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Pz. Kpfw.III Ausf.L; Revell 1:72 (03251)
Topic Started: Feb 20 2018, 07:57 PM (56 Views)
Johni044
Lt John "bullet" Irwing
Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf. L
1:72 Scale
Kit Number 03251
Build Review


This will be an out of box build review of the Panzer III Ausf L released in 2016, if I deviate from the instructions I shall explain how and why.

Tools I will be using:
Scalpel.
Sanding sticks
Pin vice and drill.
Tweezers
Tamiya Extra Thin Cement
Paintbrushes
Revell Aquacolor paint and varnishes (Thinned with water)
Humbrol Clear and Decalfix.

Stage 1.
Hull sides require two holes do be drilled out for the emergency escape hatches to be installed later in the process.
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These are connected to the Hull bottom in Stage 2.

Stage 3
Cementing the two wheel halves together. This I found difficult initially as lining up the three male prongs to the female recesses was troublesome, after struggling for the first three I cut the und off a cocktail stick and placing this through the inner wheel aloud the outer to line up much easier, a small drop of extra thin on the join cemented them together.
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Stage 4
Cementing the upper guide wheels together.
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Please note the illustration in the instructions is incorrect the inner wheel (6) should face the other way, please see the orientation in the photograph. Part 7 has a prong that fits into the hole in the face of part 6 which in turn fits into the locating hole on the hull sides.

Stage 5 & 6
Cementing the drive wheel together.
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At this time I also painted the lower hull and the road wheel as access would be difficult after assembly. I cemented the upper guide wheels to the hull to facilitate painting the anthracite onto the rubber portion due to their small size.
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Stage 7
All wheels were glued onto the hull.
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Stage 8
holes drilled where indicted through the upper hull for lights and equipment fit later.
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I then painted the inside of the running boards as it would be difficult after the hull halves were joined together.

Stage 9
The emergency escape hatches were put in place using the holes drilled out in stage 1.
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and then painted.

Stage 10
The tracks, if anything is going to cause you problems in this build, then it will be here, and I deviated from what the instructions seem to be saying, primarily because I was unsure how to join the 8 x part 79 (individual links) around the drive wheels. So here is how I built them up.

Firstly I painted all sections of track on the sprue. Paint guide says 80% 83-rust and 20% 91-metalic iron, I also added a bit 09 anthracite to darken the colour down a bit.
I then fitted parts 75 and 76 to the wheels so that the ends of the parts were lined up to the top dead centre and bottom of the respective wheels. (take care to ensure the tracks are facing in the right direction. I then glued the loose individual link to either end of part 78.

Connected links parts 76 and 77 go on next. Now in the instructions it shows part 76 having 5 links and 77 having 6. In actual fact on the parts it’s the other way around and I would suggest using the longer portion (76) on the front portion leading to the toothed drive wheel. The instructions then say use 8 x loose tracks to join then ends together around the wheels, I found I needed only 7 links around the toothed drive wheel and 8 x around the rear wheel which a glued in place one at a time using extra thin. I also removed the teeth from the drive wheel where the track is in contact with it.

Sorry about the above, a bit complicated to describe but in practice not that difficult to do. They end up looking something like this.
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This is quite a little model and therefore quite light, so I added a bit blue tack to give it a bit weight at this stage.

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Stage 11
Rear hull plates fitted and hull halves joined.
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Stage 12 & 13
The exhaust and cover is fitted having painted them first.
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Stage 14 & 15
Hull sides, hatches and spaced armour applied. I painted the inner hull first and left the machine gun off at this time.
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Stage 16
Engine covers fitted.
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Now here I had a problem, part 90 pinged off my bench and has disappeared into the spatial vortex of the Carpet Monster never to be seen again.

Stages 17,18,19 & 20
Various containers, spares, lights, jacks etc attached. I touched up the paint where required and picked out the details on the tools etc, including applying some metalics to the bolt cutters etc stored on the decking even though this was not detailed in the instructions,
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Stages 21,22,23 & 24
Turret built up and storage, gun and hatches applied.
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Stage 25
Final assembly.
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After which the paint was touched up where necessary and Clear applied where decals were to be located. After the decals had set a coat of Aquacolor matt varnish was applied over the same areas.

Finished Model

Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf L
Eastern Front, early 1943

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Conclusions
I start this by saying that I have not completed an armour kits for over 40 years and never made a 1:72 scale tank before. An reservations I had disappeared in the first few minutes of starting the kit and I thoroughly enjoyed making it, enough to say I started it on a Saturday morning and it was finished by the Sunday morning, a testament to both the fit of the kit (no filler ANYWHERE) and the drying times of Aquacolor paints.

I cannot recommend this kit highly enough, thank you to Revell for the review sample.
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mac1677
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Lt Mac 'Shocker' McSheffrey
Nice review and a great build, thank you :cool
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Olde Farte
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Lt. Derek 'Smurfy' Reeve
Agreed, I like it even if it is that tiny scale.
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Cimmerian
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Lt. Ken 'Albatros' Jeffrey
Nice review. I do like a Panzer III. :clap:
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