John's Panzer III Ausf L 2008 edition

[John Fitzsimons]

I recently acquired a Panzer III via the for sale and wanted forum. I have been interested in getting one for a while now. It was fully build and came with motion and sound packages. I picked it up in person so had a long drive and took the opportunity to visit Bovington again for some detail photos.

I will put up some videos on YouTube covering the full build from disassembly and preparation to finish. I have plans to add many of my own components and plan on making many more.

Here is first video where I start to disassemble the kit.

[John Fitzsimons]

Next video of disassembling the panzer III. Next I will start cleaning parts. Lots of corrosion on the steel parts so will be trying out Evaporust for the first time. Interesting to see how effective this will be.

[Adrian Harris]

Evaporust is amazing for removing rust.

But I did find if you forget about something, it will eat away good steel at the air/liquid interface so don't leave it in there too long

A combination Jenolite and steel wool works very well as well, but wear gloves, as it will find any slight nicks in your skin, just like hand cleanser.

Adrian.

[John Fitzsimons]

Thanks Adrian,

I tried a few small components to start with. Great result. The oxidation on the sheet metal is very light. I left small items for a few hours. No attack on the good metal.

[John Fitzsimons]

I have started to re-assemble the Panzer 111 kit. Going well. Cleaned up really well using Evapo-rust on steel components.

This is kit number 043 from the first batch of Panzer IIIs from around 2009.

This is where I got to today.

I missed the instruction to fit the countersunk screws to retain the bump stops. Had to start again. Also, at this stage I decided to move the position of the bump stops. I may go back to these at some stage. They are a bit basic so just removed the hard edges for now.

As I have the motion pack I have added the motor mounts at this stage.

Rear idler mount and adjuster cleaned up nicely.

In need of more castellated nuts. I will make up plenty of cone heads also.

[John Fitzsimons]

Here is a video on how I clean up components and etch prime before assembly.

[John Fitzsimons]

Finally started rebuild of the Armortek Panzer III. In the next video I start to add some casting numbers so more coming soon. Also making lots of cone head bolts.
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