Great progress and completion this week on the Black Sea StuG III. This was largely due to our volunteer Theo who cleared, primed and applied the Dunkelgelb top coat to the engine deck and crew cabin wall. The fittings – spare Laufrollen road wheels are on their stowage points and the cleaning rods and antenna are also now back where they belong. Serious vacuum work on the engine bay interior has been completed but the display hall remains undone to remove the considerable dust caused by the Zimmerit removal.
The fuel feed problem with the 1 Ton Zugmaschine has been resolved. The problem was being caused by the piped engine heating system fitted to the exhaust manifold. This was leaking. The problem has been resolved and the ‘Demag’ is running well again.
The 3 Serie Sd.Kfz 223 from Brittany moves on. The wishbone chassis suspension is being stripped. Three wheel stations have been stripped and the fittings removed and stowed. Most of the chassis components have never been apart and one station is solid and will require splitting of corroded nuts and the retaining bars to separate.
