The OFFICIAL Panzer III and Its Variants GB

Geist:  Looks great!  The weathering looks good to me.  Lucky you having the time available to build.  I'll be interested to see how the figures turn out but so far they look good.

Was able to get a little time at the bench tonight and thanks to a newly installed window AC unit, should be able to work a little more often now. 

I had to do a little work on a small dimple, from where the part attached to the tree, just aft of the manlet will be placed.  Two applications of a little Mr. Surfacer 500 did the trick to hide the dimple without the seam disappearing. 

Still waiting for my Etchmate 3C to arrive.  Said it arrived in Indianapolis today at 3:40 so hopefully it'll be here tomorrow and I can start on the fenders. 

A little interior color was shot this evening using a mixture of Tamiya white and buff.  Let me know what you think of the color (too dark etc.) since I have a problem seeing colors correctly due to a color deficiency in my eyes.  My lighting isn't very good for pictures and the colors are actually a little lighter in person since the lights cast a yellow tinge.

Main gun assembly.  The floor from what I've seen in my references will probably be shot as red primer.

Hull interior:

The base I've been working on.  Still in the very early stages.  Needs a lot of cleanup and celluclay isn't in place yet but the rough outline is there.

One last thing.  I can't find a good picture in my references for the drive sprockets.  The kit part has a seam running down the center but none of the photos that I have show enough detail, or are at the right angle to see.  Anyone have a clue whether or not it should be there?  Appreciate the help in advance!

Comments and suggestions are always welcome!

I've asked my friend to check his Pz III book to see if they show break downs of the drive sprockets. I'll post back when I get an answer from him.

The figs are done. I definitely recommend them, they go together well and they look more alive and animated than most of the Dragon figs I've built.  I'm no figure master but I'm happy with the way they've turned out.

I'm not sure why it looks like there is a gap in Rommel's left arm, it's not evident to the naked eye at all. I hate it when pictures play tricks on you lol.

Erik

REAL nice Erik,I hope mine comes out as good,that was fast.

Acehawkdriver asked .................

"One last thing.  I can't find a good picture in my references for the drive sprockets.  The kit part has a seam running down the center but none of the photos that I have show enough detail, or are at the right angle to see.  Anyone have a clue whether or not it should be there?  Appreciate the help in advance"

Found this picture . It should answer your question Brian.

AceHawk- Sorry for not getting back to you sooner.  Yes, Carl found a great picture and it should help.  I checked my reference books and it doesn't show any seam at all.   Your interior paint looks spot on!   Hate to tell you bad news I was able to intercept your shipment and I have your Etchmate3C... remember I live just outside Indy.  

Post a picture of your new tool when you get it... and make the heat wave go away! 

Erik- oh man, I am loving the figures... this is it!!!  I am going to order one as soon as I return home from week long vacation.  Thank you for posting more pictures!  They look great... you only need to correct the eyes on far right figure then he will be good like the rest. 

I really dig your Panzer III... nice work on the dust covering most of the hull. 

Carl- Thanks for your help... it is great having you here! 

Really nice figure set Erik.

Andy your welcome

Shellback:  Thanks for the picture!  Just what I needed.  I guess I could've googled panzer III and found pics of the chassis (duh).  Now the only problem is I have to smooth out all those seams . . . . . so thanks for the picture but thanks a lot for all the extra work!

Deafpanzer:  Not a problem.  I wasn't in a hurry anyway.  I was hoping the interior color was close since I mixed it myself.  It was a pain painting it but it'll work.  I hate to tell ya, but USPS screwed up and sent my Etchmate to me instead of you.  I'll try and not let that happen again for ya.  Should arrive today!

Brian , your welcome .

My apologies for my absence.  WOW!, what great work everyone is doing!  Still taking some time reading threw everything but very impressed with what I've seen.

ERIC - Fabulous finish on your build.  The weathering looks great!  Agree with Andy, The first figure needs his eye fixed but the do look nice.! 

JORD, BRIAN - Nice work so far!  Will be watching your builds closly, my build is almost identical.  Those are some great interior refs will be using them for sure.

Well have to work rest of week into the weekend, hope to get started on Sunday with some pictures.  Will get parts prep and do a little researching in order to get ready.  Here's the sprue shot.

Will spare you close ups of the parts, as Jord has shown, they have some great detail and some great pre zimmed pieces.

Hey Rob, busy again I see. Hey, could you sub out the 10.5 for a 7.5 version? 

Any chance of getting a close up of the waffle zimmerit?

Hi guys,

Slight change of plan - my first entry for the GB will now be the SIG 33 as it's a superb kit and I want to build something different from Tamiya this year!

I saw this Cyber hobby kit in one of my favourite magazines and just fell in love with it. It's just screaming out for a German Grey basecoat with lots of rust-streaks and chipping on those HUGE slab-sided walls! Plus, you get 4 superb German Stalingrad figures as a bonus.

Anyway, yesterday was my pay day so gues what - I ordered it It arrived this morning as I asked them to send it on the speedy delivery service so I had it for the weekend.

I have only built Tamiya this year and I really need something a bit more challenging on the assembly front so this was ideal and fits the 'Panzer III & Variants' GB perfectly - this will be my first entry, followed by my Tamiya Panzer III Ausf. N then finally I'll be building the Cyber Hobby StuG III C/D. Three GB entries! It runs for a year and I love working with the Pz III Chassis so it's ideal for me

Box art:

The question I have re this build (it's pretty straightforward) is making a second (scratchbuilt) stowage box. Look at the photo below (for discussion purposes only):

In the magazine that I originally saw this build in (not FSM but I'll tell you if you send a pm - I won't advertise other magazines on the open forum) the builder of it had scratchbuilt a larger stowage box that sat between the two uprights that are inbetween the Casemate and the box at the back (see the two uprights on the photo above). There are apparently proper 1/35 dimensions out there to make the correct box and I was hoping that someone could help me with these as I just cannot find them?

If anyone can help me with these box dimensions I'd be very greatful as I have no idea what they should be at present!

WIP on the GB starts tomorrow!

Many thanks,

Ben

To all the GB members,,,  I am SO enjoying all the posts / pics / advice / info and comradery. It is great to see all this talent in one "bucket" so to speak.

Very enjoyable

And thanks for sharing!

Bill

Hinsky , just wondering , if you have a picture of the box in question could you use it to get an idea of its actual dimensions and then scale it down to 1/35th ?

Rob- I am pleased that you are going to build this Sturm kit as we couldn't have asked for a better timing with all of Pz and StuG III WIPs going on right now.  It will be interesting to follow this.  I agree with Eric... it would be great if you can post closer pictures of the Zimm.  May the force be with you...

Ben- This is going to be fun to watch.  Just like I told Rob, it will be great to see different variants being built at this moment.  Are you going for German Grey only or you will try the camo scheme as shown on the box?

To answer your question about scratch building a storage box... it was hard to tell if your box is going to be wood or metal.  I made one from scratch for my Marder II earlier using Styrene sheets.  I used a spare ammo box as a base because it was a perfect fit on the fender. 

Using my saw, I created the look of wood... did the method few times pressing down the saw harder then lighter at next pass. 

Using raw umber wash at the end really helped bring out the texture of the wood...

Hope this helps...

Bill- Thanks for the compliment... of course you are welcome to join aboard!

Stikpusher- I wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you.  I accidentally saved the roster file on my office server. OOPS!  Now I don't have access to it from home so will have to do when I return to office on August 1st. 

Guys- My week long vacation is about to start in few hours!  I am taking my family to my parents' cottage by the lake in Canada near Buffalo where I grew up.  Unfortunately I will have very limited access to internet there.  So I will bring only my new iPad but it doesn't work too well with this forum for some reason I can't make comments but I can follow everybody's WIPs. 

Try to be good... LOL!  Can't wait to drink those real Canadian beer of course Labatt Blue.

Thanks Andy

Enjoy your vacation!!!!!

Bill

                               Andy's on vacation again!! What the frogs is up with that? We may want to look closely at his vacation pics.i.e. the chain link fence keeping him in when he was sentenced down in fla..LOL Enjoy the mosquitoes buddy,and no moose chasing.

                                                    Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

Hey Andy,

Re my SIG 33 I'm probably going to go for a sraight German Grey as that was the markings for the Stalingrad vehicles (according to Dragon at least) plus the big magazine article I have shows the author painting his in German Grey but really going to town on the chips and dinks and it looks AMAZING!

I haven't ruled out a box art style cammo yet - I'll see how it goes.

ATVB

Ben

Hi Chaps,

Here is my first Panzer III GB wip update!

This is the build:

My first entry for this GB was going to be the Tamiya Pz. III Ausf. N in my stash but I picked up a new modelling magazine and saw this Cyber-Hobby sIG 33 and just had to have it. It arrived on Thursday so I've decided to build this first.

First off, I've completely assembled the road wheels, return rollers, idlers and drive wheels along with the rear panel on which the mufflers and tow mountings are fitted.

Todays work *the road wheels and drive sprockets have been dry fitted for the photos - I'll paint the road wheels seaparately and I'll leave the drives off for fine adjust when fitting the tracks: 

Apparently this old Dragon Kit received a little upgrade by the way of addition of Magic Tracks:

The main magazine article that I'm working from - I think this is going to come in VERY handy: 

Note this picture - it shows the scratch built large stowage box that I'm probably going to build (I've got the box dimensions now btw):

Well, that's where I am so far. Nothing of much interest today but tomorrow I'll get the casemate assembled and make a start on the Magic Tracks (yawn)!

You can tell it's a re-boxed older kit purely by the 'feel' of the plastic but it has no evidence of nasty EP holes or big seam marks so it's all good.

What is VERY interesting is the four bonus 6th Army Figures. They are superbly detailed and are crisply moulded. The stowage supplied with them is great as are the weapons.

WIP update tomorrow!

ATVB

Ben

Andy Have a great vacation

Just checking in, Eric that is a lovely Pz.III looks great , Ben good luck and I see your off to a flying start.

Hope to bee starting soon myself,

Terry.

Just take your time Ben and check the fit.

I built the old Dragon kit and it turned out pretty good I think.

Good Luck

Tony lee

Pvt Mutt

Just take your time Ben and check the fit.

I built the old Dragon kit and it turned pretty good I think.

Good Luck

Tony lee

Hi Tony,

That's real yummy - what a lovely grimy finish

A few questions if I may

1) How were the spare wheels mounted up-front either side of the barrel? Did you just stick them on or did you attempt to make a visual 'fixture' for them? Were they welded on or bolted on or ????? on the real thing?

2) Are they Friul Winterketten or Magic Track Winterketten?

3) My 15cm barrel is ok but doesn't have any rifling detail. I've looked at a SIG 33 barrel upgrade but there is only the barrel part available from Aber (that I can see) so I'd have to chop the main plastic barrel off the boxy breech area then attempt to glue the replacement metal barrel onto the breech. Imo it's a risky job and the slightest of ***-ups would result in my needing a new barrel assembly.

I've just looked at your build and thought that a muzzle cover would be an interesting addition and would also hide that poorly detailed barrel - did your kit come with a cover or did you scratch it? If you made it can I please ask how you did it?

WIP update later,

Ben

Hi Ben

The extra road wheels on the front were a crew addition and not factory. Most didn't have these mounted up there like that so I would say they just welded a stud or large bolt on the armor to hold them. The picture I modeled from had them.

The tracks are Friuls

The muzzle boot is made from a "Post em Note" pad sheet.

Tony lee

Good afternoon guys,

First off - thanks Tony

A quick update: Somehow I managed to get both runs of Magic Tracks assembled, glued and fitted in 60 minutes which is VERY good going for me.

I've decide to go against my normal assembly & painting method of assembling the wheels, tracks and tools then painting them off the model - I'm going to assemble the whole thing and paint everything 'in-situ' as it's going to be nigh on impossible fitting magic tracks onto a Panzer III once the fenders are in place. Vinyl tracks and Friuls yes but obviously these will be staying put now.

One thing that has bugged me is that the front return rollers (the ones nearest the drive wheels) are slightly lower than the other two? I've measured them and they are just shy of a millimetre lower. Should this be so? I didn't notice until the tracks were on!

A few photos:

I have a ready made Magic Track assembly jig for Panzer III tracks. I make up the straight run that goes from 6 o'clock on the front road wheel to 6 o'clock on the back wheel then glue that solid and leave it separate. I then assemble the rest of the required number of links and put plenty of Tamiya Extra Thin Cement on the entire run, leaveve for 5 minutes then join front of the straight link to the long run , put the wheels in place on the straight run and loop the links over-cementing the other end up and positioning it all properly with a bit of sag. Be careful as when the cement fully dries it will contract and pull the links tighter so it's an idea to add an extra link. My run was really saggy but not following the cement fully drying as you can see!

All fitted and looking good - this track run had a nice bit of sag imparted into it but look at it now it's dry!:

Gun assembly completed and fitted to upper hull which has been dry fitted for the photos (the seam on the barrel needs a little more work at this point):

Seam sanded out a little bit more - it is all but invisible now:

That's it for now chaps - I reckon the basic assembly could be finished by this time next weekend! It's such a simple build!

That's okay as I really want to try some different weathering techniques out on her.

I'd love to hear any comments or critiques guys.

Have a great week everyone!

Ben  

Some great stuff guys,,,,,,,,,           I'm watching from the back row, but you all are putting out some excellent work.          

Thanks for sharing

Bill

Hinsky:  Looks good so far.  you're making quick work of the lower hull.  wish i could say the same.  I looked at that kit a little while ago and will be watching yours closely so as to get pointers for later when it joins my stash.

Just an update.  I spent most of my free time this weekend at the bench working on the Voyager fenders set.  in just the fenders, not including the supports that attach to the hull, there are 34 parts on each.  I was able, through my own various creative ways, to turn that 34 parts into about 40! 

The pics aren't very good as my lighting isn't right now, but I thought I'd pass them on. 

Something for Andy to drool at first!  Next time I'll have them send one your way!

There is some cleanup work to be done on the fender on the right.  It's the main culpret as it seemed everytime one piece was added one was lost in return.

The kit part and the Voyager set.

Comments and criticisms are always welcome!

Tony, great job. I don't think I ever saw that finished product.

Tigerman,

Here is a close up of some of the pre moulded Zimmerit in the StuH 10.5.
The kit includes all parts required to build the standard StuG with the 7.5 gun.
Also included is the added armour arround the commanders hatch.

The real stuff on a Panther;

The issue I have at hand...

The inside face of the gun-shroud needs to be filled and there is a very obvious seem that needs to be given the correct pattern without ruining the moulded on detail.
I am reaching out for help with the latter, I have no clue how to get this right?

I am sorry for the non value adding repeated pictures.

Jord