1/16 PzKpfw III Ausf M - Trumpeter/Heller kit with Taigen hull integration - Build

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sun Jan 07, 2024 6:47 pm

The turret rear bin tub is molded in one piece and has a detailed interior... a nice touch if you can plug all the ejection pin holes inside and under the cover, no easy way to access. But the hinges are so small, it would have taken some scratch building with brass strips to create new operable hinges and i did not really see the need myself. But there are a lot of possibilities for the diorama builder.

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The bin has accurate mounts on the turret rear, it's really good that we finally have a Panzer III with a nice turret bin mounted properly. I bet there will be a black market for these bins.

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The ventilator has fan blades, sadly they do not show from the outside but cool from the inside, coming with the grill part to cover them.

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The Panzer III cupola has positionable armored periscope covers with nice periscopes and mounts inside. I want to see them so i will have opened covers. However, the instructions are showing the armored plates closed. It's not obvious how to position them open, there are no stoppers and it's up to the builder to position them correctly.

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A good and clear picture from the back cover of Achtung Panzer provides a good clue of their position when fully open.

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Installing them independently by following the instruction has risks of misplacing them completely, too high or too low, and not equal, which will likely not look good.

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It's better to glue the cupola base on the turret, and then slide the armored covers all the way down to the bottom rim. That position seems to match the one in the above Achtung Panzer picture.

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Same for the top of the cupola, sliding covers are positioned up against the rim. This way, they will fit and all of them will be aligned and strait. It just looks better that way.

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The periscopes are very nice, but they should be installed only after painting, done with a mask over the clear visor area, before adding the plastic overlay and position them inside the cupola.

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lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sun Jan 07, 2024 7:00 pm

The two halves of the cupola are glued after installing the periscope mounts.

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There is a internal ring on top with 5 PE parts that i was not too sure to install them. The instruction show them sliding down between periscope.

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I've seen this picture from Achtung Panzer. There is indeed something between periscopes but instead of a flat plate, it's looks more like head cushions... The PE plates might only be the base for the cushion.

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For now, i installed the plate has per instructions. Cushions in plasticard could be created and put on top. Just need to find a better picture of them.

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The top hatches are made operable with 0.5mm bit and corresponding brass wire.

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These are the smoke grenade dischargers.

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Instructions say to assemble them before mounting them. But it's almost impossible to determine the angle and keep them there with the part in the air like that. And it's not a solid joint.

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It is much simpler to install the base first on the turret, and then position each discharger correctly, according to the angle and with a bit of glue on the joint with the turret as well.

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lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sun Jan 07, 2024 7:10 pm

The turret is built. Let's do a walk around. The positioning holes still showing around the turret are for the Schurzen mounts.

Smoke grenade dischargers

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Side door

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Rear bin and pistol ports

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Operable pistol ports on both sides.

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The cupola, without the periscopes that will be installed at the end of the build after painting.

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Left side

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Operable side door, providing access to the recoil servo and connections, or to install a figure. The door periscope will be installed after painting.

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Operable side door pistol port on both sides. Notice the detailed locking mechanisms on these doors.

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lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sun Jan 07, 2024 7:19 pm

Very tight hinges, i had to reduce the thickness of the plastic sections going in in order to keep them loose. The kit hatches are designed to be glued. Nice door handle.

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Operable cupola hatches, it was important to me and for the figure that will go on top. I like to keep figures removable too. Trumpeter designed all hatches to be glued.

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The gap between the turret rear and the bin is properly designed.

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Turret fan.

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Screw heads on top plate.

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Smoke grenade dischargers. The wiring will be done after painting. Parts for the smoke grenades to slide inside the tubes are provided, but they look very basic so i did not put them in until further investigation is done on them.

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Mantlet

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The model as it stands today.

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lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Sun Jan 07, 2024 7:22 pm

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Comparative study of the turret with my old Heng Long Panzer III ausf L (modified). I realize now that all kind of parts are upside down on my HL... I will need to give it a bit of rework and a new paint job to take it out of its misery. I think it was my first Heng Long tank, done somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago. Earlier years are starting to be fuzzy with retirement. I remember changing the barrel but i do not remember putting the doors upside down or the cupola so badly oriented like that. Paint job is mine and his horrible, and those stickers... It's a proof that building skills do improve with time.

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That's it for the turret. What would have taken me months of scratch building to improve the Heng Long turret to an equivalent status is done in a few hours over two days... I started the whole build two weeks ago. Really anyone can have a Panzer III like this, and simpler if mounted over a HL plastic chassis. The Trumpeter/Heller kit is simply fantastic, and quite cheap for what it provides in terms of details and number of parts.

However, such accurate detail makes the tank more fragile. Personally, i give value to an accurate and detailed RC models because i do not run them hard. But for the guys who like to see if their tanks can climb the neighbours fence, i recommend that they stick with their Heng Long models. Or you own both and use them accordingly.

Next step, the Schurzens.

Regards, Louis

Post by **Kaczor** » Sun Jan 07, 2024 7:39 pm

The HL turret and basket are oversized to accommodate the ASG and elevation mechanisms. Now it looks great.

Herr Dr. Professor · Post by **Herr Dr. Professor** » Mon Jan 08, 2024 4:53 pm

Louis, to me it's refreshing to see your help with such a detailed build from a static kit upper hull and turret. Indeed, yours would be admirable work even if it were not converted to RC. Your abilities are to me rather awe-inspiring. In fact, even your HengLong Panzer III from some time ago, despite your displeasure with a few errors, shows quite respectable workmanship. (What is more, your command of English in writing is excellent. Did you learn both Polish and English as a youngster?)

jarndice · Post by **jarndice** » Mon Jan 08, 2024 5:00 pm

lmcq11 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2024 7:00 pm The two halves of the cupola are glued after installing the periscope mounts.

20.JPG

There is a internal ring on top with 5 PE parts that i was not too sure to install them. The instruction show them sliding down between periscope.

21.JPG

I've seen this picture from Achtung Panzer. There is indeed something between periscopes but instead of a flat plate, it's looks more like head cushions... The PE plates might only be the base for the cushion.

22.png

For now, i installed the plate has per instructions. Cushions in plasticard could be created and put on top. Just need to find a better picture of them.

23.JPG

The top hatches are made operable with 0.5mm bit and corresponding brass wire.
Might I suggest instead of Brass wire you substitute Piano Wire, it is strong and springy.

24.JPG

25.JPG

26.JPG

These are the smoke grenade dischargers.

27.JPG

Instructions say to assemble them before mounting them. But it's almost impossible to determine the angle and keep them there with the part in the air like that. And it's not a solid joint.

28.JPG

It is much simpler to install the base first on the turret, and then position each discharger correctly, according to the angle and with a bit of glue on the joint with the turret as well.

29.JPG

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lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Mon Jan 08, 2024 5:45 pm

Herr Dr. Professor wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 4:53 pm your command of English in writing is excellent. Did you learn both Polish and English as a youngster?)

Thank you very much Doc for your kind words. I worked 34 years in IT mostly as a system architect, dealing with people from all around the world that were all trying to write in english the best they could. I miss the challenges of the job and the people, but found a new world here for my creativity needs and a lot more fun.

I receive my barrel smoke unit. I took an hour to install it to see how it performs with a small barrel.

First, here is a quick video of the custom made gun recoil unit in action with smoke, flash and sound.

phpBB [video]

Same type of smoke unit as used on the Sherman build, bought on eBay for about $25, cheap and efficient.

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The red LED needed replacement by a yellow one. The Panzer III barrel is quite thin at the tip, the 3mm LED was trimmed to a maximum so that the smoke can flow through the barrel tip all around it.

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The Panzer III aluminum barrel is thin and short inside its recoil brass tube, it's a challenge to plug the recoil unit in addition to a smoke unit tube and a flash wire to that. So, recoil already took the middle with a 2mm bolt, leaving free space at the bottom that i allocated to the smoke unit and the top free space to the flash wire.

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In addition to the larger tip of the tube that fits with some pressure and glue, I created a deeper extension in brass tube, slighly crushed to enter the space allocated and slide around the recoil unit bolt, with a second purpose of limiting the flow of smoke. Such joint is a lot more solid and the smoke is delivered past the recoil bolt into the barrel, reducing leakage into the turret, but not entirely eliminating it, which is realistic.

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The connection is made to the barrel while pushed to maximum recoil. All 3 components fit; recoil, flash and smoke.

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The recoil unit is fully tested before closing the hull. At this time, all the other electronics are disconnected, this is just a recoil test with the smoke unit tube in place so that i can monitor the behavior of the recoil unit with the tube in place and study the smoke patterns coming out.

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The 3mm LED is positioned centraly so that the smoke will flow out all around it, and not be directed to one side or another.

The flash with smoke really enhance the RC experience. Now, all my tanks will feature a barrel smoke.

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Snapshot from video with barrel at rest.

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Snapshot from video with barrel at maximum recoil. The smoke flow is good.

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This is it for barrel smoke.

Regards, Louis

lmcq11 · Post by **lmcq11** » Tue Jan 09, 2024 8:01 pm

Hello,

The following posts are for the Schurzens.

The Schurzens are provided on two thin plasticard plates.

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When comparing the kit side mounts and schurzen plates against Achtung Panzer, everythings checks out. Trumpeter/Heller providing the most common version.

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The turret schurzens also also right on. Trumpeter really did their homework. In the past, I have paid a lot of money for after market Schurzens. The kit is a good deal because even if you do not build the Ausf M, you end up with a lot of spare parts that have value.

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I did a lot of study and reflection on how to deal with the Schurzens in past weeks. I've looked at creating more solid mounts in brass strips but it would be complicated and marginally more resistant. Each bracket would still be attached at only two small points on the tank. The tank is heavy, if i hit the schurzens on something hard while running the tank, something would be damaged or ripped apart anyway. I determined that it was not worth the effort. I therefore decided to use the plastic components, and need to be really careful running this tank. It’s the inconvenience of having a Ausf M with schurzen but I really want those schurzens. I already have a ausf G and L.

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The turret is a no brainer, the mounts need to be glued and the schurzen permanently installed.

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It's the hull mounts and plates that require some planning. The upper hull needs to remain removable to access the electronics but the schurzens have touch points on the upper hull rails and the supports on the fenders. The rail is glued to the brackets but the plan is to glue the brackets to the hull only at the end of the build.

There is an option to keep the schurzens removable on the rails but it seems that they will be falling off easily, they are too light to keep in position by gravity but i will test it to determine the situation. Everytime i open the hull, i would have to remove each schurzen individually, and put them back.

The other option is to glue the schurzen to the upper rail only. They will be solidly in place. When opening the hull, the flexible schurzen just need to be snapped out of the fender support and the upper hull raised with the schurzens. It seems that this will work.

TBD later.

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Here we have a RC Panzer III ausf M with schurzens. It looks really good.

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Schurzen dimensions and height checks out against references.

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