15mm StuGs from Plastic Soldier Company

15mm StuGs from Plastic Soldier Company

The WW2 painting table blowout continues.  Here are two 15mm German StuG assault guns - I think "F" variant, but I'm not 100% on my "StuGology" - with 75mm guns.  The vehicles are from the Plastic Soldier Company.

Top view of one of the models

My 15mm German WW2 collection is laughably heavy on the panzers, but shamefully lacking in vehicles like these, so it's good to start balancing things out a bit. StuGs were a very common part of German tank destroyer units in the various infantry and Panzer grenadier divisions.  They manufactured a lot of them (and I'm likely understating that) and the vehicle's silhouette is synonymous with the Second World War.

Random green cammo pattern to match my other panzers

These Plastic Soldier Company models are very nice - decent price, lots of options - and five per box! You can have a whole battery of these things ready to roll in pretty short order. But I have to say I still prefer the heavier models by Battlefront and others. 

Hmmm...something odd about the wheel assembly on this one...what did you do there Greg?

Why Battlefront (or others) over PSC? I like the vehicles to have some heft, and I also prefer models with very crisp detail on the casting.  And one piece track assembly!! I dislike lots of assembly. I'm not saying every Battlefront tank model is easier to work with (again, whoever thought up the plastic schurzen for Battlefront's current late model Mark IVs should be caned), but overall they are still a lot easier for me to build than the PSC vehicles.

The other flaw I find with the PSC models is that the detail is very very soft.  It is much harder to pick out, say, the tow cables and stowage that is cast on to the hull of a 15mm PSC tank.  When I spray a base colour on to the model for the first go, the detail softens even more and is easily lost.

But that's just me, and I'm grouchy.  I'm not here to tell you to avoid PSC - quite the contrary! You should absolutely go nuts and by their stuff! They offer good service and a great way to build up an armoured force very quickly.

Ready for Eastern Front doom

And even though I'm an inept modeller (see if you can spot the StuG in which I put both idlers on one side and both drive sprockets on the other side! GREAT work Greg, you dunce!)  they turned out well-enough to deploy on the table and get overrun in a game sometime soon.

I still have three more kits from the box.  They will wait for me refill my too-small reservoir of modelling patience before I take a crack at them, while I look online for other StuG alternatives :)