The OFFICIAL Panzer III and Its Variants GB

Eric- Thanks buddy!  Will keep you posted...

Shellback

Andy , that weathering on your Stug is an inspiration man !

Carl- Happy to have you stop by!  Glad you liked the weathering... thanks!!!   Still planning few more surprises...

Processing along with the Late production J . dry fitting upper hull sections, noted extra armor plates in the front, trop filters on engine deck, only placing gun barrel (MG) since that will only be seen once completed. Fenders are assembled ... now the question, should I install the magic track now before the installing fenders or finish installing fenders and upper hull, paint then come back to the track? .... had some issues with the early J installing the magic track after painting ....   Armor86.

Jmart-  Your Pz III J has great details... they look more sharper than the older kits.

Answer to your question it depends... I find it easier to paint Magic Tracks before I had them installed but that was for Marder with fewer wheels.  I think you can make it work as long as you don't glue the wheels yet until the tracks are in.

ok , first sorry for the two pictures, my first time posting a picture.  this is the Panzer i think i will build for this group build.....

Steve- WOW!  Another Dragon Imperial build!!!   It has to be a new record for Imperial kits to be build for a GB?  Bet Dupes knows the answer. 

I am glad you got it figured out how to post pictures.  Hope DoogsATX instructions I sent helped? 

Looking forward to this!

I don't know for SURE, but odds are that we're in the running, anyway. Helps that a large percentage of the Imperial Series kits were Panzer III chassis-based!

That kinda inspires me to pull out the StuG III F/8 i started for the StuG GB... That was an Imperial too...

Cheers M/TB379

Hello lads,.

The usual quick Saturday update:

Assembly is now complete. The wheels have been assembled and nicely chipped up with the Dremel tool (I'd like to get a 'hub' that is missing all the rubber-I've seen some in Resin and they look good on a tatty old build).

I got the right RB barrel which currently is dry-fitted and looks perfect. The Mantlet is fitted along with the antennae 'trough' with fiddly PE things to stand it on! I've put a short run of fuse wire between the Notek and headlight and replaced the side handles with Brass wire - a BIG improvement!

Tomorrow I'll be assembling the Friuls adding the links of T34 style late tracks on the the front plate - I saw a photo of a StuG G with these fitted and the big spiked guide horns looked great. I'll use the Friul links as additional armour around the Mantlet.

I'm planning to build a VERY battered old tub - as you'll see I've left part of a Fender missing along with a headlight. I'm thinking lot's of chipping, battle damage, rust - you know what I mean! 

If you look at the StuH 10.5cm on page one with Zimmerit (I ordered one of these today btw) which I think Panzerwaffe built I want to make my model also have that dark grey unpainted finish - any suggestions? What colour should this be?

Also, would this vehicle, having originally been an early war StuG, be grey underneath? I could do with finding out as this will affect the chipping.

I'll be getting some paint on her soon but I might wait and paint the tools up first as week commencing 21st May I've got the week off work and my folks are away so I can airbrush to my hearts content in the house and not the workshop!

Here we are so far - Friuls tomorrow:

Thanks for looking guys,

I hope you like her so far, I know I do!

I'd love to hear what you think re the barrel colour and the colour beneath the basecoat - primer red or grey?

Thanks chaps,

Ben  

Thunderbolt379

That kinda inspires me to pull out the StuG III F/8 i started for the StuG GB... That was an Imperial too...

Cheers M/TB379

TB379- Glad it helped!  Please do not hesitate to post your WIP here if you want.  It may help you finish it since I am working on my F/8 too.  Is it an old imperial kit too? 

Dupes- I will go back and count how many Imperial kits we have built when I have the chance.  Makes sense now about Pz III chassis!  Thanks buddy!

Ben- Your StuG is looking real good... love those RB barrels!   No question about it!!!  Nice touch adding wire to the Notek lamp.  Unpainted Panzer Grey?  Which paint do you use... ever you thought about doing color modulation or maybe post-shading since you want to make it look like a battered old tub?  I think post-shading will work better than pre-shading this time... just make sure to add alot of thinner when you do post-shading!

Promise I won't tell your parents about airbrushing inside the house...

Hi matey boy!

First off I was thinking that this being a Stug C or D would it have started life painted in German Grey or DY or would they have started over and primed her? As I'll be doing a lot of chipping I need to be accurate!

Also, I'm planning on NOT painting the barrel i.e. look at the StuH on the gallery on page one - what colour do I or should I use to make this effective and get the colour right?

I'm going to try one of them AK Modulation sets but want to see how you get on first? I'm not too sure if it's something I'll get into but I will try it. I'm undecided on pre or post shade as yet, maybe both!

The barrel looks KILLER now I have the right one! The kit barrel halves have 4 sprue connection points so lots of clean up needed but I had a real go at making it up. it was okay buy massively overscale on the muzzle brake.

Cheers for not telling the parents btw!

All the best,

Ben  (my smilies won't work)!

Hello everyone.  All you guys are STILL doing awesome work!!!!!

Ben, just sent you a PM about the barrel but real quick, my base coat was MM Engine Gray.  Will let you describe the details to everyone if you decide to go the route of the changed out barrel color

Now your question with the original base color and having it show through by chipping the new base color think you could go a few ways.  When re-painting in the field, they would maybe just clean the surface the best they could and then apply new paint meaning that the original Gray would show through if chipped.  Even if the vehicle went back to the factory for repair they often would not strip the whole vehicle down to re-paint it.  They would only strip the area that was being repaired do the repair, re-prime that area, clean the remainder of the vehicle and then repaint the whole vehicle with the new color.  This still means you could have some of the original gray showing but also some newer primer showing also.  It would be harder to chip the paint and wear it out if it was applied at the factory though.  The prep and cleaning process of the vehicle would be far better allowing the new paint to adhere better and the paint would have been baked on making it stronger.  So the answer is what ever you would like and what would work best for what you want to represent.  I think it would look pretty good with some old gray showing through as if the newer DY was field applied.  Thats my opinion anyway.  Best of luck and look forward to your continued progress

Andy -- it's the red-side box, I'm pretty sure that's Imperial. I'm considering switching its Ostketten onto the Tamiya StuH 42 to go with the winter scheme, as that may make sense (I've seen Dragon's StuH 42 with them) and use the Tamiya standard tracks on the Dragon for a non-winter scheme... I have some Echelon decals which were for the G but the instructions featuired an F/8, so I'm wondering if I might bring over those markings -- an interesting green squiggle scheme. Either that or set up something in Panzer Grey, which I have not yet done...

Cheers, M/TB379

TB- Sounds like a good plan swtiching tracks.  Love those Echelon decals... it worked GREAT on my Marder II earlier.

Guys- I mentioned John (ogrejohn), Steve (the dude) and I have gone to AMPS 2012 in Auburn last week.  I thought you would enjoy some pictures I took and they are stored in my Photobucket folder.

http://s713.photobucket.com/albums/ww137/aleffler/AMPS%20Auburn%202012/ 

There were plenty of great built armors and dioramas!

Another update on the non-Imperial Dragon (2 in 1 Smart kit) kit no. 6394 - Late Pz III Ausf. J - spaced armor version. Upper hull is assembled with both fenders, had some fitting issues when attaching the fenders to the hull, sanding resolved most issues. I will add electric cables to front lights, which I did on the early J smart kit as well. Believe the recent smart kit 'Ausf. E/F has the cable runs. Painted some of the hull to check seams and filled the hard to get to spaces, i.e. air intakes. Left the subject line alone this time. sorry about that. Armor86

deafpanzer

Ben- Your StuG is looking real good... love those RB barrels!   No question about it!!!  Nice touch adding wire to the Notek lamp.  Unpainted Panzer Grey?  Which paint do you use... ever you thought about doing color modulation or maybe post-shading since you want to make it look like a battered old tub?  I think post-shading will work better than pre-shading this time... just make sure to add alot of thinner when you do post-shading!

Promise I won't tell your parents about airbrushing inside the house...

Cheers Andy,

Hi guys,

Very quiet on here so far today? I've made a start on the Friuls which have been a real PITA but making progress, albeit slow!

All the road wheels have been put on spikes and will be painted with my rubber mix prioer to painting the hubs using the Quickwheel Mask

I've run half complete in a quich hour and a half session this evening and the remainder I'll finish tomorrow.

They look nice with the solid guide horns imo.

Thanks for looking guys,

Hopefully come this time tomorrow she'll have some shoes on!

Take care,

Ben

armor86-  Nice process on ur Pz III!   Never thought about applying black paint inside and under the vents!  I am so glad you are doing this so we can close that Ausf J Late gap!!!

Ben- I want to marry your fruils!  I brought two sets few weeks ago.    Nice stash from AK and Tamiya!  I have been thinking about buying the DVDs too... maybe captions are not that important as long as Mig shows what he is using.  And I can always ask my wife to come over and tell me what he was saying.  How long is the video?

I see you have AK Earth effect... is it like mud wash? 

I remember you using those Track Black on your Tiger earlier and it was AWESOME.   Looks like you can use it for at least two or three tracks?  

Yeah I have been quiet over the weekend because I HAD to work both days raising money for local Deaf school.  I was assistant chair and I think we have raised more than $10,000 for the school and deaf students.  It made me feel so good despite hurting knee right now.  

deafpanzer

Ben- I want to marry your fruils!  I brought two sets few weeks ago.    Nice stash from AK and Tamiya!  I have been thinking about buying the DVDs too... maybe captions are not that important as long as Mig shows what he is using.  And I can always ask my wife to come over and tell me what he was saying.  How long is the video?

I see you have AK Earth effect... is it like mud wash? 

I remember you using those Track Black on your Tiger earlier and it was AWESOME.   Looks like you can use it for at least two or three tracks?  

Yeah I have been quiet over the weekend because I HAD to work both days raising money for local Deaf school.  I was assistant chair and I think we have raised more than $10,000 for the school and deaf students.  It made me feel so good despite hurting knee right now.  

Hi Andy,

Great result on raising this money - $10,000 for the deaf school! Well done my friend

• The Friuls that I used on my Tiger were treated with the AK stuff that comes in a single bottle - the blue stuff from 'Eschi'. It acts more like Blacken It and literally 'blackens' the track links. I used some MIG Rust Wash brushed liberally over it to give the final appearance and scraped it with a file where I wanted bare metal to show.

http://www.emodels.co.uk/plastic-kits/interactive-metal-burnishing-fluid-00159-p-34156.html

• The Friuls that I'm using on this StuG will be treated with a product that my buddy Tim sells. He owns a small company called TI Hobbies and he sells 'Track Black' (see link). It comes in 3 bottles that must be used in a special sequence and the tracks dipped in each solution for an exact time. The final bottle (blue) makes the reaction take place and the links take on a more rusted look as opposed to a black colour. This can be used 2-3 times depending on track length and size of the links. I've used it one so it should be fine to do these small Pz III links.

http://www.modelarmour.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1197:ti-hobbies-blacktracks&catid=38:books&Itemid=60

I'd give the AK stuff a go first and see what you think Andy?

Re the AK Earth - it is called a 'wash' but I'd never cover a whole vehicle in it-it would be ruined! Ideal for effects around wheels etc and it's the stuff that I used loaded on a paintbrush and blasted on the sides of the Tiger with the Airbrush as 'spatter'.

The DVD is 60 minutes long and is split into sections filters, washes, fading, streaking Grime and Rust. There is also Splashed Dry Mud section, Fresh Mud, Rainmarks and Oil and Grease.

He shows you exactly what he is using and says 'that is a Filter' and 'that is a Wash' etc. What he calls a filter or wash are different to what we would call them. It's very good.

I bought it new for £10 so you should look into it matey!

Take care buddy,

Ben

Hinksy - StuG G looking great - I would primer hull grey and inside road wheels primer red. 

Panzer III Ausf J 'Late' (Vorpanzer) - Weekly update, working the smaller details on the upper hull. Electric wire between the Notek and headlights / horn. Installed engine intakes PE grill, Front shield (spaced add-on armor) not sure if I will install the top and side plates, some vehicle have them others don't. Starting to research the vehicle and where extra tools, storage rack, boxes, sandbags and supplies. Finishing 21 Panzer-Division Regiment 5, Libya, mid 1942. base coat of RAL 8000 with a disruptive pattern of RAL 7008, Armor86

Ben- Thanks!  I will look into AK DVDs when I have the chance.  Looking forward to your weekend update.  You have turned into wBill... weekend updates only.

Armor86- Love those extra armor on Vorpanzer!  I have Pz IV but not a Pz III but one day I will when I see a good deal.   Nice touch adding wirings to the lamps.  Not just wirings but clamps to hold down the wirings too!   

Hi guys,

Nice looking build so far Armour86! The wiring always always adds that little extra and when you've mastered it you can do both sides in minutes - it's pretty fiddly the first few times.

I should add clamps to mine (still could) as it's a very nice touch. I only had to add one on mine with the right fender missing!

Andy - Weekends only dude for now as work eats all my week time and you know I can only sit down to build on Saturday and Sunday. It suits me fine though as it really gives me something to look forward to and stops burnout.

I do have the week commencing 21st May on holiday so will be hoping to get her near completion (maybe)!

As you know the ab is secretly coming into the house as the folks are away that week too (the reasonI took that week off) so you should see some nice paintwork. It's not so easy airbrushing in the workshop but at least it's heated and is like a posh garage! A bit cramped though! I bought a spinning spray base to put my build on so I can spin her around whilst spraying so hopefully no more fingerprint marks! I'm really bad for that!

Update this weekend

Ben

Hi guys,

I'll just give a quick update.

I've been out for a lot of the day visiting family etc so when I got back I completed the entire right hand run of Friuls completed and made a start on the second which I'll finish tomorrow.

As I've said before I'm on holiday week commencing 21st May (my parents are off to France that week too) so I'll be hitting this StuG hard that week and looking to get some serious work done and I'll definately be looking to start the weathering stages by the middle of that week 

You might have noticed that a suspension arm has broken off  (right hand side second arm in from the back) so that wheel will have to glued on with CA - no problem. The arms that fit in the wheel holes are waaay too big and need filing down to make them smaller and I tried opening the holes in the wheels out a bit too but one just would not come out and broke off but if that's the worst that happens then I'll be very happy!

My friend Tony from Soth Africa is sending me a couple of rims without rubber which will help with that battered, war-weary rust-bucket look!

Saggy Friuls looking good! There are 93 links used here but I might lose one yet :

I love Friuls but HATE assembling them - once the other run is out of the way then I'm going to be flying with this build!

Where is everyone elses updates by the way? Lazy sods!

Updates to come but I'm interested to see what everyone else is doing!

Take care and thanks guys,

All the best,

Ben

Hinsky -- I had a suspension axle snap on a shelf-queen I'm finishing for No More Excuses, and plan to reattach it by drilling and pinning with brass -- hopefully that'll suffice, but they're non-rotating wheels anyway so a direct glue joint is also on the cards.

Looking great, one day I must try Friuls myself!

I got back to my StuH 42 yesterday and mated the superstructure roof. I'm trying to decide if I should order a generic waffle zim set to dress up the beast a bit more, the set designed for the kit turns out to be only a half-sheet and doesn't provide anything for the lower flanks or rear deck. Still, fitting it in among the detail might be a bit of a nightmare... We'll see.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Ben- Tracks looking great.   I am with you... I think you should take one link out and it will look just right as those StuGs didn't have too much stag.  Can't complain while dealing with Friuls because I know they are a lot easier than ModelKasten or Magic Tracks. 

I had to work over the weekend AGAIN... April and May are busiest time at the office with so many deaf events throughout out of the state of Indiana for me to attend and promote my program.  

Mike- Looking forward to the update of your StuH!  Waffle zimm always look great!

Hi guys,

I had my weekly relax in bed this morning, had Sunday Dinner with the folks then went for the daily calorie burner on the bike.

I'm not going to show you a photo of several short lengths of Friuls as I'm sure you all know what they look like now so:

I'm VERY glad to be able to tell you that the StuG is now primed! As you can see from the previous photos the barrel sits in a little 'cup' that comes with the barrel. This cup pushes into the Mantlet hole and, as I found out, was there to stay as it was a really tight fit! The barrel is dry fitted so only the exposed parts of the metal are primed which means when dry the barrel can be removed as it's going to painted in a very dark primer grey colour to add a bit of variety.

For the first time I decided not to use rattlecan primer as, unless you are very careful, one shot from the can too hard totally kills the small details so I bought some Vallejo Polyurethane Acrylic Primer in a 17ml dropper bottle (I only bought a small bottle as I wanted to test it before commiting to something larger). I'm going to buy two bigger bottles now, one in Primer Red and one in Grey as this stuff is EXCELLENT - primer through the airbrush is superb and gives a lovely even but thin coating that doesn't affect any detail. The option of various colours is a real  too!

Primed StuG III & Wheels:

Now back to the remaining Friuls and now the priming is out of the way I can start the painting and really get stuck in during my week off which starts a week tomorrow on the 21st! Woohoo! 

A tip for any 'Friul Newbies': You'll find that you pretty much always have to use a pin vise and 0.5mm drill bit to open the holes in the links up to allow the wire to be pushed through. Always just leave enough drill bit sticking out so that when you drill through and hits the base of the drill bit where it clamps up (the chuck) leave just enough drill poking out to drill clean through but not too much to drill all the way through - this way you get the perfect depth and don't have to worry about guesswork.

My next update will hopefully show this beast with a basecoat on!

Take care and have a good week guys,

All the best,

Ben

WOW!  It looks great after its primer job.   I am so glad I bought few bottles of Vallejo primer at show few weeks ago.  Can't wait to try them! 

Do you celebrate Mother's Day out there because its today here in USA?  Spent most of day at my wife's mother helping with the yard work.  I volunteered to clean the gutters... real dirty job but it really needed it because plants can be seen growing out of the gutters. LOL

deafpanzer

WOW!  It looks great after its primer job.   I am so glad I bought few bottles of Vallejo primer at show few weeks ago.  Can't wait to try them! 

Do you celebrate Mother's Day out there because its today here in USA?  Spent most of day at my wife's mother helping with the yard work.  I volunteered to clean the gutters... real dirty job but it really needed it because plants can be seen growing out of the gutters. LOL

It's great stuff Andy, no doubt about it. It just lightly mists on and doesn't kill the fine detail. Compared to rattlecan it's VERY cheap too! I only had the little 17ml droper bottle full to try and poured a small amount in the ab cup and it covered the StuG and wheels with some to spare-even these small bottles could keep going for a long while! I want some Red primer now too!

Yup, we have Mothers Day here too btw but it was on March 18th so already gone. It should be the same day worldwide imo - as long as it falls on a Sunday. I love my Mum

Have a good day matey!

Ben

Hinksy, StuG looks great with primer, I too I'm looking forward to painting ... used Vallejo primer / paint and always get good results ... 

Added some additional protection to the front hull ... sand bags from the Tank Workshop set, due to the spaced armor plate I needed to modified its fit using some green putty to fill gaps. Didn't have the camera for pictures and used the cell phone camera. Armor86

Ben- Thanks for the info about the primer.  Mothers Day in March?  Is that little early if its still cold out there in England?  Looking forward to your big updates as I recall you have a holiday coming up.  

Armor86- Love those sandbags!  They sure look more realistic than the old Tamiya sand bags set for sure!  I need to check it out... who sells those?  Or can I order directly from the Tank Workshop? 

Guys- Finally a little update on my StuG.  May has been a VERY busy month for me as I have been working on every weekend due to many community events where my company is having a booth to promote our service.  

I really like AK Interactive products... used the Rust Streak wash.  Just little on the bolts or scratches/dents where they usually rust first. 

Can't wait to bring it across the finish line so I can attack Pz III Ausf K next...