The OFFICIAL Panzer III and Its Variants GB

Andy - you are trucking through all of that PE! Looks great.

LOL!  Yeah I am trying to speed thru the building process before our visitor from Denmark arrives on June 22nd for a month.  Am afraid I will not have much bench time when he is here.  He's former deaf exchange student and we were his host family.  Great guy!  

Little update... worked on the fire extinguisher.  

But I am excited to share about the figure that has arrived yesterday.  You know me... I like to include figures to all of my builds.  But this time I am taking it easy and I will just do one figure for this. 

From Alpine... it is probably the very first figure set released because its number is 35001?  He is about to fire his flare gun... perfect as tank commander leading his way into the battle! 

Bah Humbug Deafpanzer!

"Ooooh, look at me and my little wooden block with 12 pieces of etch on it - that was dead easy" and "just done a quick bit of work on the little fire extinguisher - I had to make some mind-bending etch up to make it good"!

Not to mention your fancy ALPINE figure. Dragon not good enough for you anymore? No, Andy uses ALPINE now!

If I didn't know better I'd say you were showing off? LOL! (Insert 'green with envy' smiley)!

Absolutely stunning work my good friend! The block looks fab as does the extinguisher and the tool clamps. That figure will look stunning when it's complete!

Your work has really impressed lately Andy - I mean this stuff you churn out now is just amazing if you compare it to what we did back on the Norway GB which in comparison now looks pretty tame!

I cannot wait for the next Steel Cats GB (or whatever it's going to be called.

I love the photo of my last StuG III that you put up on page one for me btw!

Thanks Andy,

Ben

LOL!  Ben, you can be funny sometimes.  Actually I do like Dragon figures but unfortunately they don't have many options for tank commanders.  Just check it out and you will understand... I only have three sets and none of them will look good on my Command tank.  Then I checked for other sets... BINGO... Alpine has one shooting a flare gun as a leader and I thought it was a perfect choice.  

Glad you liked the PE work... remember I learned from the masters here especially Tony (Pvt Mutt) and WIngnuts.  I never forget his work on the Marder!  My next build will be a recently released kit finally so I don't think I will do a lot of PE work like this. 

deafpanzer - the PE looks real good, I'm lucky with the ongoing project - smart kit Pz III Ausf. J, 2 in 1 kit  ... Update on the Late Pz III Ausf. J - Finishing up with the Jerry Can Rack, photos below - Armor86

deafpanzer

LOL!  Ben, you can be funny sometimes.  Actually I do like Dragon figures but unfortunately they don't have many options for tank commanders.  Just check it out and you will understand... I only have three sets and none of them will look good on my Command tank.  Then I checked for other sets... BINGO... Alpine has one shooting a flare gun as a leader and I thought it was a perfect choice.  

Glad you liked the PE work!

 

Hey Andy,

Truly impressive work my good friend! As I was saying on my pm yesterday I'm planning to use as much PE as I'm able to on my Firefly. I'm not making PE headlight guards as they are too visible sat there up front and I don't want poor PE work to detract from the rest of the build they will also be very prone to easy damage - the plastic parts are very good and look fine.

I'm going to use the tool clamps assuming I can assemble them properly.

I'll be completing the lower hull tub later so keep an eye out for my update.

Btw Armour 86 - The Jerry Can rack is looking really good!

Cheers guys,

Ben  

                  Hey Andy you asked about the mud on the Bergepanzer ,its well real mud fine dirt mixed with white glue and applied with somewhat the same technique as the Doog used. The unditching beam is also real wood. As is the jack block and the wood blocking that will be used for additional stowage.

                   All that P.E. on your newest build is looking real nice,as are all of the builds presnt here.

                                                  Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

Greg- Thanks for the info!  Again, the mud looks very realistic.  That's something I need to work on. LOL  Thanks for stopping by!  

Ben- I am going to check your Firefly build right after this.  

armor86- Very NICE work on the rack!!! 

finally been able to get back online and check out all the recent pics...   wow everybody freaking awesome...  really incredible work guys...   i'm still in a holding pattern waiting on tracks still...  i'm almost ready to just sink it in a river...  how much time we still got on this gb?

                       Hey there malone duke what kind of tracks are you looking for ?

                              I feel your pain buddy,would that set you ordered be the 052 mid workables? If so perhaps I can help you out

                                          Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

                             Complete set brand new in the box . PM comin at ya.

malone duke

finally been able to get back online and check out all the recent pics...   wow everybody freaking awesome...  really incredible work guys...   i'm still in a holding pattern waiting on tracks still...  i'm almost ready to just sink it in a river...  how much time we still got on this gb?

Greg- Thank you for helping others!  That's why you will always be my friend!

Malone- We have until end of August.  Plenty of time... 10 weeks left or so.  It will end just in time for Steel Cats GB that many of us have signed up.  Can't wait!  

                        If I can help a fellow modeler with something as simple as a track set Andy that helps me feel good about the hobby and all involved. Now go glue some styrene. And I thought the G.B. was due to end this month ? Extensions are good though as I seldom spend more than an hour or two a week anymore at the bench,and when I do its not what I probably should be working on,panzer III"s that is.LOL Raining here again today so bench time may be the word of the day.

                                                   Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

Greg- Actually we have decided to extend it for two more months since we really wanted to close all gaps.  There are only few gaps left and hope we will cover all variants.  Hope it will help you too.  I have been busy working on my Pz III Ausf K... 

Guys- Update on my Pz III Ausf K... didn't like the old jack part.

So I replaced it using a resin part and PE.  Aber PE was way too excessive... too many small pieces just for the jack straps. 

Picked up the Friuls at my favorite hobby shop this week... he sold me for only $30 each. 

Worked on the wheels and started putting Friuls together... half done now. 

Liked the resin figure but concerned about the eyes detail as I find them lacking...

Turret has been assembled and I used RB barrel.  A lot of sanding was done to make it fit...

Boys are back home from week long Boys Scout camping... they are too tired to do anything except playing video games and watch movies.  So it means more bench time for me today... life is good!

                                Hey Andy just put a patch over that bum eye.

                                       Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

LOL!  Never thought about that... maybe googles if I am not pleased with the eyes.  Not bad idea!!!  Thank you my friend Greg!

Guys- Quick update... had a great weekend at the workbench.  Boys are back from week long camping so they were too tired to do anything except to watch movies and play video games.

Worked pretty much on the turret... wasn't impressed with kit part and my PE set didn't come with a set because I ordered the wrong kind.  So I thinned the kit parts real good...

Added wirings in the rear...

Dragon missed this... my reference book shows hook hidden inside the corner. 

My Panzer is about 95% complete... almost ready for next stage.  Little more PE work hopefully tonight... thanks for looking!

Little update... worked on the stowage bin.  Added PE clasps and hinges.

The turret is now complete.  Gonna finish the hull then it will be ready for the painting stage. 

Some updated photos on Pz III Ausf J Late - Vorpanzer - got ah like the details in the Smart Kit .... the hull is ready for paint ... assembling the turret ... Armor86

Armor86- Your panzer is looking real good!  Can't wait to see paint on it.  Again, I really dig the sandbags!!!  

Great work Andy and armor86

Eric- Thanks bro!!!   I am trying to have it will be done by September... I think you know why!  LOL

Update on Panzer III Ausf. J (Late) - Moving on to the turret and main gun ... Vorpanzer refers to the spaced armor on areas of the hull superstructure and turret mantlet - the kit provides various bits of spaced armor, as separate parts, the ones around the mantlet in particular being very nicely represented, and also provides photo-etched parts too! Using the plastic parts on the mantlet, but will use the PE parts on the superstructure plates ... some research on Pz III's in use with the North Africa theater didn't always have the mantlet plate installed, but vehicles still had the support braces installed. May note I'm going to finished the vehicle in DAK theater paint campo .... Armor86

Gonna do the hairspray method? I still haven't tried that, but have many in my stash that would make good DAK vehicles. Maybe after the Steel Cats GB.

Armor86- Always dig those DAK camo job!  Looking forward to see it when it is painted.  I promised myself to build something DAK after my Tiger I build.  Maybe North Africa Theater GB as it is way overdue too?  

Hey Andy that's really cool details your putting on

Carl- Thanks buddy!!!

Guys- Last update on my panzer before it is primed and painted... kit parts for hooks and clasps really suck!  I continued to use Aber PE to replace them...

I plan to add the antennas at the very end because I always break them.  Will add the turret hatch just before painting for same reason.

However there will be no update from me for nearly two weeks as I will be on road... vacation  then a week long conference .  I will have access to internet so I will be able to watch your process.  

Keep modeling!