StuGs galore and more

Welcome to the August installment of my blog.  Well, the Olympics is over and I'm having withdrawal symptoms; what a fantastic event.  I'm not ashamed to say I almost cried with pride at how well the whole thing was staged and hosted and Team GB were fantastic.  I managed to take both weeks off work which was awesome as it meant I could see almost everything on TV and of course, I could get some serious modelling done.  Luckily, the Grob Tutor, the aircraft I fly, was grounded for almost the entire time I was of so I didn't miss any flying either!  All in all, the fortnight couldn't have been better.

Anyway, enough of the chat and onto the modelling.

I love the StuG, it's a pugnacious looking little tank killer and it was very successful on the battlefield.  I love the aggressive lines of the vehicle and seeing that over 10000 were built and it served pretty much everywhere, there are a myriad of schemes to choose from.  Both models were built for Geoff Coughlin's Scale Modelling Now internet magazine and the full article will appear soon.  I really recommend this resource, it's packed full of modelling, walkrounds, reviews and the highlight for me,  instructional technique videos.  He's having a special subscription offer at the moment so check it out here;

 http://www.scalemodellingnow.com/

The first model is Dragon's 1:72 StuG IIIG.  This is a beautiful kit however I decided to spice it up a little by adding a whole load of photo etch from Voyager.  I thought tool clamps in 1:35 were a nightmare, after doing them in 72nd I think they're now a piece of cake!

I wanted to do an all over Dark Yellow vehicle but with a worn temporary white wash from the Eastern front.  Owing to it's small size the model didn't take very long at all to paint, in fact, if you were to build one of these straight from the box I reckon you could do it from start to finish in a weekend.  No there's an idea!

Whilst on the subject of 1:72, up next is the Eduard Bf 110E.  I've been eagerly awaiting this kit as I know Eduard's quality in this scale, their F6F Hellcat was breath taking.  So, the verdict; in a word, stunning.  It fits together better than the 48th kit and has just enough detail to make it a pleasure to build without being too fiddly.  I love this kit, in fact the review kit for Scale Aircraft Modelling magazine was built out of the box but Jay (editor) has sent me another with all the Brassin stuff so I'm going to break out the riveter and hairspray and do a super detailed jobby.

Now for the next StuG installment and this time it's Dragon's model in 1:35.  Again this is for Geoff's Scale Modelling Now so stay tuned for the upcoming article coming soon.  The model would be superb straight from the box however I could resist so it's dripping with etched brass, I also used a metal barrel and those wonderful Fruil metal tracks.  I had originally intended to the same vehicle as the little 72nd model as I thought the comparison would be quite neat however the Battle of Kursk vehicle caught my eye.  Again, this is a wonderful kit and I had a great time beating this one up and making it look well used and abused.

OK, we're done for this installment.  So, what's coming next.  Actually it will be a bit of a departure for me, I'm doing a model ship for the first time!  It's a Trumpeter German Destroyer in 1:350 scale, I've got the kit and the machined barrels and I'll be starting it soon.  Rather than make this for a magazine I thought I'd do the article here so stay tuned for regular updates and you'll be able to follow my progress from start to finish. So, until then take care and happy modelling.

Jamie