Spending an afternoon with some Russian beauties, Zvezda that is, Part I The Stug III 1/100 15mm tanks

    Having finished the last big boat project I needed something different. I cast my eye around my overcrowded "toy room" for something simple and undemanding and there they were, a bevy of beauties from the far-off land of Russia; a pile of Zvezda kits that I had picked up and never built! I scooped them up and got to work right away

       First up we will consider the Stug III kit

box art, captures the subject very well

rear, instructions as well

the contents

sprue side A

oooohhh! details, pretty amazing actually

sprue side B

more details, perfectly rendered road wheels

very delicate work on the superstructure as well

the suspension is very detailed, 

even thought hardly anyone will ever see it behind the road wheels, 

I just love this sort of stuff, I don't know why

side panels on the lower hull, ready for the track assembly

tracks on

the upper hull and gun, ready to go

the gun in place

the cleaning rods are easier to attach if you do it before adding the superstructure

upper hull bits on

upper and lower halves ready to go

boom! there it is, notice the zero-gap fit between the parts

 and keep in mind that this is a snap-tight kit!

side view

front

top

     I could go on about the quality and perfection of fit in this kit but the photos pretty much tell the whole story. You can scarcely do better than this kit if you want an early version Stug III. The price (right around five bucks US) is a real selling point as well

     Very Highly Recommended!