Bovington PzKpfw III Ausf L
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:50 pm
I've spent today photographing and measuring the Bovington Ausf L. Grateful thanks to the supurbly helpful Tank Museum staff and to David Fletcher, who took time off from filming a documentary.
Recalling earlier posts, I measured the spacing of the return rollers and as we thought, they are completely irregular on the Ausf L. On the left side from front to back, the distances between roller centres are: 120.8 cms and 100.5. On the right side, front to back 130.5 and 90.8. It seems that by the Ausf L, the designers had optimised the rollers to avoid track clash with the catwalks and to optimised the entry angle to the spockets.
The differing sizes of transmission hatch were comfirmed. The bigger left side (looking forwards) hatch is 70.0 cms wide and the right one 50.3 cms. Each has a grab handle, which may have been a local modification.
It struck me that those who like replicating the suface of German rolled steel might be disappointed by the Pz III - the surfaces of most of the armour are remarkably well finished and smooth. The only exceptions appeared to be the gun trunnions and the lower front hull plate.
The conical headed bolt is popular - the hull escape hatches are one example and the turret lifting eyes another.
I've remodelled the shape of the suspension arms and this photo confirms the circular section, the casting seam and the shape of the boss and end-plate which is secured with a hex bolt (photo is of the Tank Museum Ausf N):
The kit road wheels are quite flat in section and might benefit from some attention on the lathe:
The L60 gun barrel is not a simple taper in profile, it has a definite change in taper shown on these two photos, so again the kit casting might benefit from some lathe work. Best buy a lathe then......
The kit is superb and the opportunity to modify and improve it is half the fun. The other half is working out how to correct my mistakes. Having decided to reprofile the suspension arms, I have to remove the suspensions I've already installed. All that stands between me and success is the small matter of some Loctite 271. I've managed to get one grub screw out using heat but the others are putting up a struggle. Moral - don't use permanent Loctite on something you may have to remove....
All the best
Stephen
Recalling earlier posts, I measured the spacing of the return rollers and as we thought, they are completely irregular on the Ausf L. On the left side from front to back, the distances between roller centres are: 120.8 cms and 100.5. On the right side, front to back 130.5 and 90.8. It seems that by the Ausf L, the designers had optimised the rollers to avoid track clash with the catwalks and to optimised the entry angle to the spockets.
The differing sizes of transmission hatch were comfirmed. The bigger left side (looking forwards) hatch is 70.0 cms wide and the right one 50.3 cms. Each has a grab handle, which may have been a local modification.
It struck me that those who like replicating the suface of German rolled steel might be disappointed by the Pz III - the surfaces of most of the armour are remarkably well finished and smooth. The only exceptions appeared to be the gun trunnions and the lower front hull plate.
The conical headed bolt is popular - the hull escape hatches are one example and the turret lifting eyes another.
I've remodelled the shape of the suspension arms and this photo confirms the circular section, the casting seam and the shape of the boss and end-plate which is secured with a hex bolt (photo is of the Tank Museum Ausf N):
The kit road wheels are quite flat in section and might benefit from some attention on the lathe:
The L60 gun barrel is not a simple taper in profile, it has a definite change in taper shown on these two photos, so again the kit casting might benefit from some lathe work. Best buy a lathe then......
The kit is superb and the opportunity to modify and improve it is half the fun. The other half is working out how to correct my mistakes. Having decided to reprofile the suspension arms, I have to remove the suspensions I've already installed. All that stands between me and success is the small matter of some Loctite 271. I've managed to get one grub screw out using heat but the others are putting up a struggle. Moral - don't use permanent Loctite on something you may have to remove....
All the best
Stephen
