Nice Pz III collection!
Wow, your work is a delight to my eyes. Iâm a big fan of Panzer III and I enjoy it when someone does it. I secretly followed your topic and I am impressed.
Congratulations and success in the next projects.
Kind regards and 
!
Kalin
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Thanks for the comments, gang. This took me a bit longer than I intended as I expected to get a chunk of last summer to work on them but I ended up spending extra amounts of quality time with my girls which I need to take advantage of while it lasts. Still, 11 kits in 10 months, plus two more nearing completion.
And during the build I also started and finished a 1/350 Klingon battlecruiser, a 1/350 Millennium Falcon, a '67 Impala, a '78 VW Scirocco, a '92 Nissan Pathfinder, and am about to wrap up a '69 Dodge Super Bee 440 (all cars 1/24). I also finished a 1/32 Ki43 Oscar that I started in 2019, as well as a '57 Chevy Bel Air and a '70 Corvette LT-1. 2021 was a very productive year for me. I just may finish my stash before I die.
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So if you were to rate the kits from most enjoyable to the least enjoyable, what order would you put them?
Okay, so I had two companies to deal with: Dragon and Miniart. Since the B and D were only available from Miniart I had no options.
As far as build enjoyment, I feel the least are roughly tied for worst:
Cyber 6717 Operation Seelöwe Ausf F
Dragon 9011 Ausf J
Both Miniarts
The Seelöwe kit seems to be from Dragonâs period just before they hit their stride in terms of value. Not exactly accurate I believe but I was willing to overlook that for the price I paid and the novelty of the topicâŠand having no one nearby whoâd ever know. The thing that sinks the kit for me is the damn DS. It just does not want to play nice, although I understand recreating a flexible hose of that length for a model kit probably isnât that easy, but this really slowed it down for me. The air hose has stalled me for about 8 months but I am almost done with itâwonât look perfect but I can always build another Ausf F.
The 9011 J is an old kit and the moldings show it. I replaced what I could of the OEM with spares from newer kits and made other small improvements but they are definitely not up to later Dragon standards. An older Tamiya would likely be more fun.
The Miniarts ended looking quite the part and I am happy with them, but there were so many fiddly bits in that suspension. The method for attaching the road wheels to the suspension arms was stupid IMO and I made a change on the second kit once I figured what would work for me. Instead of one long pin to connect wheel to arm, each gets half a pin with an opposed notch in the end so when you fit wheel to arm they must align inside properly AND you have to get cement in there to hold the pin halves together while not getting cement anywhere else and the point of contact is almost as bad as a bit of PE. I found this more tedious than prepping the road wheels or building the tracks for the 13 kits I started almost a year ago now.
In the middle were the Smart kits of which many were. Granted, this was mainly due to the kits all being pretty much the same so it was easy to form a routine and blow through each step assembly line-style. When the main difference is the gun and where things go on the fenders the basic steps go really fast. Most had Magic Tracks and for one I tried out a set of Rye Field Pz III working tracks and they fit pretty well. Well spent $17.
Good/Bad is the CMK Bergepanzer conversion using a Tamiya L base. The base is Tamiya so no more to say. The resin is my first so taking it slow, plus one part has to be recreated to finish the hoist assembly.
Canât quite say which was the most enjoyable but I do like the Befehlswagen (Dragon 6844 with RFM Pz III/IV early 40cm tracks) at the moment as it is most distinct from the rest with the aerial on the rear deck and the antenna.
Kits built:
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Bear in mind I did get the Miniart Ausf C as a Christmas present and have the Cyber Hobby Ausf K (Befehlswagen with 5cm gun) on the Schwerer Platformwagen, so there will be more Panzer IIIâs to come.
You have built an incredible collection! More importantly, your workmanship is outstanding!
Bill
That is quite a challenge. I could never pull that off
I am considering the Pz.Kpfw III Ausf F âOperation Seelöweâ kit done.
Even less of a fan of DS than I was going in, and that was a Level 0. It is not perfect, but it looks sort of like the actual tank and I am going to leave it at that.
I still have to fabricate one more part to complete the crane but I am about to finish the Bergepanzer III. Since finishing the first batch of Pz IIIâs I have since acquired the Ausf A and Ausf C and will try to start those by yearâs end, and then I will have the entire run of IIIâs not counting the Stugs and non-tank usages.
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Well, here we are nearly a year later and I am about done with the Bergepanzer III:
Just some paint touch-ups and a few other tiny items and thatâs it for the kits I began the odyssey with - a bakerâs dozen. I may build the A and C which I picked up much later on when I run through my Stug IIIs.
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Really nice. Pzr III is my favorite and Iâve contemplated building âthe family.â
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I really like the Bergepanzer. It does seem strange that no one has ever kitted this in plastic. There were more of these about than almost any other Bergepanzer, including PzIV.
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Stunning and impressive achievement.
I still think you need one with schurzen in there but what a set!
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I have an âMâ with schurzen but it was built a couple of years before I started this mass build.
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