Armortek

As already said by others. Looks real. Well done.

Last bit of the side doors are the two retaining bolts to keep the rear doors from decapitating the hapless loader and gunner when they hang out.

Couldn't find a compression spring small enough to use so opted for a pintle running in a slot with an L shape to lock the pin in the the open position:



Finished pin assemblies:



Fabricating the brackets and adding mounting pins to make sure they stick to the turret wall:







Painted, less weathering, and working:








Regards

Stephen

Made the turret lifting hooks to scale size and added the cone bolts. Although the photo shows castle nuts, these are a post war addition. The Bovvy Pz III has the correct setup.












Regards

Stephen

Hello stephen
I have not seen sutch atention to detail in a working model before. The craftman ship shown here is exceptional .
regards
nick

Every piece and every post just blows my mind. No offense meant to all my friends here but this has to be the most amazing build there has been here on the forum.

An incredible job Stephen. Wish I could see your PIII in person one day.

Kind regards
Tim

If theres a Armortek Hall of Fame someday I know who's getting inducted first.

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself but decided it's time to put on the markings by way of a change from making bits. So here's the story:

Having chosen an Ausf N, I wanted to do a North African campaign vehicle. The Russian Front was too bleak. I found this picture of Pz Regt 8, one of the original DAK regiments, with their distinctive card markings. Such embellishments are all too rare on German vehicles:



I then found this, which is the battalion commander's vehicle, with all four suits as his marking:



Further research revealed a remarkable career and a remarkable tank commander called Hans Guenter Stotten, who is in the Wittman, Carius class but who had not enjoyed any of the post war fame:



So here goes:



The DAK palm is a bit speculative but I've seen it on other Pz Regt 8 vehicles for the same period.










The results were a bit stark to start with but with the first weathering in the form of some filters, washes and streaking, the markings are beginning to settle into the overall image. More to go though, I'm nowhere near the excellence of the masters of paint. It's perhaps a bit invidious to name names but I've taken inspiration from Noel's work in Australia and the tanks shown by Paul, Simon, Tim in the US and Chris Fry.





Overall result:

Stephen, this is an awesome tank, all the research and skill has come together to make something to be proud off.
Will you be taking it to the open day?
How did you produce the stencil for the palm motif?

John

Thanks John.

Yes, I'll bring it to the open day, come hell or high water, only two years later than I'd intended. That's not to say it'll be finished by then.

The stencil was easier than you might think. I found a photo of an 8 Pz Regt, to see which of the many styles they used. I then found a pattern on the internet, blew it up to the right size, printed it off and stuck some Tamiya masking tape to the page. I then carefully cut it out using an X-Acto knife and a new Number 11 blade.

Here's the pattern:



Best regards

Stephen

One thing to add is that it came out too perfect when first sprayed so I had to go in with a fine brush and "mess it up" a bit to represent a crudely painted stencil. The other markings are transfers I made and again, I had to go in and add some overspray manually to create the impression that they were painted on with stencils.

The Tamiya masking tape is just too good. The transfers were made with sheets from Expert-Choice in the US. I sure they can be found on the net.

Regards

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

Broken record here. That is one beautiful Panzer III model. Looks really good with all the tactical markings. First class all the way.

Kind regards
Tim

I see what you meant about not all German tanks being boring markings wise

Great looking markings - even if you had to de-perfect them

Adrian.

The markings look awesome. On an already really impressive model. Your P3 is best in its class in my opinion!
Best regards,
Bob

Hi Stephen,

I have to echo what has been said above. Absolutely fantastic Pz III and I love the markings you've added, quality

Keep up the superb work and thanks for posting your build photo's as I know it takes quite a bit of time...

Antony

its good to see building to this level, it gives me encouragement to see what can be done, panzer 111 luxery! regards simon.