Armortek

Hello stephen
your tank is to be admired ,so mutch going on, the detailing is great.
very very nice.
regards
nick

Hi, Stephen

Wow, that looks nice. Great color scheme and paint work. What a nice looking PIII you have. Look forward to seeing it with the turret.

Best regards
Tim

Stephen,

I haven't commented on your latest photos because i am sad. i can see the end coming and than what, waht will I have?
Nothing to look forward too, it wil be a sad, sad day.

But that dosn't detract from the beautiful job you are doing.

Thanks for sharing and teaching!
Nice job.

Cheers,
Brian

Thanks guys for your kind words and interest - they're great encouragement. Brian, the fiinish isn't in sight yet, there's a lot to do. I'm just getting to a point where I can motor, (towards Dunkeswell).

Today was a red letter day - finished off enough of the painting to complete mounting the running gear and putting on the tracks. I've seen someone comment that when the tracks go on, it all seems to come together.

The taper lock bearings on the sprockets went on well after a little bit of fitting on the keys. And then...... switch on and, they ran without any problem, true and without binding. Big relief.

I'd appreciate a word about track tension from those who've got to this stage I've put the tracks on without any weight on the suspension and put the track adjuster to its maximum loose position. I'm assuming that once the weight is on, the tracks will need a lot of tightening. Is there sufficient adjustment or will another link have to come out?

Some photos of some more of the painting. The tracks look a bit stark. I haven't done any weathering yet, just a coat of sealer.









Regards

Stephen

Hi Stephen
That is looking very nice.

Derek

Hi Stephen,

This is a great run on your Panzer III build, your a inspiration to us all, keep the pics coming, someone like yourself must keep the Panzer upgrades going, besides others that are trying to keep up with you too!
Goodness knows where you find the time to work on your Panzer III.

I for one am enjoying your highly detailed progress, and hope that it never ends?

Cheers
Ian
from Glasgow, Scotland

Stephen,

The Pz III really looks great, thought I must say the "red" tracks are a bit jarring.

It has been a few days, how is it going?


Looking forward to the next installment,
Brian

Cheers!

Brian

Hi. I'm sitting out Hurricane Earl on the East Coast but hope to be back in time to do some more work on Sun.

You're right about the tracks but that's only supposed to be the base coat so I hope to get them lookng more realistic. No rust - I don't think I ever saw a rusty track in service. All the best and thanks for your interest. Regards. Stephen

Addition of the Mike Stannard intake grills:



Two working days to the Open Day.....

Regards

Stephen

First run today, ready for the open day.

The paint looked pretty stark so I applied some basic weathering, although it's not the final standard. I've used a product called Promodellers Wash and I'm very pleased with it. It's a clay based liquid which can be sprayed on. Once dry, the clay can be removed with great control, using moistened tissue paper. It gives you great control over the result:


Details here:

http://www.promodeller.com/buy-the-wash/

Also applied colours and washes to the depth of the track pattern to tone down the red oxide primer, although I'm leaving the tracks spuds and grousers to weather naturallly with running.



Threw the turret together, painted and mounted some of the tools, including Mike Stannard's 75mm gun cleaning rods, and then the great outdoors:







I can only echo what other's have said - she runs like a dream.

Regards

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

Lookin' good

I bet you're very pleased at getting it running, I'm really looking forward to when mine moves under it's own power.

I'm just about to deepen the recess in the return rollers like you did. How much deeper did you make the recess?

Can't wait to see your Panzer III at the weekend.

Regards,

Sarah

Hi Stephen

Nice photos. Your drive sprocket and running gear look excellent and its good to see the turret coming together(even in it's early stages). Have fun at the open day. Sounds like there will be a good number of Panzer IIIs there.

Kind regards
Tim

Gill - two more mouths to feed for the Open Day.......



Weather is looking good, clever Armortek.

Regards

Stephen

One more of the Open Day - David Fletcher and Steve Winstone in conference:



Gill and Mark organised a brilliant day as ever and Sunday would have been good had it not been for a duff car. Had to explain to the chap driving an antique fire engine who came to my rescue on Saturday why I had a tank in the back.

Some random progress. Firstly, the 10 ton jack, weathered with Promoddeller wash:



The front track hanger. My particular Ausf N had three other sets of spare tracks, so more to go:




Finally got the smoker working through the exhaust boxes:



Now I'm installing lights using the wiring harness Mark made for me. I've assembled the Mike Stannard Notek unmodified but I decided to remake the Armorpax front Notek to install the led:





Regards

Stephen

Excellent as always Stephen! Looking very nice.

Best regards
Tim