Update 24 NOV: 1/32 Panzer III N ALL FINISHED!!!!!

[PanzerArm]

Hello everyone, I don't know if anyone remembers, but back in 2005, right after I sold a large chunk of my collection, I started work on a custom Panzer III ausf. N. Well I "finished" it, and the results were not exactly what i'd call spectacular. I wish I still ahd pictures b/c this was a pretty poor attempt at some customized armor. I guess i just didn't have the patience or money to spend some real quality time working on the thing.

Anyway, a month or so ago i dug this thing out of its cardboard box tomb, figuring I'd give it another go, and this time I'd do it right. I have not completed it yet, but I have nearly finished the fabrication stage of the custom, having already stripped my previous attempt at painting, and kit-bashing in pieces from an FOV Stug III. Now all that is left is fabricating the smoke dischargers (today's task), epoxying some seams, and filing in a few holes in the hull that came from removing pieces. O, and there is drilling out a hole in the gun housing so that the barrel can be inserted, a task I have been excited about and dreading at the same time. That part was by far the hardest to create and I see it that I've only got one chance at it, b/c if I mess it up I will probably wait a while before I give it another go.

But enough ranting, here are some pictures of my progress thus far, with an unchanged 21st Panzer III ausf. F (I think that's what it's supposed to be) for comparison.

First is a comparison picture without any of the extras on it. You can see the new drive sprocket and rear idler for FOV, along with the tracks. Also note the new drivers vision port and hull mg.


Another comparison shot, a better view of the front this time.


Some of the new pieces. This pic shows the gun mantle and gun housing in front, along with the 2-piece barrel, and the customized monogram turret stowage bin. The panzer III itself has the front hull superstructure supplemental spaced armor, and the engine deck vent covers, and you can kind of see where I added the extra road wheels on top of the rear track guard.


Same as above, just at a different angle. You can see the other extra road wheel as well. Also note the sanding down of the turret side's vision ports.


Detail of the gun and mantle assembly. Still needs a gunners site vision port on the mantle, along with an mg inside the mg housing. This is the step that scares me, putting these two together...


Detail of the stowage bin. Note the added .02" styrene to the back of the bin. This was salvaged from a dilapidated monogram pz IV.


Up-close shot of the supplemental armor in place. doesn't quite fit as snug as I'd like, but a little sanding will fix that.


Detail of the engine deck vent covers. They were made from .118" styrene, heavily cut and sanded. I also hade to make the existing 2-piece engine deck doors into 1-piece doors so that I could still open them after I put on the covers, plus that is how it was IRL.


Another shot of the gun mantle/housing and barrel assembly


A preview of what it will look like after I get the courage to drill that 1/4" hole.


Rear idler from FOV stug III


And finally, a view of the turret top, with things both removed and added.




I'll update everyone again as soon as I make some more substantial progress.


Kevin

[Der Kommandant]

Great job! Looks very nice already.
Will it have Schurzen?

[PanzerArm]

No, this one will not have schurzen. I thought about it as I have extra FOV stug schurzen lying around, but I wanted this one to be a s.pz.abt 501st one. I've been really wanting an Africa s.pz.abt 501st Panzer III N/ Tiger duo for a long time, so this Panzer III will be representing one in the desert, which did not get issued schurzen.

So once this one is done I'll probably start working on the tiger, which should require a lot less scratch building and more dremeling down metal zimmerit, and maybe making a few other little items.

And on another note, I finished the patchwork on the hull and making the smoke dischargers yesterday. I'll post pics sometime today.

Kevin

[ChairmanMilo]

No, this one will not have schurzen. I thought about it as I have extra FOV stug schurzen lying around, but I wanted this one to be a s.pz.abt 501st one. I've been really wanting an Africa s.pz.abt 501st Panzer III N/ Tiger duo for a long time, so this Panzer III will be representing one in the desert, which did not get issued schurzen.

So once this one is done I'll probably start working on the tiger, which should require a lot less scratch building and more dremeling down metal zimmerit, and maybe making a few other little items.

And on another note, I finished the patchwork on the hull and making the smoke dischargers yesterday. I'll post pics sometime today.

Kevin

Excellent idea!

It does look great already, and that's saying a lot - I've always felt that the 21C Panzer III mould was awful. I had the Ausf E/F and the metal Ausf L but sold them both a long time ago.

I'll be watching this thread with great interest, certainly.

[Der Kommandant]

Sounds good.
Keep us posted.

[PanzerArm]

Here are two pics I took today that didn't come out blurry. First is a rear view of the turret (complete with smoke dischargers) and taped on stowage bin. Second is of the completed gun mantle and housing. Added the gunner's vision port and the rivets to the housing.





Drilling the hole tonight, wish me luck!


Kevin

[Panzer_M]

nice work on the kit-bash

[Der Kommandant]

The s.Pz.Abt. 501 Panzer III had a rack for jerry cans on the rear deck, I believe.
That tank looks great!
Very accurate.
Are you adding an antenna?
Should also need to overspray it.
Very nice work, keep it up.

[PanzerArm]

Yeah, I got the main gun done last night and it looks fantastic, took the extra hour to make sure it turned out the way it was supposed to and I'm very pleased with the result.

As far as the details, yes I do plan on addressing them now that the big hurdles have been crossed. I have the antenna rack somewhere in one of my bags of scrap parts that I need to find and I was thinking I would see if I could make a new antenna to replace the old one. The jerry can rack(s) will probably be done this weekend. I have had a hard time finding any specific photos of ausf. Ns in the 501st, and ausf. Ns in Africa in general (doesnt help all my books are in storage). So I am king of holding back from making them and installing them pending photographic evidence. Thus far I've only made changes that were general traits for the model, not unit specific ones yet. I'll probably still make the racks, but may not install them as permanent fixtures, so that they could be added or subtracted easily without damaging the model.

Unfortunately it's the school/work week now and I have drill this weekend , so I'll only have fleeting moments to actually work on the last details the next few days. And I also bought 2 cans of primer 2 nights ago that I plan on using this weekend as well. I will try my damnedest to get some main gun pics up tonight, but my internet at home as been kaput lately(I'm at work now ), so we'll see.

[grockwood]

my info was wrong.

[ChairmanMilo]

Believe me, they sent quite a few of them to support sPzAbt. 501 in Northwest Africa starting in November 1942. There are some helpful articles here:

http://www.fprado.com/armorsite/tigers.htm

[Der Kommandant]

They were there, in the closing stages of the conflict in North Africa. Served in Tunisia to support the Tigers of the same unit. They were early production units anyways, meaning aside from the 75mm gun and the different sprockets, they looked similar to the L.

[Der Kommandant]

Are you adding spare track links?
Seems common.

[PanzerArm]

OK, the internet finally decided to cooperate, so I can show you some pictures of the big achievement of the day.

The "completed" main gun









Sorry for the straight on one being so out of focus, can't really tell how good the shot is until I upload them and then it's too late (and I'm too lazy) to do it all again.

ANd they might look a bit ascew or crooked, but it's probably because of my poor choice of background and lighting. If I can find some black paper or something like that for a background I'll use it and take some more tomorrow that are better.

And I really wasn't doubting the ausf. Ns existance in the 501st in Africa, I've read quite extensively about all the s.pz.abt over the years, and I acceped their presence as fact, it's just that when it comes to making this tank more accurate I need to see actual pictures, and their isn't a whole lot available online. I intend on going to my storage unit this weekend to rescue my books, so hopefully I'll find what I need in there.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the positive feedback, and I'll keep you informed of any progress i make in the upcoming days.

Kevin

[PanzerArm]

And I am adding spare track links, I have some left over from a tamiya pz IV kit that look just like the 40cm pz. III ones.

Kevin

[Der Kommandant]

Marvelous. Great progress.
Gun looks great.
Customs are great, in that they show one's dedication to the model enough to advance it to the next level.
I presume you're going to need a lot of FoV jerry cans!
DONT forget the 501st emblem, the stalking tiger. Almost forgot.
Goes on the left hand side of the superstructure front, I believe. Tankers in the desert took measures to camouflage their tank against the bleak terrain, so a bit of netting and desert foliage should do.
Coming along very nicely.

[PanzerArm]

Thanks, and I will be digging through my accessories box soon to see if my stock of jerry cans are up to the job

The 501st emblem has been on my mind as of late. As I stated earlier I am away from my references and I have been forced to scrounge for info, but I was debating whether I remembered seeing the stalking tiger on the rear of the turret stowage bin too. I'm pretty sure the tigers only had them on the rear right hull to the side of the exhaust, but I can't recall the pz IIIs precise locations. I have a fellow board member with a large library helping me out on this part so I'm confident we'll get it right.

And I haven't really put a lot of thought into camouflage, but perhaps some build-a-rama netting, and maybe making some putty sandbags would be beneficial to my pz. IIIs crew.

Kevin

[Der Kommandant]

A little something I found in research: some N's had S-Mine dischargers attached to the hull, similar to the layout on an early-production Tiger. Apparently they were salvaged off disabled Tigers and put on the Panzer III's. If you have any of those add them aft of the Notek, and likewise on the other side.

[PanzerArm]

Hello everyone, I know it seems like a while since I have updated you on my progress so here it goes:



















Ok, so there it is, essential parts shown in place where they would be located. No pieces are secured with glue, some are taped, while others are just sitting where they belong, so if you see something askew or lopsided or just plain funked up, it's because they aren't actually on the tank yet. I'm leaving them off for the painting stage as per the request of the painter. Yes, that is correct, I am not painting this beauty. I've put far too much work into it to watch it get messed up by my inexperience as an airbrusher, and besides, i sold my airbrush a while back so I'd have to go buy another one first and that isn't gonna happen. Cabe will be painting it, and if you've seen his previous work he will definitely add the right touch to this piece.

Anyway, the update basically shows several views of the preview version of the tank. The smoke dischargers are seen better than in the previous pics I posted. The gun is shown actually mounted, taped of course, as is the jerry can stowage rack in the back, which is holding on just barely, it really needs to be glued to stay in place correctly. The engine vent covers look all messed up, that's cuz they're just sitting there nothing holding them in place, and I really didn't feel like making sure they were perfect for every picture. The turret stowage bin is also taped on. Also there are some spare track links on the front hull.

That's it for now, hopefully i will be mailing this to Cabe sometime this weekend for painting. Completion is getting very close!


Kevin

[Der Kommandant]

Wow
But did you add the S-Mine dischargers?
They were common on 501st panzers.

[1958Zelda]

Amazing detail,well done.

[PanzerArm]

I've been looking over pictures and I still have not seen a good picture with 501st panzer IIIs with them on. I have seen a diagram showing how they were mounted, but I am waiting for that last little bit of evidence before I make them. Also need to make the vents over the transmission and final drive, but I really don't want to. I'm trying to not let apathy set in and finish these last two things, but the smaller the details get, the more scarce detailed information and precise measurements seem to become. I'll give it a go tonight though, the s-mine dischargers should be fairly simple, I think they have chains on them if memory serves me, and those I'll have to get from my local hobby depot (hot looking forward to dealing with something that small though). The vents should be more of a challenge as they have some curvature to them and that is difficult on that small of an item. Also, i also need to make some rivets, and I'm not looking forward to that either.


Kevin

[Der Kommandant]

I have a few pics in my books of Panzer III moving in a column with the Tigers. They had S-mine dischargers on both sides of the hull; the caption said they were salvaged off damaged or destroyed Tigers. It shouldn't be that big of a problem if you choose not to add them.

[PanzerArm]

I think I am going to have to pass on the s-mine dischargers. I looked over my material, and I really don't have any styrene tubing that would replicate the scale width of the s-mine discharger(the inner diameter is messing me up, I can't find tubing thin enough), plus I can't seem to get any pics of it on a pz III, so I don't know angles or precise location. The vents I will do tonight *sigh* but after that I think I'm calling it quits as far as construction and I'm gonna send it off for painting.

Kevin

[Cabe]

sorry, just zipping through and didn't get to go over the entire thread, did you ever address the difference in German jerry can handles compared to what fov supplies? I was making jerry can at one point and found myself spending more time altering the handles than the tank they were to go with so i stopped, i still have the build in progress in a drawer, but need to finish it

you can buy the tamiya axis fuel depot 1/35 accessory kit and it comes with jerry cans and the handles are separate, you can just move em on a fov can. They may look a little thin in the handle but hey appear correct in detail at least