Over 300 Sturmpanzer IVs, affectionately known as Stupa by its crews and Brummbär by Allied intelligence, were built between 1943 and the end of World War II. Academy’s kit builds into a vehicle from the third production batch built on a Panzer IV Ausf H chassis.
Academy based this kit on its nice Panzer IV from 2018; those shared sprues mean you’ll end up with a bunch of spare parts. You will use 311 of the 606 parts in the build. Take care to be sure you use the correct part as many of them look similar.
The 27-step instructions feature a drawing at the beginning showing locating holes to be opened for the entire build, mating surfaces shaded red and large, color marking diagrams.
Decals cover three camo patterns with optional numbers for several vehicles from 216th StuPzAbt. There is also a Stupa from the 217th but my research indicates that was a command vehicle and the kit lacks parts specific to that variant. The kit also includes 55 textured Zimmerit decals printed by Def.Model.
The decently detailed, fixed suspension goes together well. I suggest leaving the idler arms and wheels off until you fit the tracks to facilitate the proper tension.
The main gun builds easily and includes a rudimentary breech and mount — that is the extent of interior detail. The gun is movable but the gunner’s sight (Part G7) is not, so I glued the gun in the center position. No rifling is included, but it should be visible in the large muzzle.
I encountered just a couple of problems in the otherwise well-fitting kit. The rear superstructure hatches (parts A19 and A20) need a little filing to get in place. The exhaust pipes (Part H3) did not fit the rear hull plate, so I opened the locators a little and installed pipes and then the armored covers. The pipes are invisible on the finished model so they could be let off and avoid the fit problem entirely.
I attached the Zimmerit decals during assembly figuring some may be hard to get in place as more parts are fitted. The instructions devote an entire page to placing the Zimmerit, and I found tips at defmodel.com that made applying them easier.
The Zimmerit decals are well thought out and designed and sized nearly perfectly. I like that the pattern is not too uniform, but I think the texture is a little soft — probably a limitation of the manufacturing process. Surprisingly, the larger decals were easier to apply than the smaller ones and all responded well to Tamiya Mark Fit Strong decal solution. Tamiya Extra Thin Cement took care of adhesion issues.
For fun, I damaged the Zimmerit on the front plate after the decals dried. I applied the decals to the superstructure rear doors off the model and inadvertently damaged the decal when attaching the doors. So, I painted it as damaged and call it a happy little accident.
The thin sheet-metal guards for the engine air intakes are a bit thick, but once the Schurzen, air filters, and toolbox are on they are difficult to see.
The vinyl tracks can be joined with superglue and have decent detail. They accepted Tamiya paint and solvent-based washes fine.
The Schurzen come as one long sheet for each side with parts of the lower track guard hangers molded on. This makes it hard to remove individual panels. I thought the lower hangers looked a little odd until I realized Academy modeled them with wooden planks between them, which is correct for some Stupas.
Instead of the suggested string for the tow cables, I twisted fine copper wire. I added a stretched-sprue antenna and a styrene-rod electrical conduit for the headlight. If I build another, I would add flame-cut marks at the top superstructure front.
I painted my Stupa with Tamiya’s new German dark yellow 2 and dark green 2.
I spent 24 hours finishing Academy’s Brummbär, which is relatively quick for me. The simple assembly and vinyl tracks helped speed the build.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the November 2020 issue.