FOV Stug
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 4:58 pm
My sample of the FOV Stug arrived today. It is a very nice looking model. Stugs are a favorite of mine and I like this short gun, early war version.
The tanks has great detail and all the details are already installed. The one hatch that opens, reveals a painted interior wit minimal detail. The commander figure is a new sculpt with the proper body position to stand secure in the hatch which is slanted due to the slope of the top armor.
As we make our way down to the tracks and running gear, the disappointment sets in. The previous Stugs which FOV released had nice tracks and the running gear rolled smooth and true. Sadly, the new Stug has a cheaper, thinner track, no where near the quality on previous releases. The Front drive sprockets were molded in a fashion where they sit to far outboard of the hull causing the track to splay outward, giving the tank a akward appearance. This coupled with the cheapie track means the new Stug has poor rolling qualities when compared to their earlier versions.
In an attempt to rectify the drive sprocket problem, I removed the upper hull, then the sides of the lower hull to gain access to the wheels. The sprocket is held on with a heavy duty knurled axle. I grabbed the back of the axle with a pair of small wire cutters and held it while I twisted the sprocket off. It is very tight, but it does come off. Once the sprocket is off, the halves come apart. The problem lies with the inner side and a shoulder that causes the sprocket to protrude too far. This will be obvious to you when you have them apart. I ground the shoulder down with a dremel tool, taking off about 1/2 of the shoulder that was there. This was enough to get the sprocket back in line with the rest of the running gear. The outer half of the sprocket has a narrow shoulder which slides through the inner half. You have to remove the same amount of shoulder to get the sprocket to seat properly, about 1/16 of an inch. I then reassembled the sprocket to the hull sides by tapping the axle back in with a small hobby hammer. If you seat it too tight, just grab the axle with pliers again and lightly twist the wheel to get the desired freeplay.
This repair fixed the tank visually. The poor quality tracks still detract from the rolling feature of the tank, but it still rolls.
Finally, I found this tank to barely be a cut about the quality and detail of the 21st offerings. FOV seems to have cheapened their models and it shows on the new Stug. If I have occasion in the future, I will try a track swap with the earlier, better tracks FOV produced before. It will look better and probably perform better too.
TJ
The tanks has great detail and all the details are already installed. The one hatch that opens, reveals a painted interior wit minimal detail. The commander figure is a new sculpt with the proper body position to stand secure in the hatch which is slanted due to the slope of the top armor.
As we make our way down to the tracks and running gear, the disappointment sets in. The previous Stugs which FOV released had nice tracks and the running gear rolled smooth and true. Sadly, the new Stug has a cheaper, thinner track, no where near the quality on previous releases. The Front drive sprockets were molded in a fashion where they sit to far outboard of the hull causing the track to splay outward, giving the tank a akward appearance. This coupled with the cheapie track means the new Stug has poor rolling qualities when compared to their earlier versions.
In an attempt to rectify the drive sprocket problem, I removed the upper hull, then the sides of the lower hull to gain access to the wheels. The sprocket is held on with a heavy duty knurled axle. I grabbed the back of the axle with a pair of small wire cutters and held it while I twisted the sprocket off. It is very tight, but it does come off. Once the sprocket is off, the halves come apart. The problem lies with the inner side and a shoulder that causes the sprocket to protrude too far. This will be obvious to you when you have them apart. I ground the shoulder down with a dremel tool, taking off about 1/2 of the shoulder that was there. This was enough to get the sprocket back in line with the rest of the running gear. The outer half of the sprocket has a narrow shoulder which slides through the inner half. You have to remove the same amount of shoulder to get the sprocket to seat properly, about 1/16 of an inch. I then reassembled the sprocket to the hull sides by tapping the axle back in with a small hobby hammer. If you seat it too tight, just grab the axle with pliers again and lightly twist the wheel to get the desired freeplay.
This repair fixed the tank visually. The poor quality tracks still detract from the rolling feature of the tank, but it still rolls.
Finally, I found this tank to barely be a cut about the quality and detail of the 21st offerings. FOV seems to have cheapened their models and it shows on the new Stug. If I have occasion in the future, I will try a track swap with the earlier, better tracks FOV produced before. It will look better and probably perform better too.
TJ
