#3 DML Pzkpfw III Ausf N sPzAbt 501 Afrika (W.I.P.)

Citadelgrad87 wrote:

Hi Schnobs. This is a very nice build.  I really like the beating you gave the interior, it looks very random and not at all..."planned".  Sometimes I see chipping and wear and it looks contrived, yours simply looks lived in, I guess there's an art to it, yours looks great.  Can't wait to see what you do with that basecoat, please keep us posted. Bill

Citadelgrad87 wrote:

Hi Schnobs. This is a very nice build.  I really like the beating you gave the interior, it looks very random and not at all..."planned".  Sometimes I see chipping and wear and it looks contrived, yours simply looks lived in, I guess there's an art to it, yours looks great.  Can't wait to see what you do with that basecoat, please keep us posted. Bill

Thanks Bill I enjoyed the heck out of painting and weathering the interior.  If has fired me up for getting a a AM interior for my my next build.

Here is a few pics of what I was able to get done this evening.  I was able to mount one door one each side of the turret because I will have to spray future and decal before I mount the other doors on each side.  I also painted and mounted extra wheels and painted the leather pads on the cupola doors.

Hi Schnobs.

This is a very nice build.  I really like the beating you gave the interior, it looks very random and not at all..."planned".  Sometimes I see chipping and wear and it looks contrived, yours simply looks lived in, I guess there's an art to it, yours looks great.  Can't wait to see what you do with that basecoat, please keep us posted.

Bill

wbill76 wrote:

Coming along nicely Edmund! It would appear that your headlights are in danger of becoming disconnected though...as the pics progressed first one and then the other went out of alignment. DML designed these to have fragile attachment points so you might want to recheck them so you don't inadvertently lose one along the way.

Thanks Bill yours too. It looks like we both had a long day modeling today. 

I still don't how you pick out the details so quickly and accurately.

I will re-attach the healdlights first thing.

I do appreciate your thoughful constructive comments. 

Regards,

Build Update:

I completed the majority of the assembly today and was able to basecoat and add some highlights.

I was impressed with the Model Master Acryl Armor Sand and can't wait to see it after the filtter, wash, oil paint fading and pigments.

Here are few pics of it in it's grey plastic glory!

After basecoating and color modulation lightened with MM Light Grey.

wing_nut wrote:

JEEZ you're a machine!  Good thing oyu weren't in charge of German production during he war Looks good so far and no reason to thinkthat should change  As for the magnifier, my choice is the Optivisor.  More mobile... can llok left and right easier.  Plus I set it a little high so it is easy to look under it for a normal view.  And for light, there is an LED light that attaches to the front of the lenses.  I don't have it... but I do want it.

This one has actually been pretty slow Marc compared to my second one.  I hate it when you have to be a grown-up, a father, a husband and make a living all beween builds...

I took a look at your web site and build logs today and I was very impressed!   I really like the PZ.IV G with winter wash.  I have heard people talk about the hair spray method and I read your log but I still have a lot of questions about it. It sound slike some people swear by it and others are really opposed to it.  Is there an end to end tutorial that you might point me to?

wbill76 wrote:

Edmund, Looks like a well-used interior for sure! The only suggestion I would have is that the spent shell basket was canvas and not metal so there wouldn't be any chipping there. Chipping around the top metal frame yes, but the basekt itself wouldn't have been chipped since it's cloth.

I must of searched a hundred times on what materials and colors the shell basket should be!

Oh well it is easy to get to and I have some new Vallejo Khaki and other sand colors that I had ordered to use on the sand bags I have planned.  I will make the changes.  If it was made of metal I made it look cool!

Thanks for keeping it real Bill!

Edmund,

Looks like a well-used interior for sure! The only suggestion I would have is that the spent shell basket was canvas and not metal so there wouldn't be any chipping there. Chipping around the top metal frame yes, but the basket itself wouldn't have been chipped since it's cloth.

JEEZ you're a machine!  Good thing oyu weren't in charge of German production during he war

Looks good so far and no reason to thinkthat should change  As for the magnifier, my choice is the Optivisor.  More mobile... can llok left and right easier.  Plus I set it a little high so it is easy to look under it for a normal view.  And for light, there is an LED light that attaches to the front of the lenses.  I don't have it... but I do want it.

Build Update:

I took some time off from assembly to plan how to paint the turret interior due to the the fact that I want to model the turret doors open on both sides but I had not ideal how to paint an interior!

The great thing about the internet is that it has terrabytes of historical data which is a double edged sword.  I checked and rechecked data sources and finally decided to give it my best shot and interpation of an open hatched interior in Afrika and here is what I came up with.

Oh and I checked with Bill as well!

I approached painting and weathering the interior just like I learned to approach the exterior.  I used my AB to base coat the interior with Model Master Acryl Panzer Interior Buff after masking any areas that might end up with paint on the exterior.  I then then used Poly Scale Reefer Grey for paint chipping.

My next step was to use a Mig Production Brown for Desert Yellow Filter to provide tone and blend in paint chips.  I also added a light coating of Mig Pigment Gulf War Sand to blend everything together.  I was happy with the end result and it looks like my ideal of a well worn desert vehicle.  I also used Squadron's White Putty to add texture to the interior before I base coated it to simulate a rough trexture from multiple coats of primer and Dark Yello over Panzer Grey.

Excellent thanks loads Bill.

I will use Panzer Grey and Steel for the main gun breech unless I am way off. I will take a look on the forums and keep an eye out for examples still on a steep learning curve having fun!   

wbill76 wrote:

I bought mine at Office Depot...it's stainless steel and has a flourescent bulb. Can't recall the level of magnification it has. Those are the two factors you should consider (along with price) if you decide to go that route. The flourescent light is 22w and powerful without generating heat like you get with incandescent.

Hey Bill,

I picked up a swing arm with a 75 watt incandescent buld and three-diopter lens magnifer for $25.00 at Staples today.  What a difference!  I can't wait to use it for painting.

Speaking of painting I aplan to model the turret side doors open on both sides like Scratchmod did on his PZ.III.  I find it very visually interesting but I am at a loss on how to paint the interior and detailing the breech.  I can figure out most of it I am sure, but do you think I should use MM Panzer Interior Buff for the interior except for the inside of the doors?

Thanks Bill,

Great to know.  I have same condition a stigmatism corrected by contacts.  The thought of putting one of those on made me nauseeous just to think about much less do.

Can you suggest a good lighted swing arm magnifier or are they pretty much all the same?

Thanks as always!

Regards,

Edmund,

I have a swing arm magnifier with its own light source that I use when I need to get extra magnification. I have to wear corrective lenses (contacts or glasses) and have a heavy astigmatism/blurring and using an Optivisor tended to make me dizzy/nauseous so I opted instead for the stand-alone magnifier as a compromise. It makes for a very handy additional light source too and I tend to use it more for that but it's always available for when I need it!

wbill76 wrote:

Edmund, you're making good progress and snow is as good an excuse as anyone can hope for to get in build time! On your closeup of the hull nose and glacis it looks like there's a gap with the weld seam? May just be shadows from the lighting but thought I should point it out to you just in case.

Tanks Bill pardon the Pun!  I can always count you to provide thoughful constructive comments to improve my builds.  I have been doing all my assembly and painting with the naked eye with some digital macro shots to check close work.  I did see a little gap on either side in the direct sunlight this morning that I can fill with Milliput.

Do you use an Optivisor or some other magnifying method as you assemble and paint?  If so do you have any suggestions or preferences. It's not a huge issue now but some of the PE I have seen would benefit from a magnification tool and I assume it will become a requirment to paint figures. 

I do know Karl uses an Optivisor based on the infamous photo of him painting road wheels. 

Edmund, you're making good progress and snow is as good an excuse as anyone can hope for to get in build time! On your closeup of the hull nose and glacis it looks like there's a gap with the weld seam? May just be shadows from the lighting but thought I should point it out to you just in case.

ps1, the Pz III hull design actually provided for escape hatches in the hull sides for both the driver and the radio operator up through the L model but deleted them on the M and later. You'll often see knocked out Pz IIIs with one or both of these side hatches open as it was the quickest way out.  

Build Update:

Had a great build day on Saturday.  It snowed here in Seattle which provided all the excuse I needed to put off outside Honey Do's..

I remember I asked Karl one time for his suggestions on different model manufactures and he had recommended Cyber-Hobby kits if I liked "a lot of fidely small parts". I am still at it and I am about to hire a work gang of fleas to help me!   I have no ideal how the 1:72 scale guys do it!  My hats are off to them that's for sure!  I have enough challenges at 1:35th scale.

Here are a few pics of progress so far.   I hope to finish up actual assembly tommorw or Monday latest.

Cheers!

scratchmod wrote:

Hi Schnobs..She's looking good dude. The post your looking for on my III N is on page 5 of the constructive feedback forum. Yhe pics are larger there and should help more. Rob

Rob thanks so much for pointing me to the your link!  Fantastic pictures and the jerry can rack is amazing not to mention the sandbags!  I am posting the link below so everyone can get a chance to enjoy ii:

http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=130538&page=1

Did you glue the sandbags down and basecoat and weather in place?  The pictures led me to believe that.  Great tip about using nylon stocking for texture I was going to try a t-shirt first though because I have more of them than nylon stockings. 

Thanks again and expect more questions my friend!  Excellent Job!!

that is awesome! can't wait to see more!!!

                         Jim

Hi Schnobs..She's looking good dude. The post your looking for on my III N is on page 5 of the constructive feedback forum. Yhe pics are larger there and should help more.

Rob

Build update:

I got some solid work done tonight because my wife is a Gem!!  She took my kid duty tonght so I could have a few hours to myself.  Here is a pic where I am at the moment.  I mistakenly painted the drive housings for the sprockets and the idler mounts when I painted road wheels so that explains the two tone.  I will just be really easy on those areas when I spry the prime coat.

Schnobs wrote:

model maniac 96 wrote: nice, lookin great so far Schnobs! can't wait to see the end result!!! Jim Thanks Jim!  Good to hear from you again.  This one has been slower due to work and famly committments.  I did loose my first part to the carpet monster in my case the cement monster. I think my dog ate it! I am still looking I believe I can remake it easily enough.

Thanks Rob!  The pictures are awesome.  Ginormously cool!

It looks like you modeled a few of the sandbags to spill out sand and that would be cool to do as well. A guy could probably use pieces of flattened solder to simulate bag ties. 

Also did you install an interior?  I see you have the side doors open on the turret.

One more question sorry I am excited!  Do you have any pics of th rear of the vehicle I would like to see how you painted the Jerry cans.  I looked for pics of this on Armorama today and saw your other pics over there.  Very nice as well!

Thanks Again,

Heys Schnobs...sorry for the late reply. As far as the bags go,I think I used Tamiya Buff and Some green. I used more green on some and less on others. I applied the usual washes and dusting with pigments.

As far as the vehicle color goes, I think it was an old bottle of Pactra Afrika brown with some Tamiya Buff to tone it down.

Here are a couple of pics of the bags,I hope they help you.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with yours. I know how you feel with the airbrush,some days I can't hold it to save my life, and having paint spilling everywhere.

keep up the posts

scratchmod

terry35 wrote:

, Schnobs, looking forward to seeing this progress. I too have the MIG book and think its just brilliant, best modelling tool I ever bought, expensive but worth it. Good luck with your project, if its anything like your Mk.IV then you have another winner. Regards, Terry.

Thanks Terry I have larger goals for this one and plan to add AM accessories like german helmets, sandbags and maybe a weapon or two. I actually plan to make the sandbags that should be fun. I was like a kid at Christmas last night reading the FAQ book.  My wife callled me a big nerd which I accepted with grace...