A Review Of The Company B STUG 33b

As covered in an earlier post, I purchased a STUG 33b from Company B a while back and as I did not know exactly what to call it in the game, it sat in the back of the bits box until, DaveOWar and I figured out what it was.  After the success of the KV2 at MOAB I got to thinking that maybe playing around with a heavy tank could work after all in Bolt Action.  The result, the ol' STUG got called up to the workbench and hobby time began!

I have ordered from Company B a number of times in the past and I have to say that I am very happy with their customer service.  Their prices are on par with other manufacturers and their shipping times are excellent! I have had a few small hiccups quality wise in a few of the products but this kit was the first time that I actually cringed at the quality of a resin model.

The main body of the kit was pitted badly and several of the hatches looked soft edged and melted.  additionally the back right track guard was missing and the left was dangerously thin.  I have included pictures above in black and white so show these defects as clearly as my camera allows.

This is not enough to get Mama Morin's boy down though.  As an old school model maker I did not get frustrated or angry.  I got converting!  I added stowage from Company B, Die Waffenkammer and Warlord games all over the kit to cover problem areas that shaving could not fix. I also removed the rear track guards entirely on both sides so they matched and re-enforced the remaining front guards with thin layers of green stuff (underneath).  I then built back the edges of the exhaust boxes on the rear sides so they had a hard 90 degree corner to them, at least I did to the best of my abilities.  The end result looked like this.

I like the final results ALOT!  I think the extra gear covering the tank gives it an experienced campaigner look that I look forward to painting.  It also adds beef to an already intimidatingly large beast of a tank.  VERY SEXY!!!

In short, I love it!  I could have asked for a new kit from Company B and I am sure they would have replaced it given their reputation (with me at least) for being helpful and friendly.  Will this keep me from ordering other Company B kits?  Nope... I bought and Japanese truck yesterday.  Could it have ben better?  Yup, but then I never would have spent as much time doing me best work to make the kit work.  Sometimes I think the best results I get as a hobbyist come from mistakes and broken models.  The extra effort goes a long way I suppose. Time to get painting!!!