The Panzer III Production Line Continued ...

Inside the heart of the Reich, Albert Speer's industrial war machine turns up a gear and starts churning out Panzer III's on a mass scale (see below, one HaT and two Frontline models) as Hitler's attention turns east towards the Soviet Union and his idealogical enemy Stalin:

A closer look at the "duo" of the 1/76 Pz III Ausf E's armed with the "37mm door-knocker" picked up at SmoggyCon (see below). It's always nice to paint a convention purchase asap:

My definition of "industrial" when it comes to kit creation is three plus ;)

The 1/72 Pz III Ausf G "short 50mm" (see back left above) shows the rapid pace of the evolutionary arms race in comparison to the 1/76 Pz III Ausf E "37mm door-knocker" (see rear right and foreground above). Two major marks of the Pz III were released within months of each other, the Pz III Ausf E becoming effectively obsolete by the start of the Russian 1941 Campaign (Barbarossa):

The Light Companies of the "Barbarossa 1941" Panzer Battalion and its Light Companies (see above). Each comprised of:

• 2 x Pz III Ausf G + 1 Pz III Ausf E

The "Command Tanks" to be nominated as needed, rather than being 'special models'. The two light companies 'spread' over the plain of my painting table (see below):

Shiny tracks, varying shades of German Grey and rusting rear radiator exhausts

Germans all done now, all I need is some Soviet opposition:

Finally its time to reappraise my "Panzer Grey Project", is it finished?

I think so, until spring 1942 when the Pz III "special" long 50mm tank (Ausf J2) appears. Technically I may need six Pz III Ausf G's models by the end of 1941, but combat attrition meant that 'full battalions' were rarely fielded and I can safely use the Pz III Ausf E's as nice ways of spotting/differentiating the "Command Tanks" on the tabletop.

Besides at this point I have also reached the bottom of the Tamiya XF-63 paint pot!