Building the Airfix Vintage Classics 1:76 Stug III

Hello and welcome to Scale Stuff, In this weeks video I am going to be building and painting the Airfix Vintage Classics 1:76 scale Stug III 75mm assault gun. Kit number A01306V.
In this video I build this old school model kit from start to finish and give a few tips on how to get a good finish out of this model.
I also go over a few bits that I had trouble with when building this kit so you need to have the same problems.
I really enjoyed building this little assault gun its always nice to revisit some of the classic kits despite some of the problems that they have.

[@rotwang2000]

There is something satisfying about building an Airfix kit. Just some good old nostalgia fun.

[@scalestuff1066]

Yeah totally agree, this one was the first I must have done 30 vintage classics since this one now, all filmed and upcoming, but yeah nostalgia is a hell of a drug

[@rotwang2000]

@@scalestuff1066 Fond memories of the Avro Anson, the Sterling, the Rotodyne, the Angel Interceptor and even the Stug III, I would leave the gun unglued so it looked a little bit like an early version. Recently found an old 94-95 Matchbox catalogue, many great kits there as well, including the Spitfire, first kit I ever did.

[@scalestuff1066]

Nice ah the Stirling is on the to do list think they have not long re issued that

[@kennethjames9416]

When I built this kit I stapled the tracks together,well tidy build..

[@scalestuff1066]

Does the job, I used to staple tracks together, one thing with these old kits is the tracks are abit naff.And thanks mate

[@danhat69]

@@kennethjames9416 I’ve got a mini stapler, I think I’ll give it a go.

[@ljscalemodels526]

Wow thats turned out really well - good job SS, interesting little kit, thanks for sharing, cheers Liam

[@scalestuff1066]

Cheers mate hope alls going well with your channel to

[@ljscalemodels526]

Cheers buddy slowly slowly just trying to be consistent

[@scalestuff1066]

Same slow and steady wins the race

[@danhat69]

I’ve just started modelling as an old geezer after about a break of around 45 years 😂 I used to be useless building them as a kid and would get glue everywhere. Hoping by using Tamiya thin cement on a brush will go some way to avoiding this. I’ve also bought a cheapish airbrush to use my acrylic Humbrol paints with. Am I right in thinking I need to use thinners in order to make it sprayable? Also, one last beginner question, do I need to use primer? I saw elsewhere that people said you should but I don’t remember you priming this? Oh, also, is there a similar humbrol weathering paint for that used/dirty effect like you finished with on this build? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for posting this video cos it’s a help to see it come out so good! No doubt old sticky fingers here will F it up though! lol 😮😊😂

[@scalestuff1066]

With the Tamiya cement just keep the use light, and dab a little off before using it as it can puddle and run, but its much easier to get a decent coat on with liquid as a pose to the gel stuff. Yeah with the airbrushes you need to thin down a lot of paints, Vallejo air comes pre thinned, but you need to thin the paint a little more. If you are using an airbrush I would said that you need a thin coat of primer on the model first, I don't always prime my models but depending on the shade you are using a base coat can really help. With an airbrush if you get into painting with them, you can do a great job by painting a black under coat, and then going around the panel lines with white before adding a fine coat of the colour you want it showing the subtle shades underneath , its called pre shading and can make a very nice effect on a model. With regards to the dirty paint, any brown will do really its just a matter of watering it down and application, thinking where you want to make the model look like its been, I love BS dark earth as it looks like the red clay soil by me and just looks more natural to me. And no worries for all the questions happy to help out in any way I can. sure you will do great tho mate, model making just takes a bit of practice, everyone gets into there own routine and once you know how to avoid your own brand of sticky fingers you start to see progress. As a side note, some of the models on the channel I made over 2 years ago now and my methods are very slowly changing in time, the longer I paint the more I seem to water down paint!

[@danhat69]

@@scalestuff1066 thanks for the advice. I’ll definitely try the pre-shading technique. Can I ask, do you ever try to do weathering like having a chipped paint or pitted paint or rust on any of your models? What is your favourite brand of kits and have you ever done a very large scale kit? Last question. Have you ever made your own diorama? I’ve seen some amazing work on here where some modellers actually make buildings, etc themselves from scratch! Pretty advanced stuff but absolutely stunning. I think if I live to be 145 or 150 I might be good enough to attempt something along those lines! 😂

[@danhat69]

@@scalestuff1066 regarding the preshading, the black undercoat, is that a black primer? Or would you use normal primer then the base black coat, spray thinly in white along the panel lines. Then the actual colour you want over all of it but not so thickly applied as to cover it all up? I guess the final part is a bit tricky and you’d need to ensure the paint flow is pretty low so it’s applied very thinly?

[@scalestuff1066]

I would imagine that black primer would be best, better than adding more coats than needed, the base coat only needs to be fine tho as to not mask details, but i imagine normal paint would work well to. And yeah the last coat needs to be thin so you can see through it very slightly but would be worth the effort. Yes I think I did a guide on sponge chipping not to long ago, I have but not made a video on it, used hairspray to make a chipping coat on a ww2 white washed T34, and I have had a go at using salt grains to do the same thing but found it a bit tricky to get looking perfect. Would be a hard choice to say favourite brand, I like Airfix because I built so much of them as a kid, but I also like Tamiya as there cheap and go together mindlessly but sometimes I find the builds a bit to easy as mentally I switch off a bit. Biggest model I have built there is a video of a long way back and that's the 1/16 scale remote controlled tiger tank, I built and painted that myself, followed by a few of the bigger model boats I have built. I've done a few and there are a few coming up on the channel but not for years, I did do a Monty python black night diorama that turned out really good, there's a picture of it on the banner but I never made the video as I got quite into the build and forgot to press record to much! I have also done a lot of little Tudor houses that I have lit up, but again didn't record the thing as it took weeks and weeks to build. Ah tbh you would be surprised at how fast you can improve, its just about looking and applying new methods, cheap kits are great as paint mules and you can keep trying different things on the same model until you get a look you like and then go and do it on a bigger kit. I have found most of the time the only thing stopping me from getting better is just comfortable routines that I have gotten into, tho if you stick around for 2 years I have really started to try new things in my later videos and hope that trend continues. Sorry for the long reply wanted to reply to each of your questions.

[@danhat69]

@@scalestuff1066 thanks for taking the time to reply so comprehensively. I have a few 1:76 tank kits to start with (Russian t34, Cromwell iv my grandad drove in ww2, Churchill VI I think my grandad was also co driver on, a Sherman mark 4 (he defo drove those), a Tiger, a Panther, a Russian josef Stalin and the stug you built here. I also have a dday kit with a Sherman firefly vs another Tiger (Michael wittmann’s one the German ace). Just for a bit of variation I got a Curtis plane also in 1:72 scale. So quite a lot to be getting on with. I’ll definitely have a look at your other vids and subscribe. Thanks again for your help. Ps the Monty python one sounds great :)

[@Eurobunneh]

How much do you dilute the paint to use as a wash, please?

[@scalestuff1066]

depends on what its going over, this one as its a light base i water it down maybe 3 drops water to 1 drop paint? more heavy washes i aim for milk consistency