1:35 StuG III return rollers Alkett 11.1943-03.1944

StuG III return rollers for the winter production of 1943 and 1944

This item differs from the other variants of the same part in a single but very specific detail: the production period, which the name defines by month and year. It is therefore not a general replacement for running gear parts but the form carried by vehicles leaving the assembly hall in one particular stretch of winter and spring. Anyone building a vehicle documented by a photograph from this time gets the shape matching the subject.

Why the date matters

The production of German armored vehicles changed practically every month during the war. It responded to shortages of raw materials, to demands from the front and to the need to speed up assembly, so small parts were revised continuously and without showy announcements. The running gear is especially sensitive to such changes, because it wore out fastest and its parts were dealt with first. For a modeler it follows that a vehicle from the fall and a vehicle from the spring of the same production year need not have the same running gear, although they are the same type. The differences are small, but clearly visible on a model at this scale.

How to fit the parts

Cut off the original rollers and remove the flash from the mating surface. Before gluing, check that they all sit at the same height, because a sagging top run of the track is visible even past the Schürzen. It is best to fit them only after the hull has been painted, so that you can reach them with a brush from every side. Leave dusting the running gear to the very end of the build.

Suitable for modelers

• Who are building a vehicle from a dated photograph
• Who follow the changes of production month by month
• For whom a generally shaped part from the kit is not enough