Armortek

Hi all. last Thursday my P III arrived, two boxes 20 of 24 kg and 25Kg. The UPS guy said he was thankful that i was at home otherwise he'd have had to take the boxes back to his van.

First job was to unpack it all and put the bits into large ex-kitchen drawers. After that it was cup of tea time and a chance to look through the build manual.
It was a good job I did. I usually put the fasteners into their own little parts drawers so i can find them easily but looking through the manual I found that would have a serious consequence. So, beware builders, the M3 X 8 and M3 x 10 cap head screws that hold the Drive case CL0114 onto the side walls are High tensile screws and should not be confused with 'ordinary' screws.

Anyway, as a break from my armoured car I started putting the basic hull together while watching the news, local news and One Show on thursday evening. (The truth is that I was excited to get my P3). The Floor, suspension bar CL109 and sides went together well but the sides are only held on by a single M6 X 35 screw at this point and until Page 11 when the Running Gear is fitted. this meant that the sides were free to move like the jaws of a crocodile and , I though, would make handling difficult. So my temporary solution was to fit some extra M6 x 40 bolts washers and nuts to each side. This would make everything secure and square for fitting other bits.

TIP .On page 2 it shows to fit the Rear P_late CL0104. BEFORE you do put an M x 16 CSK screw into the countersunk hole at the bottom of the side plate. This is one of four that holds CL0116 Idler Spigot to the side plate, alternatively fit CL0116 before CL0104.
So, over a few days, while watching the news and occasional Big Bang theory, or an afternoon's worth in 'The Man cave' I've got to Stage 4 as you can see in the following Images. All done on my small camping table in front of the Haunted Fish tank.
This is going to be a slow build as I've got a RR Armoured car to build as well, that's in my alternate workshop, and I've just found a received a 1 35th scale Crib for a MK.IV, so I'm using that scaled up for my Mk.IV.

One thing I forgot to mention:

It is nice to see that Armortek and Armorpak have combined their forces. The latter's Jack, Wire Cutters and Shovel are included in the Kit.
Hopefully this collaboration is a sign of things to come where Dave Dibbs can make Parts in resin and/or white metal that Kian and his team of machinists find hard or impossible to replicate due to the limitations of their machines.

I personally would accept an increase in price if Armorpax parts were included as standard in Armourtek kits in those instances, for example the Armorpax Pistol Ports and Aerial Base which are easier to make in resin or white metal than they are to machine.

Armortek have included Armorpax parts for quite a while now - going back to at least the Comet in 2010 if not before.

Adrian.

Thanks Adrian, didn't know that (as you can see from my post).
Only kits I've had so far in a Mk.IV, Quad (still in the process of build), RR armoured car and now the P III.
None of the others appeared to have had Armorpax items included so that is why I was pleased to see them in the P III.

Sorry Armortek, I'll slap my wrist

Wow Pete, you don't waste any time!

Glad there is someone else with a 2018 build ongoing to compare notes, I will watch with interest.
Perhaps you could see if you have issue with barrel fit and finish that I am experiencing

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7167#p61861

Cheers
Oli

Should be cutting grass, but......
temperature is 24.7 in the shade, not a cloud in the sky and in danger of getting sunburn, especially on my bald patch. So doing P III bits on the patio

After about 5 1/2 hours work 006 is in the following state.
The hull top is not fastened on and the idlers haven't got their tyres on because everything is going bto have a coat of etch Primer when the major parts have been built.

Now it back to work indoors on the RR armoured car wheels

Good progress Pete, thanks for update

Hi fellow Panzer III builders

here's a heads up with some fettling and slight modifications that you might consider having to do on the Turret.
As a respite from fitting spokes for double back wheel of the Armoured car (its a birds nest) I thought I might start on something bigger, the P III turret.

I found that when assembled the loading hatches, CD0418 and Hinges CL0436 didn't close flush with the turret sides. See second Image. (I know that they are held together with a set screw-its the same diameter as the pin so makes no overall difference).

Out came the calipers and I found that the trough for the hinges are 3.25mm deep while the shoulder of the hinge CL04136 is 5.4mm high, a difference of 2.2mm. Not being a fan of filing in this weather I used my milling machine to shave off the excess, reasoning that if I took off too much i could shim it back to level with slips of paper., as you can see from the first image.

Be careful not to remove too much metal though people.

A lesson in the over enthusiastic use of a Birmingham Screwdriver, no matter what size: or how not to be Stoopid!

`The M10 X 20 Pin and Gun Pivot were reluctant to fit into the Gun base CL0408, to I decided a LITTLE encouragement was required, then a LITTLE more, Then a LITTLE again......disaster, it suddenly decided it did not like being hit on the head so disappeared completely into the Gun Base

So chaps, beware, put the pin in the Gun Pivot not the gun base. Fortunately I MAY be able to drill into the pin as it appears to be mild steel instead of chromed like the other pins and tap it so i can use a set screw to pull it out.

I an glad to say it worked

Decided that the grass wasn't growing so sat on the Patio and did a bit more on '06'
I'd done a bit of pre-building so I could prime the hull prior to giving it a coat of RAL7028 to fitting tyres, a bit too much as it happened.
I wanted to fit the torsion bars and came up against the first problem. So for those of you who haven't got this far yet (Page 8 Road Wheel Assembly) here is where I went wrong. So don't make the same mistakes i did.

!. The front right drive sprocket got in the way of fitting the foremost torsion bar and road wheel assembly. I had to remove it.
2. Do not try and fit torsion bars and road wheel assemblies to one side of your tank and then tyhe other. You HAVE to do them in pairs.
Washer CL0223 partially obscures the adjacent assembly's M6 X 25 CSK screw! To be on the safe side, put the CSK screw in place before passing the Road wheel assembly through the hull. Once in place there is clearance to tighten them with an allen key.

Hi Pete

Even though I don't have a Panzer III I am still following your progress. Actually I love reading all build logs. I learn so many things and get so many ideas from them. Keep it up.

Vince

Hi Vince

Thanks for your kind remark. have you got any Armortek tanks?

Pete

Slowly building a 2017 Tiger 1.

Vince