Pz III New Build

[Brian Leach]

50,010

[Stephen White]

You leave a thread unattended overnight and see what happens..... thanks Brian and Steve and everyone who has followed the build. Steve - ten past one shows dedication.

Today's update.

Finished the turret ventilator:





Started the signal hatch:



Since I'd never seen one open on any wartime photos, I decided to make it non functional so that I could mill it out of a single piece of alu. The hinge would work as it's modified from a spare engine deck hinge.



The filler needs tidying up but otherwise it's complete:





Now onto the gun and mantlet, while I think about the cupola. I can't get over how good Brian's resin cupola looks, especially as it's to accurate scale dimensions.

Regards and thanks for looking.

Stephen

[Stephen White]

Completed the signal port:



The gun mantlet is quite a bit undersize. It was a 50mm armour plate so should be 8.33mm thick. I thought about machining a new one but if you join the kit vorpanzer and kit mantlet, you get to within 0.4mm - good enough. The real mantlet also had a less acute bend, so I've straightened the two pieces by judicious use of a large cold hammer and a block of wood. Subtle. I'll also add some material to the sides, top and bottom to get to the correct size (should be 75mm top to bottom and 215mm wide):










Regards

Stephen

[Adrian Harris]

> large cold hammer and a block of wood

The joys of working with proper metal parts

Adrian.

[Stephen White]

More time on the mantlet. I've now permanently joined the two mantlet pieces with epoxy and two drilled and tapped M5 countersunk screws:



I've turned and drilled the armoured coax shield and milled out the two cooling slots. It needs a weld bead:



Finally, made a start on the gunner's sight hatch. I've milled out the aperture. The original mantlet was a hollow structure with plenty of space behind but on the kit the front turret plate is solid. I'm now looking at whether I can remove enough material to make a working hatch cover without interfering with the gun trunnions which sit behind:






Regards

Stephen

[Stephen White]

Been a bit diverted by North Africa for a couple of weeks but a day off and some progress.

First the gunner's sight cover. I've now machined the cover and assembled the operating arms. It's going to be a very tight fit and a lot of material will have to be removed from in front of the gun trunnion to make room for the operating arms in the stowed position. I'm winging it a bit and if there isn't enough room, I'll just have the cover in the open position:













And then a package arrived from the States. Great joy, Brian Leach has sent me the prototype of his new cupola, created from his drawings and "grown" on his new 3D printer. These are only prototypes but they are quite magnificent and the final versions with all that detail will be stunning.







The kit cupola is quite a bit over-sized and dominates the turret, whereas the scale size seems to fit the overall shape much better. The smaller diameter will require an insert for the turret roof and it looks like a session struggling with the face plate on the lathe.






Brian - these are masterpieces, perfect in every detail. Can't wait to fit the final production cupola.



Overall, a day to relish. And England won the rugby.

Thanks

Stephen

[Brian Leach]

Stephen,
Yes, I saw the test and England did win!

The gunners port- wow! This is really an eye popper. The hinges look great. Cannot the trunions be reduced in size
( I haven't had time to mess with them) They don't get too much of a load placed on them ( I should think).

Having the open port really does add a lot to the project.

I am glad you like the cupola. I am getting the final ready now. I will have some pictures later in the day.

All the best,

[Adrian Harris]

Some excellent parts there, from both sides of the pond

From memory, the top of the turret is steel, so it might be possible to silver solder a fillet in place to take the cupola

Brian, that cupola does look the bees knees. How have you been getting on the the new printer

I should have emailed earlier to let you know the swing arm arrived safely. I've only just started the clean up process, so I'll drop you a line once I've had time to concentrate on it.

Adrian.

[Stephen White]

Completed the top bracket for the gunner's sight cover and milled a rebate in the rear face of the mantlet to accept it. Finished the installation and with a bit of final tweaking, now works as advertised. Which leads to the next challenge, to remove enough material from the gun mounting and turret front plate to accomodate the working mechanism. The good news is that the operating arms don't appear to foul the actual gun trunnions, so it should all work out.









Regards

Stephen

[Adrian Harris]

Sweet

Adrian.

[Fabrice Le Roux]

Stephen,

Adrian's point about filling the old cupola aperture is good, even if you just tack weld a disk into place from below and then mark out and chain-drill the new hole.

Going for a solid disk would reduce the chance of thermal warping and with tack welds it could always be tapped true and flush and then filled. I did this with the Sherman upper deck to make it a a single rigid entity.

Super work as always.

Cheers, Fabrice

[Tim Bowman]

Hi Stephen

Incredible!

best regards
Tim

[Stephen White]

Hi Tim, thanks, good to see you on again.

Took time out today to install a 4QD Battery Condition Meter. Very cheap, easy to fit after putting it in a Maplins enclosure:



Next, the moment of truth for the gunner's sight cover - is there enough room to remove sufficient material without impinging on the gun trunnions? And the answer is yes - just. Sigh of relief:



Added some details to the coax MG mount and milled the aperture for the gunner's telescope, then added some texture to the mantlet, which needs a light sand:



Now to remove material from the front plate. I should have done this before assembling the turret, so now I'm left with some extreme milling. This bit was easy:



But then came:



It worked - just:





Final result:







Regards

Stephen

[Adrian Harris]

Strewth Stephen - "Extreme Milling" as an Olympic sport

I take it that, if you had made the sight cover bracket any shorter, to leave more material on the trunion, you wouldn't have had the necessary clearance when open

Wonderful pictures as always.

Adrian

[Robert E Morey]

Stephen that is maxing out that little mill for sure. I love the workable viewport cover - brilliant work. Your P3 is a work of art. You are keeping the P3 world on edge with every post...
Best regards,
Bob