leggeron

Im still a long way from starting work on my PIII but I have this big dilemma I just cant go around and its buggin the heck out of me [:@]
Should I make it a North Africa (yellow) or Eastern front (grey) PIII?
I wouldnt have been in such a tight spot if 1) Shermans (and hopefully Lees and Grants and maybe something British) werent on the way, and 2) wife didnt say grey tanks are horribly ugly (not that she's an expert or anything )
I cant do both, since I promissed the wife - no new tanks this fiscal year [&o]
Please help me decide...

westdr6113

"no new tanks this fiscal year" - You have more discipline than me. I was planning on doing my pz III in a North Africa scheme myself whenever I get to it. So that's what I would go with. But I'd say go with whatever you like the best. I have found that after building a few different types of tanks, eventually the wife finds something she kinda thinks is "cute".

swathdiver

Is your PZIII an H or an L? The H is more suitable for an Eastern Front theme and the L for DAK or 5th Panzer Armee in Afrika. As you know, I'm partial to North African theater tanks!

Wozwasnt

Well buy a used tank

fsciorelli

Swathdiver,

Why do you say the L is more suitable for N Africa and the H for the Ost Front? As far as I know both types served on both fronts. The H probably was a more competitive oponentt against the weaker British armor in N Africa with it lower velocity canon, whereas the H probably was nearly outclassed at Barbarossa. The longer, higher velocity canon on the L must have at least had a chance against some T-34 76 with poorly trained crews. I would vote for the H in N Africa and the L on the Ostfront.

My overall logic is to someday have the possibility for a historically evenly matched 1/16 tank oponents. Right now I would consider pairing a the PZIII H with a Grant (hopefully in the pipeline) and the PZIII L against a T-34/76 (WSN conversion from T-34/85?)

My 2 cents.

Frank

swathdiver

Sorry, I didn't reply properly. I should have written that the H was a better choice for the Eastern Front and the L was could be depicted in either theater.

To properly depict the Heng Long Tauchpanzer H in North African trim would require a lot of custom work if one wanted to make it look right.

I'm with you there, I hope the first Sherman sells well enough to get the others made. I'm looking forward to the M3 Lee and M10 TD to do battle against my 501 Tigers and PZIII Ns.

jom

Ummmm

Am I missing something? I thought that the paint colour was date related (yellow replaced grey in, um, late 1942ish?) so you can run dunkelgelb in either theatre? (just different camo colours).

Jo

leggeron

As far as I know yellow replaced grey in mid 1943, while yellow was used earlier by DAK.

fsciorelli

As far as I know both the H and the L can be gotten in sand or grey. Take your pick

kclank

Also different yellows, Africa Corps used a lighter shade of yello then the later dark yellows of the euopean and russian theater

swathdiver

Tauchpanzers wouldn't have been painted in "yellow" dunkelgelb (7028) at the factory as they were built way before that color came into use. I have seen photos of a Tauchpanzer in whitewash in Christmas of '44 but was not sure of the base color, it would likely have been repainted.

Alright, official paint during '41 to February '43 was dunkelgrau (7021). Dunkelgelb was introduced in February '43 and used as the base color for most tanks until sometime in late '44 or early '45 when they went to a green color.

North African units and those destined for southern Russia used the 8000/7008 and 8020/7027 schemes.

leggeron

My PIII is an ausf L (didnt notice at the time they had two versions out or would have gotten the ausf H). Im starting to lean towards a DAK tank hehe.
Just so I dont open a new thread, but I wanted to fully understand something on the black/white capped motors.
I got 3:1 gears on both my tanks which came with black capped motors. Now Im under the impression that I get a jerkier start with these and Im not particularly happy since I cant notice much of a speed reduction or a smoother run. I understand the white-capped ones are slower. But what Im trying to understand is which ones give a smoother start.

P.S. I also noticed both my tanks run on RX13 boards, should I pannick?