Pz III New Build

[Adrian Harris]

It's interesting that you've spotted the additional slope needed on the turret roof.

I was aware of the step at the front of the turret, along to top of the front edge, but because the front is such a large machined piece, I couldn't see a way to replace it to create the step - correcting the turret roof angle instantly fixes this area as well

Does this mod mean the turret top is now too short or will you make up the gap with fake weld ?

Adrian.

PS: Sorry to be uber-pedantic but wasn't the Ausf N an L/24 KwK

[Stephen White]

Adrian

What's the phrase - "your brain is cashing cheques your typing finger can't pay?" L24 it is. Well spotted.

The turret roof should be OK. There is also a correction to do at the back of the side plates where the vertical side should be at right angles to the base. If you do that, it brings the top of the rear plate forward. If I can do that today, I'll post a pic or two. It should also allow me to move the cupola to the rear. The cupola is a bit oversize and I've not yet made my mind up whether to build one from scratch. Now, Mr Bowman, if your masterpiece were finished..........

All the best.

Stephen

[Adrian Harris]

> There is also a correction to do at the back of the side plates where the vertical side should be at right angles to the base.

Interesting.

> The cupola is a bit oversize and I've not yet made my mind up whether to build one from scratch

This is as far as I got with the cupola ...



I don't think the shape will be a problem but cutting the T-slots for the vision ports will be a bit tricky. I may have to out-source that.

My idea was to profile it, get the slots made, then machine some more ally to fit in the slots and profile them back to the correct shape. I can't get the kit visions slots to look correct any ways around

Adrian.

[Jim Fowler]

Yep,

I have been sort of looking toward Tim or Mike on the cupola as well. As Tim pointed out before its not just about the outside aspects, this is a part that could use some inside detail too. Its probably the first facet of the model a person will generally fix on when they look at the model. So, it truely is a high visability detail.

I agrovated Tim and Mike so much in the past on this and other stuff.... I thought I would try to give them a break for the Holidays for the most part.

However, in either case the really driving factor is going to be cost and that is driven by interest. The cupola could be used on both the P3 and P4 (I know some minor differences depending on Tank/Ausf being modeled); but still, there is potential for both. What we really need is probably to show a desire to support an initial creation....

I have interest in getting two cupolas, anyone else? (OOPS, Don't want to HiJack Steve's Build Tread - I guess we should start a seperate thread)

[Stephen White]

Good thinking Jim and Adrian and thanks for your interest.

The alignment between the rear and side plates needs to form more of a right angle, which requires machining off a small fillet:



The top plate now needs to be bent further to conform with the new lower sides. Here I've machined the two bevels for the weld but not yet lowered the roof:



Adrian - this is how the back end fits. The top plate now sits on the rear plate, which I've trimmed by 3mm. Without that, the top plate would be too long fore and aft but now more or less fits. It also brings the cupola back closer to the rear plate, which is more accurate:



Finally, a general side view to see the effect of the new side profile, although I haven't yet lowered the front of the roof plate:



This is just a rough fit and there's lots of tidying up to do.

Regards

Stephen

[Adrian Harris]

Presumably, changing the angle of the rear plate alters the vertical position of the central section ?

The top is (relatively) easy to fix, as that will entail the removal of some material but I assume that the base will require some additional build-up ?

Adrian

[Tim Bowman]

Excellent eye Stephen and excellent work!

Happy New Year
Tim

[Stephen White]

Happy New Year to all.

This is closer to the final assembly. The various mods come together well and I think it captures the overall shape of the turret:







Adrian - sorry, I wasn't clear what you meant by the central part. I've not had to fill anywhere. The rear plate didn't cause any problems, I just had to remove some material from the turret base to allow it to sit at the new angle. To get the plates to sit flush with each other, the base needed some work anyway.

Some final tweaking to do and then I'll think about any machining needed before priming and assembling. I intend to mill out the pistol port apertures for example.

The profile of the mantlet will take some attention and then the assembly of the main armament.

See you in 2011.

Stephen

[Adrian Harris]

I was thinking that the centre of the back plate would hang below the level of the base - think coat tails but on a smaller scale.

That turret certainly looks the D's B's

Adrian.

[Stephen White]

Ah the light shines in a darkened room! Sorry, I was being a bit dim. There's plenty of material to play with as you've got 3 mm at the top to lose. I had to remove material from the back plate, in the centre on the top edge and towards the outside at the bottom.

I also found that the front plate was undersized in width by a couple of mm per side. I machined some material away on the inside surfaces to preserve the flatness of the side and triangle plates.

All the best.

Stephen

[Stephen White]

Reshaping the turret front panel to the correct shape for the end covers for the gun trunnions:





I made some templates for the correct shape in three dimensions from drawings and got to work with grinding tools. It will need a small Milliput fillet to finish.

Here's something interesting which I'd not noticed before. Is this an error in Mark's otherwise perfect design:



I spent some time kicking the workbench and working out how to machine out the plate to centralise the mounting. Back to the original German engineering drawings and - surprise, surprise - the gun was mounted off centre and Mark has perfectly captured the position. Really, I never doubted you Mark.........

So, now to do the other side.

Regards

Stephen

[Stephen White]

This is the original German engineering drawing showing the offset Main Armament bore in relation to the turret centre line.



Final shaping without the fillet:



Regards

Stephen

[Stephen White]

Finished. Before and after:





Regards

Stephen

[Adrian Harris]

Much better

Adrian.

[Stephen White]

Drilled the pattern of holes on the roof which were used to attach items such as the gun crutch to the turret roof. The fastners were slot head bolts which I'll fabricate from brass rod. The pattern for the Ausf N was very different to the other late marks whch had a torsion bar gun balance system, which the Ausf N didn't need:



Final assembly of the turret and some filling work begun:



Regards

Stephen