The OFFICIAL Panzer III and Its Variants GB

Carl- Loving it... weathering ties the camo together.    Can't wait to see more...

Stik & Rob- I am so fortunate... thanks for making me feel better.  Why?  My household... two boys, two male dogs so my wife is the minority.  Life is good!

Guys- I apologize for being quiet for a while... October and November are busiest time of year for me at work.  Several conferences, annual audit at my office which begins on Monday and it goes on a week, and biannual training I will provide for all deaf & hard-of-hearing providers in the state is coming up in two weeks.  I have worked for more than 30 hours in two days at a deaf conference that ended last night.  So I am happy to be off today and I hope to play with my little Army later. Itchin' to build fourth figure!!!

Later my friends!

Yet another update . Did some more weathering today . This time with the chalks .

Stik ,Hmmmmmm  , we build tanks because we are manly ...............I like it . sound about right to me .  

Rob , I'm out numbered around here also . Wife , 2 female pooches , grand daughter , female governor .................. The chalks were a lot easier than trying to paint that outline .

Panzerwaffe, I have a son, a dog, and one of the cats to help hold the line, but the latter two have been neutered, but there is also a third daughter against us...

a short while ago I completed the tracks for both sides. They are drying now. i will get pics up tomorrow. Now I just need to build and attach the fenders, the last few fiddly bits and she will be ready to commence painting.... 91 links per side...  I am sure glad that is done... the rest should be just fine...

Ha Ha...I know your pain about the estrogen...the wife, daughter, dog, fish all estrogen.  I stand along.

PANZERWAFFE

STIK - Nice clean work on your III.  She is really looking good.  Sounds like your sold on "tracks on, paint on" method.  Your UE looked great so will be nice to see the finish on this one.

Yes I am pretty much sold on it. Especially with the added tip I picked up here of adding pencil graphite highlights to the track metal road contact surfaces using a make up sponge. For this build I was actually able to obtain some make up sponges from the adult females in my household (I am outnumbered 3 to 1 here... oh the estrogen!!! no wonder I'm building more armor lately- it's manly!) I know the postpainting method will not work on non heavy weathered or desert type builds. But it does give me lots of leeway for PTO, ETO, Northwest Africa, Eastern Front, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War Europe... and it did help me finish that UE in record time for me!

STIK - Nice clean work on your III.  She is really looking good.  Sounds like your sold on "tracks on, paint on" method.  Your UE looked great so will be nice to see the finish on this one.

BILL - Has been many years but if my memory is correct; I had silvering on my edges sometimes when making water.  To combat that, with succes, I built a frame around where the water was to be poured and then lined the sides of that frame with wax paper.  The wax paper was easily removed after dry and the result was a nice clear side for the water.  The down side if you rellay looked at the sides, you could see the lines of the different pours but it was better then silvering. 

CARL - Excellent idea using the chalks for the brown outline.  Like how it came out!

I have seen many pictures (authentic ones) with camo on the sides and not on top.  These pictures were both from the Eastern and Western fronts.  This painting method was on several different kinds of tanks.  Not sure why they did this?  Stiks reasoning sounds good.  I had painted my Kingtiger in this manner.

The front track rack looks perfect. 

Bill ....

Well , i was looking at the photo of this tank in my Pz. III book and noticed that it has a spare track rack on the lower glacis plate  . I made the rack from Plastrut and bolt heads from styrene rod . I dont think i will paint it to match the camo behind it , thats going to be hidden by the spare tracks now .

Tis true, indeed

Bill .....its ok , i think that the better we get at re-doing things the better modeler we become .

Stik,,,  thanks Pal          When I do jump into an "indy link" attempt, I may pest you for an update on how-to.....

Carl,,,   good luck on the decal issue.     Sucks that you have to revamp............

Stik , thanks on the camo input , that makes sense to me .........................

Shell, it actually makes sense, if you cant see it from the ground level, no need to camo it. I have seen that manner of camo on other Mk IIIs. Probably done to make the paint go further in the unit. In low rolling or flat terrain as much of the Russian campaign took place in, it makes sense. Too bad those turret numbers are gonna have to be redone. God bless the decal spares bin

Bill. I first did those indy links back in the 80s on Tamiya's Kfz 250 "Grief" and later when Dragon started their line with the BMP-2. I have never cared for them, but if you want certain subjects built, you have no choice. I try to avoid them where ever possible! But they have been the root cause of many extended armor builds of mine. That is the point in the build where I tend to lose interest and move to something else.

Well i just noticed a couple of mistakes . First the picture i referred to is in "Pz. III in action " . Then after looking at that pic i noticed the numbers should be "421" . Thats also the number shown on the box art . I was misled by the instruction sheet which call for "401" . "421' is also on the kit decal sheet . I will have to go with them even though they are also more orange than red due to i do not have numbers without the white border in my spares . More later after i get this mess resolvewd .

Put the decals on the turret skirting todat . They look orange ........................so i'll be peeling them off and replacing them from my spares .

Stik,,   understood. Your efforts (previous and current) give me some juice to tackle the indy links,,,  I have a few sets but have not yet sprouted the giblets to tackle them.

Stik , thanks man . As the camo is now on the vertical  and angled surfaces is how my instructions and the box art show it ......................but that really looks strange to me . Seems like the horizontal surfaces should be camo'd also . The picture of this tank in Panzer Colors doesnt give me a whole lot more info to go by either , so i hope the camo i'm putting on is correct . 

Bill, that style has made the indy link builds more tolerable for me. Aside from the sheer tedium of removing each link from the sprue, then cleaning it up, fititng together small runs... blah blah blah, you get the picture... painting  in the manner of base colors, before its all completed, was the second major PITA there. using this newly learned technique has made it far more simple to build it all, then paint it up after the fact. I know it wont work on cases such as a desert build where the mud is out and base colors of track and suspension components will show thru the dusting, no matter how heavy of dust due to the light shade of the weathing colors, but at least it lets me tackle my European, Asian, and Oceana battlefield AFV kits that have indy tracks in a reasonable manner.

Shell, that camo is looking outstanding! tha is one of my favorite patterns ever since I first saw it in Panzer Colors many years ago. Are you only going to camo the vertical side and angled surfaces and leave the upper horizontal ones in Dark Yellow?

Tojo72

Looking real good Carl

Thank you  I'm about to go back to the bench ...........................Just gotta get my cup of coffee .................

Looking real good Carl

Carl,,     agreed, weathering / blending etc. will certainly be a plus. And the burnt umber wash looks great too..  

Stik,,   roger that,,,,,  I do recall the UE and the success you had with that method,,

Scott,,     enjoy your birthday.....     happy 48th

Thanks Chaz .

Happy birthday .

Sorry , 48 is still 48 yrs OLD ......................

That smilie factory is cool ....................

Shell, WOW! One day I............... That camo looks dead on to me. Though I'm still in a fog courtesy of the pain meds. Still I think it is very close.

What great work guys. I have gotten alot done on the Stug. About 95%. I will post pictures when I get back from a little weekend getaway to Manchester, Vermont with my wife. Were celebrating my birthday (Nov. 5th, The big 48. Is that middle age or is it the new 28? LOL! I picked out the Panzer III E for my next victim. Its a Dragon kit marking the 70 anniversary of the Blitz/invasion of France. I also picked up the Dragon tank crew for the same. Lots of pre build pictures to follow on Monday hopefully.

Hey Andy, This is how smileys are made:

 Have a good night.

Scott

Andy thanks . Its not an exact copy of the box art , but close enough. I did some more washes with the burnt umber oil .......man i like this stuff .

Stik- LOL!  Good one about the Martian heat ray.  I am with you... dig the boxiness of Panzer III and of course IV too. 

Carl- L-O-V-E the camo!   Just like the box art like you said.  After weathering it ll look even better as usual.  

Malone- No need to resist... go ahead and start your next 3 now.

Stik- LOL!  Good one about the Martian heat ray.  I am with you... dig the boxiness of Panzer III and of course IV too. 

Carl- L-O-V-E the camo!   Just like the box art like you said.  After weathering it ll look even better as usual.  

Malone- No need to resist... go ahead and start your next 3 now.

Bill, the tracks will be all glued in place by the time that I get to painting. I am going to use the same method that I used on my UE Carrier over in the Battle of France GB.

(I had to edit this posting- the original was successfully done from my new cell phone, but the print was so tiny I could not see the errors, but hey, now I can post from anywhere...)

BaBill212

I think it looks pretty good really,,,                    in my most humble opinion that is

Thanks Bill I think weathering will improve its looks anyway .

Stik,,,  I wanted to ask,,,,  you have the track segments glued on, correct?    Or are they going to be removed for painting?

Your pz is looking very sweet ... ...  ....

I think it looks pretty good really,,,                    in my most humble opinion that is