pipe for the schürzen to fit on. The beauty of this was that if the schürzen were knocked against something, instead of falling off, they merely pivoted, like a pendulum! This was reproduced using a K & S "L" piece of brass with K & S brass tubing super glued on top. After each tube was cut to the right length, a small flat spot was filed at one end for the drill bit to bite on. A tiny hole was drilled in each tube for the retaining pin, and believe it or not, I did not break one drill bit drilling those holes!! The modeling gods were smiling on me that day. This tube was then glued on the railing with the flat spot on the bottom to conceal it. A + B putty was used to enhance the weld for not only the "L" shaped brass railing, but also the tubes. I also hoped this would secure the tube better to the railing. I probably should have soldered them, but I had already attached the beam to the model.
The lower schürzen are held in place with square or triangular bits of metal and these are then secured with a loop of wire. Oyvind's sketches provided this evidence. Why they didn’t use a bent coat hanger is unknown to me. That is what I would have used. Anyway, I made the shape by gripping a thin piece of wire in my round tweezers. I then bent them around one side, thus producing a nice semi-circle of wire. I grabbed the wire end with another pair of tweezers and gave it a reverse bent, snipped off the extra and there you have it. Threaded them through the hole I drilled after the backs were painted and there you have pivoting schürzen! A new track holder for the front was made from plastic and brass and glued to the front glasic plate. Here come some more tiny rivets. Two on each end. Some weld beads were added as well. Some are stretched sprue, like around the shot deflector and some are A + B putty, like on the pilsner crane mounting points on the roof. Painting The first step in painting is easy: paint everything green. Well, that is not true. Since the reference pictures appear to show the back of the schürzen to be unpainted in camo colors, they were first painted a red oxide primer color from the Practa train line. Plus, since these would be hard to weather after they were in place, they were dirtied up with a spray of a very dilute mixture of red-brown and black in vertical lines and then dusted up with a very dilute mix of buff, especially around the bottom. In case you are wondering, I use an Aztec airbrush. So, I could really use a new upgrade! (Hint) Now paint everything green. I do not use a solid green. The plastic is a light gray, and I used a dilute mixture of green and sprayed it on in a patchy way. This way, the entire tank is not a uniform green, but a very subtle, but very noticeable, piece of work that looks faded and weathered without really trying. This is what I call the "ghost" paint job. The base color or the color of the plastic can be seen through in spots like a ghost. Why I do this is simple: Why give your model a "perfect" factory fresh paint job and then dirty it up? This way, the original paint job I give my tank already has that lived in feeling and look. I am also not big on "following panel lines". I know we are creating little works of art, but do real tanks have dark lines around panels with the middle noticeable lighter? Not that I have seen. Sure dirt and grime built up around raised areas where it is protected, but most the time, it is a light, dusty color! But, this is a judgment call, I am not opposed to the look of this, but a lot, and I mean a lot, of people overdo it. OK, I admit it, I like the look, too (if not overdone). But is it realistic?
After this, the bottom of the chassis that would be hidden with the schürzen was washed with several colors of oil paints and dusted with dirty colored pastels. When dry, the bogie wheels were added. By the way, I painted the rubber part first with panzer gray and used a circle stencil to add the interior color of green. They were also washed with several earth colors and dirtied up with more pastel earth colors. The tracks are Friulmodel tracks (why use anything else!). They were painted with the red-brown and black mix first. After that, a lot of rust colored washes were applied and lots of dirt and rust colored pastels dusted on and washed on with thinner. I like tracks that show lots of different, subtle colors. It adds lots of personality to the vehicle. Badly painted tracks really detract from an otherwise beautiful model. Some silver drybrushing on the drive wheels was then applied, then on with the tracks. The schürzen were attached with the little pins, which meant it was time for the addition of the other camo colors. Surrounding myself with the color sketches and pictures of the real deal, I applied the yellow color and then the red-brown using the ghost method once again. I like to use Tamiya paints, even though it did take a while to get the hang of spraying acrylics. I do like to thin them more than most people, I think. Usually around 70% thinner to 30% paint. I then look for boo-boos, correct them and repaint where necessary, also eliminating over-spray from the other colors. Weathering My preference for weathering comes from an article on (say it with me...) Missing Links! "Painting Panzers" is an outstand article written by James Blackwell. If you have not read it yet, go ahead, I’ll wait. If you have read it, I will not dwell on the subject too long since you know what I am talking about. Basically, his method involves spraying a very dilute mix of red-brown and black Tamiya paint in the crevices for shadows and in a subtle up and down motion on vertical surfaces for a rain and runoff wear and tear effect. This same color is also sprayed in the areas where the camo colors come together. After this, Tamiya Dark Yellow is sprayed on, once again in a dilute form to replicate dust and dirt. Heavy on the bottom and horizontal surfaces, and in up and down streaks on the vertical surfaces. Then, very dilute Tamiya Buff is applied. This is like spraying dust. It blends everything nicely and you can make it as dusty as you want. Since this is, I believe, a new vehicle on maneuvers, I did not muddy it up too much, nor apply too much paint chipping. Plus, I did not have to apply any markings since there are none visible on any of the pictures. The next step is to apply a very thin wash of Raw Umber oil paint. My method is to apply clean thinner over an area, then using a different brush, pick up some oil paint and apply it where needed. The oil paint then flows to the low spots and it is easy to push it to where you want it. Chris Mrosko calls this "wet on wet". I focus on rivets, seams, panel lines, and stuff like that. I just want a bit of darkness, so lightness is the key. If it is not dark enough, apply again. It actually got too dark, in my opinion. If I were to do this over again, I would skip this step. I then created a light tan mix in oil paint and lightly drybrushed only the high points. After this, pastels were applied in certain areas. The horizontal surfaces were dirtied up quite a bit to replicate where crewmembers would do most of their walking. Modifications and Accessories The kit MG holder is pretty worthless, so I attempted to create a scratched-built one based on the pictures in Achtung Panzer. Sometimes I just surprise myself, and this is one of those times. It looked so good to me, that I did not want to hide my work under a MG, hence no MG on the roof. The rear storage area is outlined with wide planks of board, probably to hold more items securely on the tank. The problem with this is, once the boards are in place, the spare wheels will not fit. I figured that I would not like to go into battle without replacement parts, so what would they do? What I did was switched the vent covers. This way, the spares were on the inside of the vent covers, not the outside, so there is no interference. I have no idea if this is what they did, but it works for me. Those clever Germans! The wooden box and the wooden planks on the back are made of... wood! Nothing like simulating wood with wood. They were sanded, thinned, and stained with watered down acrylic paints. The towing clevises were moved to the turret copula, no doubt to increase the protection to the commander and to make them accessible with the unditching beams in place, in accordance with the reference pictures. Most of the on-vehicle pioneer tools are scratch built or are from the Tamiya Mk IV accessory set. These were held in place with the Eduard photo-etched set. My method to simulate wood is to paint the item first in a light yellow or tan color, then apply a heavy wash of Burnt Sienna oil paint to simulate wood grain. Cover that with flat clear and then dust with pastels, wiping off excess with my fingers. Ever notice that those German antennae are cone-shaped? Very slender cones, but nonetheless, cone shaped. This was made with brass rod that was sanded to make it cone-shaped. Plus, the references show it as a light gray color. The periscope lenses are thinly cut pieces of an old VHS tape glued on with Elmer’s. The tarps and rolls are made from putty. Some of the accessories came from the Verlinden German WWII Food Supplies set. The unditching beams are made from sticks from my yard, oak, I believe. They were sanded to shape with course sandpaper, then checked to see if they would fit, and cut to the proper length. Twisting four thin wires together made the tow cable. Then I glued it in the tow cable ends from the Tamiya Mk IV vehicle accessories set. The chain is from the model railroad store. Conclusion I hope that didn't bore you too much. Needless to say, that is a lot of stuff. If you have never attempted to place a question or a reply on Missing Links, go ahead and give it a try. It is far and away the best website for armor on the web. I know there are a lot of people out there who visit Missing Links just to learn and grow as a modeler. If I can do it, so can you. References Pictures and sketches supplied by Oyvind Leonson Color pictures from Spiegel’s "The Third Reich in Color" Achtung Panzer No. 5 Sturmgeschutz III, Stug IV and SIG. 33 Walk Around Sturmgeschutz III Ausf. G- Squadron Signal Publications Stug III Ausf. G - Kagero Sturmgeschutz III- Militar’s Kits Hors Serie No. 3 |
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