Thanks, Gamera. You could probably build for three years and you still wouldn't have all the variants completed!

Jack, sorry to hear that you have one of the old kits. I read about all the supposed "inaccuracies" of that kit. Lots of little things to be sure; I'm not sure how m any of them were "nitpicky" or not.

Personally, I have no interest in "workable" suspensions when they require such levels of complexity, but I can see where they would work of you're a diorama enthusiast.

Thanks for looking in!

Nice kit and conversion set, Karl! Looking forward to seeing finished product.

looks interesting so far Karl, but less talk and more action man...

let's see more progress man.

Just kidding man!

Thanks, Panzerjaeger and Phaisal!

More updates right now!! :)

OK, guys--well, in between getting my stupid taxes together, I've managed to make progress on the interior---and thank dog, too, because I want to get moving on assembly, but I couldn't do that until I get the interior finished.

A word on the interior painting: a well-known internet document states that the entire lower fighting compartment area should be a gray-green color. However, in every reference photo I could find--and I scoured the internet and my decent reference library--I found that the walls and floors of the driver's compartment seemed to be that off-white color. I decided to go with that. Even if it's technically wrong, in my world, it looks like the photos that I am seeing all over the place of white walls/floors. That's good enough for me.

I mixed up that "Elfenbein" color from Tamiya White + a tiny dollop of Buff and one ant's wet-fart of Yellow.The transmission and engine is craft store acrylic Folk Art #2500 "Greenscape", with Wilder filter "Dark Blue Filter" on top, and then some lightening with the Greenscape+Tan to give depth.

I added some more bolts and detailed the front hull wall some more.

And that's it for tonight! I'll be getting back to the building as soon as I can. Thanks for looking in guys, and for following along!

Looks TASTY man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice.

That looks really god in there Karl.

I don't recall reading of the interiors being a grey green. Which is this internet document of which you speak.

I'll third that, looks scrumptious!

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Likely research from Hilary Doyle and Tom Jentz about the interior colours.  There is some description of their findings here:

http://byrden.com/panzers/Colours/index.html

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

I'll third that, looks scrumptious!

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I'll have to fourth that!

That's the stuff I like to see.

Thanks, guys! I appreciate the thumbs-ups!

Bish, the document, cited in several forums and places, is HERE. It states:

   "In the lower interior of the tank, the grey-green covered just about everything. Transmission boxes and other modules, which were perhaps manufactured separately, were ordered to be delivered in grey-green. Torsion bars, levers, transmission shafts, floor panels (yes, top AND bottom surfaces) storage boxes, etc. were painted uniformly grey-green."

So that has rather confused me because it seems to say that the whole lower part of the tank was painted in that color? The part about "floor panels'...unless I'm reading it wrong...?

I've found some color photos where the transmission seemed a more bluish color, so I went with that in my tank.

jgeratic

I'll third that, looks scrumptious!

---------------------------

Likely research from Hilary Doyle and Tom Jentz about the interior colours.  There is some description of their findings here:

http://byrden.com/panzers/Colours/index.html

regards,

Jack

Dunno if it's accurate or not but everything looks really good to me!

Funny, I was looking up some stuff about the engine compartment of a Panther recently and most people said primer red but Toadman's site had a pile of photos with the interior parts the same blue-greyish colour.

Gamera

Dunno if it's accurate or not but everything looks really good to me!

Funny, I was looking up some stuff about the engine compartment of a Panther recently and most people said primer red but Toadman's site had a pile of photos with the interior parts the same blue-greyish colour.

Sheesh! I know---it can be so frustrating and confusing! There seems to be no consistent patterning with the few unrestored examples that we have left! I've spent literally days scouring everything I could to get an idea, and went with a tennuous decision that this was acceptable for what era and make I've got. I think it's a tad "blue" in the photos, but it's more "green" in real life. It should look good with the Panzer Grey exterior though.

Hey Karl, yeah that's right, Cliff, Gamera, doesn't matter to me.

I went though about five-six sites and the photos showed the grey so that's what I went with. At least it's not as bad as early war Zero fighters- I've read about a dozen sources and no one can agree on whether they were painted light grey, light brown, light green, etc, etc, etc...  

Thanks for those links guys, I have never come across this before. Doyle and Jentz do seem to uncovere quite a bit before unknown information about German armour, the issue with the Sd.Kfz 251/3 springs to mind. But as much as I respect there work, I do have to wonder how after 60 years they suddenly come across this info that all others have missed before. he even goes so far as to say they have only found one vehicle to have had RAL 1001 inside.

I am also a bit unnerved by there Xtracolor roundup. I like realism but I think they are being a bit to picky here.

Very nice,that really came alive nicely.

While it looks pretty clean, here is a Panzer III transmission in grey-green (RAL 7009) at Panzermuseum Munster:

With the requisite grease and grime, I'd say you nailed it Karl.

Thanks, Tojo! I appreciate it!

Ixion

While it looks pretty clean, here is a Panzer III transmission in grey-green (RAL 7009) at Panzermuseum Munster:

With the requisite grease and grim, I'd say you nailed it Karl.

Thanks for that great pic--I hadn't seen that before. I appreciate it all the more because it gives me peace-of-mind to see the similarity in color...thank you!!!

Great find there Ixion, nice to have more conformation on the grey primer or paint or whatever it is.

Here is another shot of it;

It looks a bit more bluish here. RAL 7009 Grey-Green is / was a common color paint used on various industrial equipment in Germany. Railroad electrical towers, junction boxes, motors, pumps, etc., are still painted in this color, although it tends to look more greenish.

IMHO, this looks more like RAL 7031 Blaugrau (blue-grey), but theoretically it should be RAL 7009.

Cool, thanks again, Ixion!!

So, a little bit of progress here--I spent some time detailing and painting the interior of the upper hull. I had to build a framework around the driver's hatch, as quite strangely they don't provide any deail of this area at all.?!!? It's not 100% spot on correct but it looks the part. I could have added a lot more--flanges on the joints, and a strip/rail below the driver's viewing port, but it would have blocked the view of the pedals and floor area even more.

I decided to leave one maintenance hatch open just to show off a little. The assembly of the armored plates on the front was a litle complicated, but the hull is joined now.. FINALLY!

I still have quite a bit of detailing on the upper hull to do before I even tackle the interior of the turret. I think I may skip ahead a bit and save those PE tool holders for when the turret is drying..Soldiering on here...

You have me drooling here Karl. That looks so cool already. The stuff you added to the interior is just gorgeous!

the doog

Have you considered opening up one or both of the vision ports?

the doog

... I think I may skip ahead a bit and save those PE tool holders for when the turret is drying...

Wimp... 

Don

She's coming along great there!

a lot of interior covered up. It's what can be seen through the hatches is what counts though 

Looking really good there Karl, some nice extra detailing.

Splendid work, Karl.

Re the Dragon Sherman bogies: newer issues have bogies that are made up of 18 parts each, IIRC,  and tedious beyond belief to assemble. The end result is "probably" worth it.  They've also gone to DS tracks with separate guide horns, not too bad, and ala your MBT70 adventure, joined in an obvious way. However, they need shortening, anyway, so I generally cut out the nasty part and re-attach them by cutting exactly in the middle of the two blocks to be joined. Works great.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what are DS tracks?