Sturmgeschutz III
Ausf. E

Bronco, 1/35 scale

Reviewed by Andrew Judson

FirstLook

The Stug III has been manufactured by several companies now, all being welcomed to the modelling world, and now it’s Bronco’s turn with this great variant of a popular machine, and I have to say that it won’t let you down.

The box has a nice clear colour side profile drawing of the vehicle, as serving in the Russian campaign.

Inside the box we are greeted with six sprues and the lower tub, plus an upper structure in a tan coloured plastic, a set of individual track links in a dark brown plastic, two photo-etched frets and two lengths of copper cable, a brass barrel, a small sprue of fine wing nuts in grey plastic, a small decal sheet with two vehicle options and lastly the instructions.

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Parts total comes to 536, making this a well detailed kit, taking into count, that 232 are track links.

Looking at the actual parts, I can say, that this is a high quality product requiring minimal clean up, and detail is very crisp.

I like that you get a choice of a plastic barrel and a brass one. Most would jump right at the latter, although take into account that the plastic barrel has rifling inside whereas the brass does not. Either will look great though, once on and painted.

The decals appear to be very well printed and, as mentioned, give the builder two choices. StuG.Abt.190.East Front Russia 1941/2 and StuG.Abt.Grossdeutschland, East Front, Russia 1941/2.

The instructions are well written and illustrated, being easy to understand and offering a logical order of assembly.

The actual build starts with the driveline and the lower hull, providing a very nice looking gun breech and structure. This is then followed on with the upper structure and details.
Next is the assembly of the tracks, taking care that they are cleaned up after removing them from the sprues, for good fitment. These are very nicely detailed as well, with hollowed guide horns.

Lastly are the fenders and all the equipment that go on them, and the build is complete.

Painting this cool machine, if you go out of box, you get two choices….Panzer Grey or Panzer Grey!

Conclusion

So in summary, I would say that this is a very nice kit, and one well worth grabbing. A job well done to team Bronco!

Highly Recommended

Thanks to Bronco for the sample http://www.cn-bronco.com/en/index.php