f matthews

I shot a dark Panzer Grey basecoat last night, but my airbrush got clogged before I could finish, so no photos. I cleaned the airbrush this morning and shot the mid and highlight coats. It’s nice to have some paint on this one.

Pretty much finished with assembly other than the tracks, MGs, turret hatches, the big stowage box for the rear hull and some small bits.

Back to the fun-was out of town for a few days and got a decent block of build time today to finish the turret I did not build up the gun breech or other interior details because the hatches will all be closed, but Dragon gives you a nice, fairly detailed bit of a turret interior. Other than tracks, tools and some minor details, this is getting close to completion. This has been a fun build so far.

Correct as I understand it as well. The III had no turret basket, but the Pz IV did.

Moving along to the turret, I added an RB turned aluminum barrel which is a perfect fit for the Dragon kits.

Indeed. These raised mold lines were still visible on one of the Pz. IIIs at Aberdeen Proving Grounds when I was there in the 1990s (I’d been back again a few times before they moved everything, but wasn’t looking or photographing any). I may go back and remove the seams as i normally do, but the wheels are just set in place and not yet fixed until after painting.

Everything went together very easily and the roadwheels were really not as much of a chore as I’d feared. A few small gaps to fill, but altogether, a pretty well-engineered kit. I think I will use Friul tracks on this one to get the most out of the working suspension. I happened to have a set around in the stash that will work.

A bit more done today on a day off of work. The fender assemblies look fantastic and are very well-detailed on both sides. The radio antenna trough looks great as well. I will add the tools and clamps later on in the build. The engine deck is also very nicely done with separate hinges and the air intakes are hollow, which is nice even if little will be seen in the end. The fighting compartment roof is a simple affair, but assembles cleanly. The side panels are similarly simple-I decided to forego the moveable vision flaps and blocks, which are nicely done (I made them moveable on a Dragon Pz.IV I am working on presently).

If you can grab a copy of the Peter Brown A13 book, do. It is excellent, as are all books in the series. I was fortunate enough to be able to get them all as they came out, starting with the Greyhound AC, the two Valentine titles, the A9/10, the A13 and the Firefly. The A9/10, the Vallys and the A13 are well worth the price if you can find them. The Firefly was underwhelming by comparison, but still worth having I suppose.

That is spectacular!

Just as most hotels don’t have 13th floors!

Moving slowly, a little bit at a time as I grab an hour or so of modeling time where I can (and I’m currently running five projects). The back plate is very nicely detailed and looks very well done until everything is mounted to the hull. There are some gaps which should not exist (where plates come together and molded-on weld seams are on parts). Not sure why this is, but I’ll add some filler. Gaps visible where part B15 is installed: Everything else looks nice and clean, although the smoke candle mount assembly and location is difficult to discern from the instructions.

Back to putting lots of little separate detail parts on the hull. Torsion bars-a very cool way to articulate the suspension-like the real thing. Oops, I broke one. Torsion bars and details in place. Drive sprockets and idler wheels in place. This is looking really good so far.

Spectacular! I love the load and the tailgate detail is sublime.

Wow-those rims look unnecessarily complex indeed. Nice work tackling those-they do look great when finished, I’m just fortunate to be building one of the older ones with the single-piece circles!

Got back a bit early from the road and had a little free time today. Started up at the beginning, which is the idler and drive wheels. The idler mounts-parts B2 and B3 don’t positively anchor anywhere and instructions are less than clear. The idlers look really good with the photoetched rings in place. The drive sprockets-I’ll have to source some poly caps so these can turn after installation.

Excellent finish. I love these kits, so watching your “in progress” thread was great.

Thinking about one of the ones with the dragons on the turret.

I probably won’t get to start on this one until mid next week, but am looking forward to it!

I’ve decided on Dragon’s Pz. III Ausf. J with the short 50mm gun. Looks to be a very nice kit in the box. I haven’t built one of Dragon’s III kits yet, but have a few in the stash, so it’s high time I did one. I’ll be adding an aluminum barrel and one of two TW rear storage boxes.

This kit got me started in a “new phase” of my modeling in 2017 where I started doing things at an an elevated level. It’s a fun build and there’s a lot that you can do with the kit. I want to eventually build the Bronco Vally XI from my stash, but have built several Valentine marks. A fun project.

Thanks! Pardon my stupidity, but does that thread go in the “Work In Progress” under the AFV Modeling Forum or is it posted in the Modeling Forum?

I’m not quite sure how Group Builds go (so you do your own “Work In Progress” thread or is there one massive thread for everybody?), but I’m keen to build this one that has been in my stash forever. I’ve wanted to build one of these since the early 1990s when I first got the Squadron “Panzer Colors” series and one of these was on one of the covers.

There are several vendors on eBay that make them. I used a local trophy shop for years, but they went out of business so I started using the online vendors.

They saved a few hours in cleanup, assembly and painting and are the best Sherman-type tracks out there I think. The kit tracks are excellent though. Here is a set of the kit tracks I built on the Miniart Grant Mk.I: