World War II Project - Back to the Stug - Debris Shield II

Progress has been made. I filed down the plastic that I used for the first debris shield and it looks much better although I think it sits a little to high, but I'm actually not going to worry about it. Since its a field modification there is definitely going to be some distinct difference between one vehicle and the next. I also added some strip styrene in the gap to add some strength and serve as the beginning of the weld seam. I wanted to add some rod styrene but what I had was to big and I resorted to using the .010 x .020 strip.

Unfortunately it just seems to be really hard to capture what the edge looks like now.

After going through this and snapping off at least three "legs" trying to recreate it. I decided that I needed a different approach. Instead of using the .030 (which is to thick visually anyway) I decided to use two pieces of .010. This way I could cut through the top piece (carefully) and the bottom piece would still hold everything together. This .010 sheet is very flexible and it worked like a charm to build the other three debris shields.

I was finally to the easy part. I glued the three shields in place, dropped in the strip styrene to fill the gap and started trimming it to fit. Once it has dried solidly I'll apply some liquid cement to the "weld" and as the plastic softens from the glue work it with a knife to resemble a weld. After that I'll add a couple of bolt heads to each side and the STuGs will finally be ready for paint...again.

Glue them in place

Fill the gap

Starting to trim. The high part of the strip will get trimmed up after it has dried solidly. Thank goodness for sharp clippers.