Brian's new toy

[Brian Leach]

It was a normal day,

Get up

wash up

get ready to go out to Starbucks (yes, I am afraid I go to the
evil Starbucks every morn )

Than, much to my suprise, the doorbell rings!?

What, what can that be, I think to myself, it can't be IT, it is a day early!

I open the door and smiling befor me is HIM, with IT!

UPS IS A DAY EARLY!

I am now a proud owner of a Pz III, unbuilt.

It is so cool!

The hull was assembled loosly, so I have it on my sister's
kitchn table. (I think I may be in trouble when she sees it there) It is impressive, though it has such a long way to go before it approches that of Stephen's or Jeff's.

She will be an N of the Grossdeutschland Div. I want it to have the scalloped brackets at he hull, upper hull join. I expect I will be casting a lot of new parts for her, figuring out how to get the splines in the barrel, etc. I have a lot of good teachers who have gone before me. Thanks to everyone for their postings. I hope I am worthy.

Stay tuned!

Brian
(This will be fun)

[Jeffrey Goff]

Hi Brian, congratulations, this is a great model with lots of scope to make it into many configurations, and personalise it to your own taste, not long now till the open-day
regards
Jeff

[Brian Leach]

Jeff,

I agree, the Pz III does allow a lot of personalization.
I look forward to that.

I don't think I will have it done by September though

See you then!

Brian

[Sarah Frazer]

Hi Brian,

Congratulations on getting a Panzer III Please let me know if there are any drawings or photo's you need.


Regards,

Sarah

[Stephen White]

Brian

Happy days. After all the support you've given us, good luck with yours. Shout if I can help, like Sarah, with photos although I can't match her drawing skill.

Hope it gives you as much pleasure as mine has. Just don't tell anyone how long you think it will take to finish. I just ask people to define "finish" and give them a wild staring look (the "thousand yard stare").

Best regards

Stephen

[Brian Leach]

Stephen,

I like your attitude!

I agree with you (though I am not a vetren tank builder)
when will it be done. These are bolted togather and can always be modified/improved/changed.

One of thte aspects i like about the Pz III is that the hull upper and lower are bolted togather. I cannot see doing this in the near future, but if I were to thik my abilities soar anywhere near those of Roland and you gents I may try and do the interior. This could go on for years!

Driving it around may be nice, but that is not the attraction for me, no offence. I may change my tune after trying it out for myself.

Thank you for you complements

And Sarah, thanks to you too. I hope we may share a bit in the future. I like doing the drawings too!

Best regards all!

Brian

Hi, I thought I should give a little update.

I have the Tiger and the Pz III, I just cannot work on them up here at my sisters. I also bought a new foundry, no more melting aluminum with charcoal and a hairdrier.

If you squint a little you will just be able to make out hte Tiger I and the Pz III in those boxes



Okay, I lied. I couldn't help myself. I opened up the Pz III box.



It is hull number 045. It had been Thomis Schultz's, than Roland Rion's, now it is mine, mine, mine! it is a beautiful N. I am sure you can see it. Hummm... I am just having a bit of fun here.

I need to get cracking on those Schwingarms.
The new foundry will make short work of that.

For those of you who have done some casting I have been using K-bond oil based sand. Saturday when I went to pick up the new foundry, the caster gave me a quick demo of casting with green sand. I was impressed. it went very well and was a bit easier to work with. Also, the books and internet had me fearful of explosions due to water in the sand. He showed me there is no worry with the aluminum or brass. He said Iron with its higher heat is where the danger lies.

Cheers!
Brian

Cheers to you all,
Brian

[Brian Leach]

Hello all!

I realized this belongs here.

I thought I would share something I have worked on for the last few weeks.

Using Panzer Tracts by Jentz and Doyle and
Sd.Kfz.141 Pz Kpfw.III by Waldemar Trojca

I created this cupola for the Pz III L & N on SolidWorks.
I than had it printed out on a SLA 3D Printer.

This is 1/6 scale, modeled after the factory drawings.

I have yet to do the view port glass mounts.
The hatch will be two part, cast in Aluminum as the hinges will.

The cupola is in six basic parts: upper deck, cupola cylinder, armored ring, lower visor cover, upper visor cover, mounting flange: eighteen parts in all. Yes the visors slide up and down.

The cupola a a bit smaller than the kit cupola. The turret deck will need to be modified.

So, some pics:

http://www.armortek.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2977

So. I hope you like.

One other thing: the cupola is not permantly assembled which explains the rubber band, visors flopping about, parts not always lined up. Please bare with me

I am negotiating the purchase of a Zcorp Z310 3D printer
wish me luck, it should be a big help AND much cheaper.

Brian

[Adrian Harris]

> which explains the rubber band

So that's what was causing my confusion

Good luck with the printer.

Adrian.

[Stephen White]

Brian

It's perfect. Makes such a difference to get the cupola correctly sized. The turret is such a key part of the character of the Pz III. The slope of the upper plate, the welds, the Rommelkise and the cupola all contribute to the image. I thought of doing a photoshop job to see whether it was worth remaking the cupola to the correct size but Brian - you've answered the question in great style. Great job.

Stephen