So, with Abt. 237 "Jungs holt fast" out of the way I've been surveying this for continuation. Going through my collected information I relaized that there are some pretty glaring oversights.
My StuG. III started as the Dragon 6905 kit - Tropical air filter version which includes decals for the Sd.Ver. 288. close, but not quite. While it does represent a StuG. with "tropical" air filter it does not represent one of the three documented StuGs sent to Africa. 5 issues - Wrong type of air filter and mount, no additioanl spare road wheel mounts, no additional torsion bar mounts, no rear water/fuel can rack and no additional spare track link fender mounts. Oh, and no 288 decals. Any way, of all of those issues, I worked the all out except the spare tack link mounts which I actually missed even noticing, more on that later.
So I make my mods and I'm happy. Toss some paint and she sits around for awhile.
Now, in the future, im looking over my pictures with Ol' Kleeman and I start noticing some uncomfortable issues.
He looks, maybe, a little aggravated with me!
Anyway, this will probably be a little boring for some.
This is the picture that got it all started.
I grabbed all of the archive photos I could find and started to work up the StuG. But what I missed initially and found more of later is -
When these thre StuG's arrived in Africa, and in the picture above, they looked a little different than what I had produced.
So, what is it and does it even matter? Apparently of the three StuGs for Sd.Ver. 288 that made it to Africa they all arrived with an additional protective structure over the precleaner housing, most were gone by the time of their capture, with the exception of the picture immediately above. Not 100% what it is but it does matter becasue they are still intact on the subject reference photo.
Additional observed annoyances.
And,
Two different chassis above. 90678 or 90681 on the left and 90683 on the right.
Interesting spare track link bracket there, ready for some real nerd stuff.
90683 also has some red dots. Those are the covers for the access holes to unlock the front hatches for the transmission. Those are the only visible differences betweed the Ausf. C and D, C's not having the key holes.
On to the spare track link brackets.
Anyone familiar with the Pz.Kpfw. IV series would be able to relate that every model up to the G had allowance for 4 spare links in individual storage locations on the fenders, right side. Familiarity with the Pz.Kpfw. III would also inform one that no such provision was made on any of the versions even though both used the same track. Well, the III did have them, threy were in the engine compartment attached to the underside of the engine hatches, The brackets on the fender of these Sd.Ver. 288 StuGs. are those brackets, relocated.
They are not easy to find in the wild.
How to fix this silly shenanigan.
First, I ordered the Bronco kit
It has everything except the spare track brakckets so I dug around and came up with:
I think I have the last one known to man, I pried it out of the hands of BNA in Australia.
So now all I have to do is convice myself to either rectify mine or start a whole new one. I'm thinking to attempt sorting out the one I already have.
Further note on the Precleaners, two versions existed, what I refer to as High and Low.
On the left is a "Low" mount, removal of the jack was required on the right and the fire extinguisher and cleaning rods on the left fender to use these.
In the right photo, only the mounts remain, of the three captured in Africa by the British only one still had anything mounted, the rest just empty brackets.
