Open Fire! Stug III

I recall seeing a model of a Stug III when I was young. I really didn't understand, it looked like a tank, but where was the turret? I recall concluding that it was a remote control tank, because there was no turret for the crew. What can I say, I was maybe 9 at the time. It was the coolest model I'd seen. 

Of course I couldn't afford it. The nicer models were out of my reach in those days. I remember lusting after the Tamiya models, but my budget permitted only kits such as Monogram and Revell. Besides, Tamiya kits were for "real" modelers, not silly little kids.  Funny, to this day I still get a thrill buying Tamiya products. 

Anyway, since that day I've been a fan of the Stug.  Even more so once I found out what their tactical role originally was. 

The Open Fire! Stugs catch a lot of flak online. They deserve it. Poorly designed and poorly fitted. PSC's version is head and shoulders above Battllefront's offering. That said, I built the OF Stugs over the past couple nights. Especially with their schurtzen, they will be a nice learning tool for the new airbrush. I'm not going to be too broken up if they don't turn out well. Going to try modulation, assuming I can figure out what it is...

The Stugs are built and primed. I can't get consistently satisfactory results with the Vallejo white surface primer, although the black sprays beautifully through the airbrush and dries perfectly. If I didn't want to use up the white primer, and if I cared about how these models turn out, I would prime with the black. I don't understand why my results are so inconsistent with the white primer. I want to like it but I am nearly done.