The StuiG 33B has been one of my favorite armor vehicles. The boxy structure and expedited design make this a unique German vehicle.
The base kit is Dragon's 6479. The kit was a good test of scratch building skills. Dragon included an incorrect hull with side escape hatches. This required quite a bit of work to plug and sand smooth and clean. The reference photo I was working from showed the larger StuG III B/C/D brake access hatch hinges and earlier style idler wheel. I used the idler wheel frmo the Tamiya StuG III Ausf B kit and the hatches were cobbeled together with parts from the spares bin. The gun travel crutch provided was incorrect and the Voyager PE set only replicated these errors so I scratch built a new one.
The snow is a mixture of WoodlandScenics Snow, Marble Powder, Acrylic Gel, and Gloss Medium. A couple of different mixtures/consistencies were mixed up and applied with a small brush or toothpick. A last bit of loose snow was replicated with micro balloons secured with a home-made fixer.
Below are some in progress images of the build.
I used the dedicated Voyager set for the PE. Not a whole lot was used and some was replaced. The large stowage box is provided as brass in the Voyager set but the reference photos show a wooden box. I scribed the kit supplied parts with some similated wood grain. The tracks are MasterClub and one of the easiest sets I have ever worked with.
I continued to add small details to the base kit.
The base color was a custom mixt of Tamiya Acrylics. I didn't bother with any modulation as it wasn't neccessary under the heavy white wash. Chips and scratches were painted with a small brush or torn bit of sponge.
The worn white wash was created using the hair spray techinque. Filters and mapping with white acrylics added further variations to add variety and depth to the finish.
