From March to December 1944 150 Panzer lll were converted to Bergepanzer lll. Their frontline use over, they would serve in support of their larger more advanced cousins. Essentially the turret was removed, winch added and a new superstructure and a 1000kg crane assembly.
Source Bundersachiv - Bergepanzer lll seen here with the Bergeanker. In effect a dirty great earth hook which would enable the recovery of larger vehicles. This is one of the few pictures of it 'in use'.
Not that fussed about the anchor, but I've wanted the vehicle for some time. And so a while back I picked up one of the 2 conversion kits available on the market. These are from S&S models and Company B. I had the latter having picked it up when I got their German field kitchen kit ( which will feature in a future post). Several months later and I pick up another Rubicon Panzer lll to use as the base and i find that the Company B conversion Kit is.... well... the scale is way out! probably ok on a 1.48 kit but at 1.56, sorry but its just too big. The S&S one looks to be right but, I have the tank, I'm on a roll so....lets see what I can do.
The superstructure is Slater plasticard planking sheet and plastic strip. The crane is plastic rod from a Dapol pipe and valve set. Accessories are from various Rubicon accessory sets and the unditching 'log' is laminated coffee stirrer. The Crew man was a last minute addition ( which is why there's only one picture of him) using a spare crewman from the recent Warlord SDKFZ 250 kit. Is it 100% scale accurate? No but it 'feels' right and so I'm happy with the result. Job Done. Another one to the painting queue- Really must get round to reducing that.
I hope this may inspire some of you to have a go, its not a complicated build, then again If you want one and life is a little too short to be messing with plasticard and stuff then my recommendation would be the S&S Models option.
Until next time
Cheers
Andy
6,5 out.