Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B Sd.Kfz.142 [Assembly Done - Partly glued, partly dry-fitted; Photos before painting]

 So one journey ends and another is about to begin in my current armored fighting vehicle (AFV) project. Assembly of the Tamiya 1/35 scale Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B Sd.Kfz.142 is more or less complete while the painting of it is about to begin. Not straight away, mind you. As part of my hobby process, especially for AFVs, I will usually set the assembled vehicle aside for awhile and go on to complete some non-AFV projects before painting it. Reason I do this is due to the time consuming process of each and every AFV project gives rise to a possibility of hobby burnout. Breaking up the AFV project into smaller chunks reduces the probability of the dreaded malaise setting in.

Tamiya 1/35 scale Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B Sd.Kfz.142 assembled: partly glued, partly dry-fitted

 At this stage of its build, the Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B is partly dry-fitted and partly glued together. For now, there are still some parts that have been left out entirely from the assembled whole namely the tracks and open hatches. This was unavoidable because there was no effective way for me to dry-fit the tracks and open hatches onto the vehicle. For them to look like how they should at the completed stage I would've had to glue them onto the vehicle. Of course I can't do that yet, mainly because I intend to paint both the tracks and open hatches separately before gluing them onto the vehicle.

Not everything could be attached to the Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B at this final stage of the assembly ...

... as the open hatches and tracks could not be effectively dry-fitted prior to the painting process ...

... so they were just left by themselves, unattached to the vehicle in anyway.  

 Among other dry-fitted parts that will eventually be removed from the assembled whole so that they can be painted separately are the commander figurine, wheels, main gun, upper/lower hull, toolbox, tow cables, and fighting compartment. Unlike the open hatches and tracks however, the aforementioned parts could be effectively dry-fitted onto the Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B.

Tamiya 1/35 scale Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B Sd.Kfz.142 assembled (closeup view, front)

Tamiya 1/35 scale Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B Sd.Kfz.142 assembled (closeup view, top)

Tamiya 1/35 scale Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B Sd.Kfz.142 assembled (closeup view, back)

 Going forward, my plan is to first paint the interior of both the lower hull and fighting compartment as well as the main gun, before moving on to other exterior parts. For the exterior, I'll most likely try out the Color Modulation Zenithal Light technique. In addition to that, I also plan to add hue variation via either oil or enamel paint filters. But I'm getting ahead of myself as usual. That's still some way off in the future. Best I focus on immediate steps of how to paint the interior in the coming weeks.  

Wheels were only dry-fitted and not glued onto the Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B ...

... fitting of the wheels were loose, falling off easily; hopefully the fit will tighten after painting.

 Before I temporarily end my AFV project updates, I wish to thank you for having taken the time to check out the many posts on the assembly process. My apologies if it had seemed to drag on forever. As alluded to in the first paragraph, I will likely upload some already painted Gunpla projects before resuming the long drawn process of an AFV build i.e. painting and detailing them. I've actually completed the Gunpla projects earlier but hadn't had the time to uplaod them to my blog yet. This I'll do in the coming weeks before continuing onto the Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B project. So until we meet again, as always, be safe, be useful, be well and be happy!