StuG IV by Bernie Dietrich

 Bernie found Dragon's 1/72 scale StuG IV a highly detailed kit replete with PE Schürtzen and even PE attachments for the Schürtzen!  And, it went together very well considering it's small size. 

For the base color he used Vallejo German dark yellow over Vallejo grey primer. The tracks were painted with a 3:1 mixture of Vallejo black and German red brown then dry brushed with Vallejo Magnesium. The road wheels were painted with Vallejo tire black.  A pin wash of Tamiya panel line accent, and chipping with silver colored pencil and Vallejo magnesium paint were used to weather the model. Finally, Mig European earth and dark earth pigments were used to enhance the weathering.

The base is a piece of wood from Hobby Lobby painted Krylon rattle can black. The lower portion was taped off and a little Mod Podge was added to the upper surface. After force drying it with a hairdryer he painted the terrain with Mig earth brown. Next,  Mig dark earth and Europe earth pigments were added to achieve the desired texture.  Vallejo khaki pigment was then added to lighten the texture to show tracks in the earth. Finally,  self adhesive static grass tufts were set in place to finish the landscape.

As a final step, both the Stug and the base were sprayed with Vallejo satin varnish to seal in the decals and the earth texture.

 

Sturmgeschütz Sdkfz. 167 (StuG IV) by David Blankenship

 This is an attempt to bring Academy's 1987 boxing of the StuG 4 somewhat up to current standards of kit design without the addition of any aftermarket photoetch or parts. The kit's plastic armor side-skirts and hangers were thinned to prototypical dimensions, cut into sections, and hung. Fenders fashioned from thin aluminum and bent to make the vehicle appear like it had experienced some heavy use replaced the kit's. The supplied "rubber-band" tracks were cleaned up and painted for as realistic a look as possible.  The model was painted with a custom mix of Tamiya acrylics for a match to late-war Dunkelgelb.  

So, what started as a simple out-of-the-box build as a break from the 1,000 piece kits that are common these days, turned into something more involved but was a satisfying project that wasn't overly time consuming.