My Panzer III is on it's way

David Da Costa · Post by **David Da Costa** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:57 pm

Just got the email from Gill, the PIII is on it's way!!!

I also have two cans of UPO Acid #8 Acid Etch Primer also on it's way (will 2 cans be enough?).

I notice the manual refers to adhesive in several places, but does not specify what kind. What do I need?

David

Adrian Harris · Post by **Adrian Harris** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:53 pm

> I notice the manual refers to adhesive in several places, but does not specify what kind. What do I need?

You should see in each section, in the table which lists the fasteners, that the adhesive type is given there, and where it will be needed.

Adrian.

Dale jordan · Post by **Dale jordan** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:47 pm

Great news for you David .There's nothing better then getting that e mail from Gill and clicking on your tracking number and watching it come across the world .. ... David you will need four or five spray cans at least .. The best thing to do when you kit arrives is to have all the fun of getting it out of the boxs .. I like to looks at the parts but you must keep every thing in order and only take them out of theirs bags when you are ready for them ... always dry fit to a stage say lower hull when you are happy with the fit and have done any mod's .. you must pull it apart and wet and dry sand every peace before the reasembling it for the last time this will give you a clean surface for your primmer if you don't do this it will be to hard to sand and clean ready for primmer and it won't stick as there will be cutter fluid and grease on the parts .. this is why everyone keep telling me on the forum that my builds look so clean it because they are but I know my paint won't fall off .... have fun and let us know what your thought's are after you check it out ...Dale

David Da Costa · Post by **David Da Costa** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:04 pm

Thanks for the info Dale, I better order some more primer.

I have also got some industrial degreaser which I will use to ensure all grease and cutting fluid is removed.

Do you recommend priming the major panels before final assemble to ensure the the mating edges are primed to ensure no dissimilar metal reactions?

Thanks

David

Dale jordan · Post by **Dale jordan** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:25 pm

Hi David .. Yes the steel lower hull plate can have two good coats the inside of the hull as well !!! but the out side just give a light coat as you well be knocking it around and scratching it as you work on the running gear so after you are just about ready for the tracks to go on you can then give it a good coat of primmer like you did on the inside other wise you will end up with to much primer on the finished produced if you keep primming it all the time whilst you are working on it ...Dale

Robert E Morey · Post by **Robert E Morey** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:37 pm

David,
Congrats on getting a PIII, I'm looking ofrward to seeing your build.

Would love to chat with you about CNC sometime.

Kind regards,
Bob

Sarah Frazer · Post by **Sarah Frazer** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:05 pm

Hi David,

Nice to hear you have a Panzer III on it's way. Mine has turned up now and I'm just working out what mods I am going to do to it. Any ideas yet on what mod's you might do?

Good luck with the build.

Sarah

David Da Costa · Post by **David Da Costa** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:17 pm

Hi Sarah,

Not really, I need to go through the Panzer III thread here again and decide what add on parts I want to order versus the parts that I might make, especially using my CNC machines.

I have already bought/ ordered all the usual books and also currently putting together a Dragon 1/35 Panzer III Ausf L as a further reference.

I would be interested in hearing what mods you decide on.

David

Sarah Frazer · Post by **Sarah Frazer** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:49 pm

Hi David,

I've also been model building, with the Tamiya and Dragon Panzer III's to use as references.

The mod's I'm going to do will include re-profiling the suspension arms so they are round, rather than rectangular. I've also going to cross drill the suspension arm/suspension shaft and insert a roll pin to stop it unscrewing. Then reposition the front return roller mount, maybe reposition the bump stops, but after seeing how little the ones on the Bovington Panzer III are angled I'm not sure if it's worth it. Incidentally there is a noticeable difference in the bump stop angle of the Tamiya and Dragon plastic kits. The Bovington Tiger bump stops are probably closer to the Tamiya kits. I've just got some 3mm steel sheet to make a new front left hand transmission hatch, which will also require enlarging the transmission hatch hole in the front lower deck. Waiting for some 8mm aluminium sheet to redo the rear deck plates. There will be a lot more mod's and additions, but the ones above will keep me busy for a while.

Any ideas of what you intend to do to yours yet?

Regards,

Sarah

David Da Costa · Post by **David Da Costa** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:04 pm

Hi Sarah,

I may re-profile the suspension arms as well, my thoughts are to mill/lathe curved add-on pieces.

I will also be doing most of the things you listed although I think Armortek has now changed the angle of the bump stops as far as I can tell. The earlier builds the stops log vertical but now they are angled.

At the moment I am going to do a basic build of the hull to get everything fitting correctly, then I will disassemble it again and etch prime then rebuild.

I am sure I will have more ideas as I go along. It looks like the Bosch headlights need to be moved from the mudguards to the front plate as they appear to be in the wrong position.

I have ordered some parts from Armorpax as well.

David

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:16 pm

David, Sarah - good luck with your builds. I'll follow with interest, having been down the same road. I've re-visited many of my mods, to add another detail I missed first time round. I'm in the process of disassembling the shocks to incorporate some 55mm rc car shocks to dampen the suspension.

David, if you're interested in accuracy, the Bosch headlights were introduced very late in the production run, from September 1942 and although there is a photo of an Ausf L with Bosch headlights, they were really only found on some Ausf M and most Ausf N. As far as I know, the Bosch headlights were always mounted on the catwalks and never on the hull front upper plate.

Anoraks off.......

Enjoy.

Stephen

Fabrice Le Roux · Post by **Fabrice Le Roux** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:11 pm

Stephen,
Planning on fitting a shock to the gun elevation mechanism to kill off barrel wobble?
cheers, Fabrice

David Da Costa · Post by **David Da Costa** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:54 am

Stephen,

I have 4 55mm car shocks and intend to try the same thing.

I am also going to try to do the gun recoil and xenon flash mod.

Need to research the lights question further, I may be using the Bosch reference incorrectly, what I have seen from quick look at my ref books is that on the mud guards is the Notek light, horn and what looks like to small running lights. On the front plate (term?) are 2 larger headlights. Where as on the Armortek version there are two larger "headlights" on the mud guard only.

David

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:11 am

David, Fabrice, Sarah, Dale - it's great to see the Pz III section have new life brough to it.

The Pz III should be quite lively and I'm hoping the addition of rc shocks will have a smoothing effect on the ride cross country and make for a more scale like ride.

I hadn't considered putting a shock on the gun elevation system but it might be good to do. I certainly find a bouncing gun barrel detracts from the realism of our vehicles but I wonder whether there is sufficient mass in the Pz III barrel for it to bounce. The 88s certainly look as thhough they could do with damping.

David - on headlights, there were indeed two types. The Bosch type have a distinctive horizontal slit and were only fitted to the catwalks. The earlier type were mounted on the upper hull plate as you say. The lights supplied in thre kit are Bosch types (unless Mark has changed them in the second batch). I saw somewhere that builders have used model boat fittings to represent the earlier type but can't remember on which thread.

All the best.

Stephen

Dennis Jones · Post by **Dennis Jones** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:55 pm

Hi Sarah & David, I have just received my P111 kit and have just got the primer from Halfords. Built a King Tiger 1/16th Tamiya kit with sound etc some years ago, but have been building a steam traction engine since then. Very interested to hear your various mods. Am off up to Model Eng Exhibition at Sandown tomorrow to pick up some bits and Loctite I hope.
Look forward to keeping in touch.

Dennis.