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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Tamiya Sturmtiger!


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I'm on vacation from work allowing me lots of bench time!  The weather has been awful and having a cold kept me from being distracted by DIY stuff.

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I bought the kit second hand about 6 months ago for a nice price.

 

But yesterday I got a big surprise...  The largest single part, the hull tub was for a regular Tiger I.

So, I found myself forced to make a decision...  quit the kit...  Or enjoy the 'experience' of converting the Tiger hull into the Sturmtiger part which will involve sawing, grinding, filling, and creating surface detail.

 

Here's where I am:

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This is for a group build over at Armorama.  I was expecting a quick and easy build.  Alas...it is not to be.

 

Cheers!

 

Gaz

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41 minutes ago, Martinnfb said:

:)

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hah, hah... Funny!   I was looking forward to a quick, easy build so I could concentrate on some heavy weathering...  you know...  late in the war...  no paint for touch up...  yet the Sturmtiger continues!  lol

 

But I hated the thought of throwing it away.

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Surprise, Surprise, tough decision to continue, I would have thrown the kit away, or thought about a workaround in form of building it as a burnt wreck half buried somewhere in rubble. I really like to see you progressing with this, because a Sturmtiger was tempting me since years and now with the new kid in town Rye Field Models) who knows...

Cheers Rob

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11 hours ago, nmayhew said:

Bin it and build a ST with a proper kit

otherwise it will eat away at you and you will end up putting all the effort in and still be wound up!

Harsh...

But fair? Perhaps... But where's the fun in that? Especially when the RFM kit is over the $100 mark here.

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FWIW Gaz...

You can add the missing details with Grandt Line resin bolts. They come in a variety of sizes.

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Look to Model Train sites locally if you need them urgently. Otherwise, you will find them at Vendors at the QMHE show in late August, if you can wait that long.

S

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Thanks for the offers and links, guys.  I actually have a plan to make my own with sprue in my dremel against sandpaper.  They should suffice.  I only need a dozen, so shouldn't take too long.

 

Gaz

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After a few days of working on other kits, I've been able to spend a few hours adding the detail that was missing on the hull tub.  It's not perfect, but it'll do:

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Now I'll have to decide how beat-up I want to make it.  For instance... if the skirts were ripped off, how likely wo8uld it be that the tools would have survived on the sides.

 

Cheers!

 

Gaz

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Friends,

    More work on the Sturmtiger.  Mostly weathering the drive components and adding external damage to the vehicle.

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Previous attempts at battle damage to soft parts haven't really come off as hoped.  I wanted to use a hair dryer, but it didn't seem up to the task.  So, I tried a heat gun...  and even at the lowest setting, it was just too powerful or I was too inept.  I used a soldering iron for damage to the armor plate.  That worked pretty well. 

 

I want it too look like it's had a hard fight, but isn't abandoned.   But I have always wondered if most of the pics taken of them after they were abandoned or knocked out happened after the local civilians have stripped them of anything they could carry away.  The lost tail light and fender detail I got from looking at pics of the Saumar Tiger I.  I'll have to install two bits of wire coming out for the light.  Anyone know what colors the Germans used for positive and negative wires?

 

Cheers!

 

Gaz

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1 hour ago, GazzaS said:

 the local civilians have stripped them of anything they could carry away. 

My Dad told me, that people always took the optics and electrical equipment. Kids were left to play with explosives and such :)  OK, he didn't formulate it in such a manner , but you are on the right track Gas .

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1 hour ago, Martinnfb said:

Here are pictures of radio installation and open headset, you can see that all  the cables are braided, fabric or metal, there was never exposed conduit and no visible colour coding.

Cheers

M.

 

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Thanks for the info, Martin.  For the purpose of the narrative, I'll have a braided (painted) wire with two tiny bits of copper showing.  AS I already have the jack, jack block, and track 'C-thingy' glued to the ass end, I'll have to go with the battle-and-driver-damaged story.

 

Gaz

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Nice work on the wheels and hull, Gaz. Usually in Germany there is red cable for plus and black cable for minus, but like Martin said, it would have been surrounded by braided material or even flexible metal cover.

Cheers Rob

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  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, GazzaS said:

The Friuls seem to add an air of heaviness to the kit.

As if this Behemoth would need that :D. Looking all great Gaz, I like the ambush pattern. Will the hull Dunkelgelb receive a brownish filter to match the wheels, or is that on purpose? Is the vent ring around the gun really that shiny on the originals?

Cheers Rob 

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