Tim's Panzer 111 project

[Tim Page]

Been a very long time since the last update and life has kept me busy on many other projects.
This included making the gun mount and turret traverse and a few other parts for my sdkfz.250/9 and building an R/C Kettenkrad as well as getting to grips with my 3D printers.

I have actually decided that i really like the look on the tank as it stands in Panzer Grey and no schurzen. I had a couple of attempts to make the turret schurzen but was not happy with it.
So, the plan now is to upload some more photos showing a lot more of the details that were added to this unique Panzer III and apply all the markings and insignia for it.
As I am leaving it in Grey then it will remain as it would have been in April/May 1943 with 11PzDiv just prior to Kursk and i will most likely apply the I02 number on the turret as planned.
I am planning to make my own stencils using my Cricut Vinyl Stencil cutter so that will be another diy process.
I always intended to get a set of those fantastic Armorpax stencils but never quite got around to it.

So, i should start uploading a few more posts over the next week to show some of the updates.
Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

There has been one part missing from my Pz.Bef.Wg.Ausf.J that i wanted to add but was proving to be a complete swine to fabricate.
I had tried to make it from plastic strip and also tried brass but gave up.
Skip forward a couple of years and i now have a 3d printer.
So, i designed a CAD file last night and had to make a few tweaks to get the dimensions looking about right after scaling from a drawing in the Panzertracts 3-4 book.

The missing part i am referring to is the small basket that is attached to the rear of the cupola to most of the Ausf.J & Ausf.k command tanks.
There seems to be some confusion of what these were used for. Ive seen 2 purposes described in separate books; A holder for orange signal flares or a basket to hold messages.
I have seen these baskets in various period photos but they are always empty so maybe we will never know what they were for.
I think i will have to ask Hilary Doyle next time i speak to him.
Anyway, here is a drawing that i used to design and scale the part.

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Here are a few pix from this evening while test fitting the bracket. It will give you an idea of how it will look.

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Ive just given it all a coat of red primer and hope to get it fitted and painted tomorrow.

Cheers
Tim

[Phil Woollard]

Hi Tim, it's a waste paper basket!

[yves mouton]

Hello,

Fruit basket?
Nicely printed part.

Best regards Yves

[Tim Page]

You could be right Phil, it certainly looks like a waste paper basket.
The CAD was tricky to do, but maybe only 1 hour total. Once I figured out the dimensions and slots.
It then took 1 hour to print.

You can see the baskets in this photo below with an Ausf.J in front with 3 Ausf.K behind.
From this picture it looks like i need to make some lollipops to go with the basket.
These look to have a white outer and i assume a red center to them like the Feldgendarmerie used.
I presume they used them in the command tanks for some kind of signalling but exactly why - who knows.

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Cheers
Tim

[mark lawson]

very nice work Time, once completed this will be an outstanding model.

[Tim Page]

Here are a couple of pix showing the overall model in Panzergrau as it stands at the moment but with out the basket fitted.

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Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

Managed another couple of hours working on the Panzer 111 this afternoon
Fitted and then painted the basket in my faded Panzergrau mix.
I don't often plan ahead, but i clearly did a while back because i found a pre-mixed batch of the paint i had used on the Panzer 111 in one of the large Tamiya mixing bottles. I had been dreading this and thought id have to respray the whole tank if i could not get the paint mix correct.
I do still have the recipe , but did not have all the Tamiya colours to hand.
It was made up using batches of 6 bottles: 4 x XF64 German Grey, 1 x XF53 Neutral grey and 1 x XF54 Dark Sea Grey

This made it a doddle to get the airbrush and compressor into action and paint the new parts.

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I also added and painted another couple of parts which i had made ages ago and never fitted. These are the cable conduits for the fender running lights.

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I have also taken a good number of detail pix that i will upload over the next few days to explain some more of the mods that have been done.
Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

Ive been looking at unit marking and it looks like the style of markings applied during the Barbarossa campaign in 1941 were still in use up to March 1943 with many units on the eastern front.
The Panzergrau was just given an application of whitewash which was then removed in the spring.
So, this scheme would still be appropriate for use on my tank for March 1943.

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The plain white outer style of Balkenkreuz was in use during 1941 through to early 1943 on the Ostfront and was phased out from Feb 1943 and gradually replaced with the black cross with white edges style which had been adopted by the DAK Afrika Korps during 1941.

Did some more hunting last night to find an actual photo to model mine on but really struggling to find any specific example for the Feb-April 1943 period.
Ive found quite a few for the 1941 campaign and quite a few after they were repainted in Dunkelgelb with Olivegrun camo in May/June 1943.
So it looks like i will have to do a theoretical scheme rather than from an exact photo.

I guess this is the risk of modelling a specific type of tank when there were only 81 examples built between August and December 1942 and i think 11 Panzer division only had 1 example left by July 1943 when Operation Zitadelle started.

I am now going to make a set of stencils and hopefully get the airbrush out again later today.
Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

Been busy making stencils this afternoon with my Cricut vinyl cutter.
Very easy to use if you are wanting to make your own stencils.

Anyway, the main ones are done and the markings airbrushed now but still got to do the ghost symbols which are only 30mm high and are probably too intricate for a stencil at this scale.
I may end up using transfer paper instead through my laser printer.

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The Balkenkreuze on the rear needs a slight touch up as i got a little bit of bleeding but overall pretty pleased with a couple of hours work using images that i 'found' on the web, scaled and cut into vinyl sheet.

Pretty simple once you get the hang of it.
I have already supplied some markings for Rivets 222 so I hope to see how that turns out soon.

Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

OK guys, last photo for tonight.
Here is the last stencil applied and airbrushed.
Just the 4 Ghosts to do now which i think will have to be transfers.

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Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

Hi again, I was thinking the other day about all the jobs and parts that had gone into this conversion over the last few years.
So, I thought it might be of interest to some to list what had been done, although I'm sure that i will forget a few items off this list.

Lower Hull:
Replace the original 5 hole front sprockets with the correct 6 hole versions.
Apply texture, prime & paint new front sprockets.
Reshaped all the lower hull suspension mounts and bump stop components.
Reshaped the suspension arms.
Added 5.5mm and 6.5mm Cone bolts to lower hull escape hatches.
Fitted brass castle nuts where required.
Fabricated 3 new rear lower hull access plates and fitted.
Re-profiled the exhausts.
Filled all visible holes and bolt heads where required in lower hull.
Added weld lines to lower hull.

Upper Hull:
Strip down upper hull to inspect and re-align parts.
Enlarge hole and make new front right transmission hatch which was too small as supplied.
Reshaped opening and armoured cover for the drivers vision block.
Remove the original mg34 hull mg mount and replace with an MP-klappe mp40 mount.
Fabricated new Vorpanzer spaced armour plate and brackets for the fron of the fighting compartment.
Reshaped the front brake ducts on the upper glacis plate.
Removed the original Bosch headlights from fenders and replaced with a pair Steve Winstone Panzer III front headlights fitted to glacis plate.
Reshaped all the mudguard/fender support brackets.
Added Armorpax side vision ports to upper hull.
Added Armorpax lifting hooks to upper hull.
Added armoured splash guard to hull roof in front of the turret to protect turret ring.
Add mesh screens over engine air intakes.
Added 5.5mm and 6.5mm Cone bolts to all required parts.
Fitted brass castle nuts where required.
Re-profiled the rear plate on the engine deck to create the correct overhang and fit cone bolts.
Fabricated engine starter crank cover for the rear plate of engine deck.
Reposition all tools and fittings to correct locations for the Ausf.J Command tank.
Added new Steve Winstone spare wheel holders.
Added new wooden jack block and support frame.
Fabricate new mounts and wiring conduit for the fender running lights.
Fit Armorpax front and rear Notek lights and rear light.
Fit Armorpax horn and S hooks to fenders.
Add left and right side antenna bases.
Fit the new Armorpax antenna mounts that Dave made for me (Top bloke).
Fitted the 1.4m and 2.0m Werkstatt stab antennas.
Fabricated the left and right side antenna support frames (troughs) out of brass and wood.
Fitted the Werstatt star antenna base and antenna.
Filled all visible holes and bolt heads where required in upper hull.
Added weld lines to upper hull.

Turret:
Strip down the turret, disassemble and rebuild to improve the shape as it was not ‘square’, and did not rotate properly.
Apply detail and rivets to turret bin.
Modify and move turret cupola into better position with vision block facing directly forwards.
Move hinges for cupola hatch to match new cupola alignment.
Make pistol ports out of white metal for the turret side doors and fit.
Rain gutters fabricated and added to turret sides above side doors.
Fabricated hatch stoppers from brass to hold the turret side doors when open.
Added Armorpax lifting hooks to turret.
Added Armorpax vision ports to turret.
Added Armorpax pistol ports to rear of turret.
Detail added to ventilator on turret roof.
Improved the signal port on the turret roof.
New grab handles added to turret roof.
Add correct detail to gun mantlet for the Ausf.J version with 2 new armoured covers.
Fit better coax mg.
Modifed the turret Vorpanzer spaced armour frame to correct and improve detail.
Fitted the new 5cm L42 gun barrel that was made for me by Werkstatt.
Fabricated the turret cupola 'waste paper basket' and mounting bracket.
Filled all visible holes and bolt heads where required in turret.
Added weld lines to turret.
Paint entire model in a faded panzergrau paint.

The last few jobs have been to fabricate the turret cupola basket and make and apply unit marking stencils to the tank and the I02 numbers and balkenkreuz.
The most recent task was to print of some ‘Ghost’ decals on white decal paper and then apply these to the left, right and rear of the upper hull.
Anyway, I am sure ive missed out quite a few tasks but it is still a pretty exhaustive list.

Cheers
Tim

[Robert E Morey]

Tim, Excellent PZIII. Your markings came out fantastic. The detailing is superb. That's a lot of changes and mods- part of the fun possible with these models. Looking forward to see how you tackle the "ghost" marking.
Cheers.
Bob

[Tim Page]

Thanks Robert, Here are the Ghost markings.
I 'found' a decent quality hi-res image online which i then edited in a paint package.
This image was a white background with a black ghost.
I then edited the image to give it a grey background and a white ghost. I attempted to get the grey colour close match to the grey paint on the tank but in actual fact it was not as close as i thought.
Anyway, I now scaled this to be 32mm square and then saved the image.
I then printed this image onto the white decal paper on my colour laser printer.
The issue with doing your own decals at home is that you cant easily print white unless you have a very expensive Alps printer.
So, this means that any white markings will have to be printed with a coloured background as i did here.

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It is then a case of cutting out the printed decals and soaking in luke warm water and apply like any other waterslide decal.
As you can see they look pretty good although i did have to do a bit of paint touchup to get them to blend in because the grey on the decal was a bit too dark.

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I am waiting for the weather to warm a bit so that I can apply some acrylic varnish to seal it all in which will then provide a good safe base layer for any weathering.

I am really pleased with the the way the markings turned out.
Hand made laser printed decals can really help but painted on with stencils, i think gives the best quality finish when done well.
The 2 side decals have worked well and you cant really see the edge of the decal which you can see on the one applied to the rear panel.
I think this will blend in well once it has been varnished and a bit of weathering.

I am happy to have a go at making any decals or vinyl stencils for anyone who might be needing some.
Single colours are easier to do as i did on mi Panzer III but i also did some for Rivet's 222 for which i am sure he will upload some photos soon.

Cheers
Tim

[Tim Page]

Had a couple of hours spare this afternoon so did another couple of tweaks to the Panzer III.
It suddenly dawned on me that i had not wired up the headlamps. The wiring harness was there but had not been connected.
This was something that i had completely forgotten about tbh but i am very pleased now its done.
Ive got them connected so they come on automatically when the tank starts up and will probably add a separate on/off switch for the lights.

I had also wanted to add a drivers vision block as there was just a slot that you could poke your finger through which was not ideal.
So, I had a few scrap bits of 6mm perspex so cut out a panel 95mm X 30mm and bolted it in place with the bolts that hold the armoured visor in place.
I used some wet 600 grade wet & dry on the back to make it slightly obscured but I am happy with the may it turned out.
I then attached a 'driver' behind the vision block wearing a black Panzerschiff with pink piping.

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I have left the top deck unbolted so that I can tidy up the wiring and will probably add the headlight switch.

In a fit of desperation i had charged up the tank & Spektrum DX9 and had a little play in the garage today which is the first time either of my tanks had actually moved under their own steam in almost 2 years.

Roll on happy days when we can actually take our tanks out to play.

Cheers
Tim