Iacopo's Panzer III, a new and first adventure for me.

[Andrea Daviero]

Hi to all and thanks Iacopo!
I'm very happy to help Iacopo in building his tank.
About the spring, take a look at Knupfer.de
http://knupfer.info/shop/index.php/deut ... mente.html
We bought there the springs and also the rivets.

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Hello everyone, my friends.
A little update on the work performed on my Panzer III.

Started the assembly of the rolling train.








We tried to mount a track (coincidentally the wrong one! )to assess the alignment of the wheels.




We could not resist a short test track:



And finally, a short test of the front lights:





Until next time!
Ciao,
Iacopo

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Hello everyone and Welcome back.
A little progress on my Panzer III.
Assemble the wheels of the train rolling even on the right side and here, too, everything was perfectly aligned.







And then the first dynamic test of the Panzer III!



This is just a test to see the work of the suspension, wheels and tracks.
The Panzer III has behaved really well, and the work of the suspension is really something fantastic!
The tank currently hangs slightly forward: for now I leave it waiting to mount the rear doors and the turret, after which they will be assessed any adjustments!

Now the tracks will be removed in order to allow an easier mounting of the fenders side, and to complete the assembly of the wheels and their studs.
As always, please forgive my bad English.
Thank you and see you soon with new updates.

Ciao!
Iacopo

[duncanallender]

Boun giorno Iacopo,
Very nice work on the tank, good to see it running at last.Regards to Andrea.
Ciao
Duncan

[Stephen White]

Buongiorno too, Iacopo, I love what you're doing with the Pz III and thanks for sharing your build. I can't recall if you modifiied the shock absorbers in any way but you might like to consider this. The torsion bar suspension of the real vehicle is very responsive and when it starts moving and slows down or stops, the whole tank rocks back and forward on the suspension. I found that by drilling or milling out the centre of the shock absorber pistons, I could fit a spring which does give the model that characteristic rocking motion. Just a thought although maybe a bit late!

Please keep up the saga - we're enjoying it and congratulations on the build so far.

Best regards

Stephen

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Thank you so much to all of you, my friends.
I'm glad that you find my work interesting.

Indeed, the shock absorbers are now attached to the hull with Loctite and I could not remove them unless disassemble almost everything.
Thanks anyway for the advice, Stephen: receive compliments from a master like you fills me with happiness!
I will not fail to greet my good friend Andrea from you, Duncan!
Until next time!
Ciao,
Iacopo.

[Sarah Frazer]

Hi Iacopo,

Your panzer III is looking great, the Suspension Guides look good




Sarah

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Hello to all friends.
The construction of my Panzer III continues.
Changes to the boss of the drive wheels:







Test assembly after painting background.



Also fixed the fender side and the studs of the other wheels:







All for now.
Until next time!

Ciao,
Iacopo

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Good morning everyone.
After the lower hull, we go a little forward with the upper part of the tank.

Mounted the front armor and completed welds:







We also made rear rack for cans:





Casting on the hinges of the doors.





Finally, we modified the base for the antenna and provided with a return spring.







Basic color on all parts and assembly provisional!











and here is the antenna swinging!



All for now!
Thanks for watching and see you soon!

Ciao,
Iacopo

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Good evening to all.
Latest details added to the hull before moving to the construction of the turret!











I know it is not much.
Unfortunately, the time to work on the tank is never far ....
Stay tuned for more updates!

[Stephen White]

Iacopo, as ever a treat to see. Thanks for posting. Some lovely details,you've captured the jerry can rack on the back decks beautifully.

I found the turret needed a lot of work but enjoyable. In particular, I found I had to change the profile of the side plates so that the front part of the roof slopes down at a greater angle. It's quite noticeable and characteristic of the Pz III.

All the best.

Stephen

[simon_manning]

very nice indeed iacopo, as stephen said a treat to see, keep the build coming, regards simon manning.

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Thank you for your attention and your advice.
Dear Stephen, surely your excellent construction will be useful as a reference for me!

Ciao,
Iacopo

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Good afternoon, everyone.
As promised, during the holidays we put my hand to the tower of the Panzer III.
Because the plates of the turret are very thick and shaped, there was a lot tolerance between the various parts.
Instead of using the putty after assembly, I chose to solder directly to the plates by a blacksmith friend, specializing in aluminum.





Then we gave the right angle to the various sheets:





And finally, here is the final result:





The rear starts has been "straightened", so as to go down to almost 90 ° with respect to the hull bottom and thus bringing the hole for the commander cupola further back (red line), as it should be;
then was made also the inclination of the front part of the sky tower, as evidenced by the blue line:



in this way it was possible to realize also the front edge, in correspondence of the mantle.



Everything will go further tweaked and reworked, but in general the structure of the tower is ready!

Until next time, and happy holidays to all!

Ciao,
Iacopo

[John Fitzsimons]

Interesting to see the turret is made from individual aluminium plates. The panzer IV turret is milled from a block of aluminium which makes the armour far too thick.