1:35 STUGIII SPROCKET SET (EARLY VERSION) FOR TAMIYA

StuG III, early version drive sprockets, 1:35

An accessory set by T-Rex Studio with early version drive sprockets for a model of the StuG III assault gun in 1:35 scale. This version is cut for the Tamiya kit, and the manufacturer carries the sibling version for Dragon separately. The set replaces the parts from the box, so the base model has to be your own.

The real subject

The StuG III was built on the chassis of the Pz.Kpfw III tank and took over its running gear as well: a drive sprocket at the front, an idler wheel at the rear and six pairs of small road wheels on torsion bars. The drive sprocket changed several times during production of the chassis; the shape of the spokes, the form of the hub and the lightening holes all altered. The early and the late version are therefore reasonably easy to tell apart in photographs, and a modeler building a particular machine from a particular period needs the type of sprocket matching the date.

Building and painting tips

First compare a reference photograph of your machine with the parts in the set, and only then glue. Clean the parts up so that the inner face of the sprocket seats flat on its bearing axle, otherwise the sprocket tilts and the track then does not sit in one plane. Use glue according to the material of the parts, liquid cement on plastic and cyanoacrylate on resin. Painting is most comfortable before the track goes on: a primer, the main shade, then mud and dust with pigments in the recesses and finally the polished edges of the teeth. On German vehicles of the middle and late war the running gear tends to be the dirtiest part of a model, so on the sprockets it pays not to spare the weathering.

Who the set is for

• Builders of the StuG III from the kit named
• Modelers who build a machine from an earlier production period
• Anyone interested in German Second World War vehicles in 1:35
• Those who want more accurate shapes on the running gear than an injection-molded part gives