Pz III New Build

[Paul Morris]

Hi Stephen.

Brilliant I made my own bin for my early Tiger so I know how much work you have done...the wooden rubbing strips look great too.
I have spoken to Steve in the past about his brilliant clasps...don't know how he puts them together I got some in kit form and they are still the same way I just gave up ha ha.
Well done again.
Cheers Paul

[Fabrice Le Roux]

Stephen,

A "resistance soldering machine" should be added to your Christmas list. Would have zapped all those catches and rivets a treat. It is all in Wingrove's books..

Lovely work, as always.

Cheers
Fabrice

[Stephen White]

Fabrice, yes, anything to save the moment when I turn to the blowtorch, high risk of seeing the whole thing self destruct......

On with the finish coat. First the RAL 8020, painted to give some variation of light and shade:



Pistol port with cast numbers added:



Next, the RAL 7027 and then some Promodeller washes, applied wet and then, when dry, wiped away:









Next some pigments, this one is Promodeller sand and it gets the North African red dust on. I've used MIG Pigment Fixer and here, it's not quite dry:





Regards

Stephen

[Paul Morris]

Hi Stephen.
Just keeps getting better, still waiting hence no pic
Cheers Paul

[Fabrice Le Roux]

Stephen,
You should see what happens if you get the amps/footswitch op wrong my way ...bbzzzzt-phut!...part? what part?
Takes a little practice.
cheers, Fabrice

[Stephen White]

The last major components, the side hatches. Removed the welds from the Armorpax parts:






Test fit showed that some material needed to be milled from the mountings to get the hinges into the right position to allow the doors to open and shut:





Made up the hinge pins from brass to include the boss at the top:



Milled out the apertures for the vision blocks and small ports which will be working:



Regards

Stephen

[Stephen White]

More work on the side hatches.

Milled out the interior of the Armorpax vision ports. I'll use some water clear resin to cast the optics:





Started the pistol ports which are missing in the kit:



These inserts represent the mounting plate on the inside:





A test fit:





Construction of the actuating lever:



Regards

Stephen

[Paul Morris]

Stephen.
When you have finished this model you are going to end up getting an offer you can't refuse from a museum and your panzer three will end up in a glass case for posterity
Absolutely top notch it really is well done again.
Cheers Paul

[Ian Rodney]

Hi Stephen,

Great details on your Panzer III, especially following your recent work on the turret side doors. I had a go myself making the inside details on the doors. If you want to see any of my efforts on the Panzer III, then send me an email, my contact email address is as follows:

artmaniastudio3@googlemail.com

Regards
Ian
from Glasgow, Scotland.

[John Fitzsimons]

Great work on the doors. When using the water clear resin do you pour into the port blocking one side or make a mould. I am making some periscope housings for My Tiger and was thinking of using clear resin.

[Stephen White]

John - don't know, never used water clear resin before. Having read the tech notes, getting the temperature and mix right seems important. I'll let you know. I will probably try pouring direct.

More work on the pistol ports. Completed the actuating levers:



Fabricated the bracket which holds the port shut:





Port open and shut:







Making these parts suggests how over-engineered the earlier panzers were. The pistol port is a door in a door - crazy. I've never seen a photo with one open or seen any reference to them being used. Mind you, the Centurions in Korea could have done with them (hint Mark!) Makes for a satisfying build though - always more bits to knock out.

Regards

Stephen

[Fabrice Le Roux]

Stephen, super job!

Pistol ports anticipated tactical failure. QED As tactics improved they were dropped from newer designs.

Blindly shooting at infantry on, or close to, the vehicle repesents a last ditch defence of a high value target that has got itself too far ahead or separated from a) the infantry who should be protecting it or b) from other tanks who could hose off the close-assault infantry teams with co-axial MG fire. (As the Cents did in Korea!)

Armoured glass has a greenish tinge due to its thickness and composition. Will you add this with a wash of paint or by tinting the resin mix? You could also use green film of the type use as lighting gels for theatrical lighting. Very stable and good range of colours.

Cheers, Fabrice

[Tim Bowman]

HA HA!

I love it! It just keeps getting better and better with each new post(and that's saying something). Incredible. Just incredible.

To fabrice's point, you can buy greenish tinted plex here in the states that is supposed to represent real glass. May not have quite the amount that Fabrice is talking about but it does look like glass.

best regards
Tim

[John Fitzsimons]

Great work. Amazing level of detail. Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the resin. Cast numbers look good. Just wondering if they are from artistic license or based on real door detail. I have been photographing a Panzer IV H today and have not seen too many casting numbers.

[Stephen White]

John

Sad to say they're the correct casting numbers:



Obviously too much time on my hands......

Regards

Stephen