ADMIRAL TOYS 1/72 PzKpfw 3 Ausf H DIECAST TANK PzIII-H WW2 GERMAN BLITZKRIEG #3

Description

You are looking at a TRUE
Die-Cast
PzIII-H
by
ADMIRAL Toys
, currently out of production and out of business. You can see the metal content in the 7th picture. The picture is of an Admiral PzIII-L but the content is the same.
This is a beautifully detailed piece with plastic wheels and rubber tracks that do not turn. The turret does turn 360* and the main gun elevates and depresses. It is painted in early war German gray which is actually a deep blue color and all German armor was initially in this color.
I painted over this gray using Tamiya Color acrylic paints to create the 'dazzle' or 'mottled' camouflage pattern. This pattern was used to simulate sunlight coming through the leaves on the trees in a dappled pattern onto the vehicles. It also comes with a wire aerial that sticks in the little hole/cone on the starboard (right) side of the tank (picture #8). The aerial is still in its original cellophane envelope and is taped to the bottom of the hull.
The PzIII-H carried a short, L-42 nomenclature, 50mm high velocity cannon which was upgraded in subsequent models to a longer, higher velocity L-60. More information on the Pz-III tank can be found at the end of this description.
In the early 2000s
Admiral Toys
(see discussion at the end of this description) came out with what was to have been a series of true Die-Cast tanks and planes. Virtually all contemporary described as "die-cast" toys are actually all or mostly plastic... these were mostly metal. I purchased several dozen of these "H"-models many of which I custom painted. I have more than I need and while, at the time,  I bought them to keep, I have since changed my mind.
You will get what you see. The pictures are of the actual tank you will be bidding on. I will be happy to answer any question that you may have.
Please note. Now that eBay charges fees for the entire purchase price, including shipping, I considered just offering "free" shipping and folding the S&H into the item price. This, however, would preclude me from offering a combined shipping discount, so I have forsworn doing so. This does leave me at the buyer's mercy in the DSR ratings so if you have a question about my S&H please feel free to contact me regarding it. Thank you.
This item may not be mailed to Italy. If you are in Italy please contact me prior to bidding.
Caveat Emptor?:   Not really, more 'buyer be aware.' I am a private collector and a personal consumer. I am NOT a retailer. I do not have a stock of "inventory" or buy things wholesale. Everything I sell, whether as New, Used or 'Other' has been bought and paid for at retail and often with taxes and/or shipping as well. I price at close to what I paid and so do not have much of a margin. Everything I sell must be considered as pre-owned and comes as-is. I provide a photo, will gladly provide more and give a full and accurate description of each item including any known defects. I do not have a return policy because I am NOT a business, just a private person, and simply cannot afford to deal with returns. My shipping department is me and three cats who are shiftless and lazy and have the finest union contract on earth with free food, board and 100% medical. Their motto is "knock it under the sofa and fuggedaboutit." I ship everything within 24 hours of receipt of payment (unless received the day before a Sunday or holiday) because that is what I want for myself. I usually ship USPS Priority and always include a tracking/confirmation number; you will invariably receive your item in less than a week, CONUS.
A Short History of the PzIII
:
The Panzer Mark III, or Pz-III was the first true MBT (main-battle-tank)- designed by the Germans and was optimistically meant to see them through the entire war. Starting out at ~20-tons it grew heavier as its armor thickened and ended up at ~25-tons in weight.
The PzIII was the tank that led the German army to all of its early-war victories, creating the myth of invincibility of the German war machine and the legend of the German tank as the ultimate in war machines. All that despite its being under-gunned, under-armored and generally outnumbered on the battlefield.
The back story of this tank, however can be found in the evolution of its main gun.
At the start of the war the Pz-IV was designated as the infantry support tank for the Wehrmacht, and the PzIII the breakthrough, tank-fighting vehicle. In consequence it (the PzIV) carried a low-velocity short 75mm gun meant to offer close-in fire support to reduce defensive fortifications such as pillboxes and bunkers.
At the same time the PzIII-E was armed with a high-velocity 37mm gun. This fired a 1.66 pound projectile and was chosen to be consistent with the basic German anti-tank gun of the time. (Hitler had wanted a 50mm, 4-pound projectile gun, but wasn't paying attention. This was one of the reasons he stopped trusting his general's judgement.) It served on the first production version, the PzIII-E, introduced in 1938 or so. The 37mm gun, however, was already obsolete, truly effective only against the very army that used it, and this was discovered, to the tankers chagrin, only on the battlefield.
In consequence it was replaced in mid-Summer, 1940, with the introduction of the "F" version, where a short (L-42) 50mm gun was introduced. It too, was inadequate but remained in use through a variety of up-armored versions (the PzIII-G & III-H) until the PzIII-j/1 appeared in early 1942 with a longer, yet still obsolete, L-60 gun which was standardized on the PzIII-L.
The final model was the PzIII-N (late 1942-43) armed with the short 75mm gun first introduced on the early PzIVs and used as they had been, as infantry support vehicles. These latter-day “infantry tanks” also carried HEAT ammunition to deal with enemy armor but their primary job was to support the infantry in local assaults, fighting enemy armor only in self-defense.
Subsequent ‘upgrading’ included infantry anti-tank (anti-bazooka/hollow charge) protection in the form of skirting (schurtzen) on the hull (which tended to fall off in battle and travel) and around the turret in the “M” and final variant, just like on the Pz-IV-H & J.
By 1942, however, the PzIII was already obsolete. It had been up-armored to a point nearing immobility and the 50mm was the biggest gun that its turret could handle (due to the room required for main-gun recoil) which was governed by the size of the turret ring. In the meantime the PzIII hull had been found to be an excellent carriage for the "assault gun" which was a turretless tank, capable of carrying a much heavier weapon. In the case of the PzIII hull, a long, tank-killing L-48 75mm gun.
Thus the tank that led the Wehrmacht in its victories ended up supporting the Wehrmacht in defense.
WW2, C&C:
The armored tank is really nothing more than a mobile platform meant to carry a cannon onto a battlefield with some degree of impunity. The earliest tanks simply mounted a field howitzer and machine gun array and were barely mobile rolling bunkers, serving in the infantry support role. Slow and cumbersome they accompanied the infantry taking care of pesky machine gun nests and helping in the breakthrough of the trench lines that epitomized the first World War.
Between the wars a much more sophisticated philosophy of tank warfare arose. This involved a combination of heavily armored, slower infantry support ("combat support") tanks and faster, lighter 'breakthrough' tanks that would rush through the holes created in the enemy lines, creating havoc in the rear areas, disrupting supplies and communication and generally denigrating the ability to conduct war.
The big difference at the start of WW2 was that the Germans put radios into their tanks, The allies required their tank commanders to stand up in the turrets and use hand signals or semaphore flags. The command & control results were more than striking, they were fatal. The Germans could control large numbers of tanks, shifting them from one point to another with relative ease and safety, their opponents could not and paid the price in defeat after defeat.
Eventually everybody put radios in their tanks and the actual quality of the vehicles themselves became a more telling factor.
The Admiral Story:
In ~2004 Dragon Armor came out with what they declared would be a die-cast line of 1/72 scale model tanks that were faithful recreations of actual tanks. They began with Tigers, Panthers, JagdPanthers and King Tigers. While beautifully painted and brilliantly detailed none were actual die-cast. Having either a metal hull and plastic turret or visa-versa. Eventually they went to all plastic “die-cast.”
At about the same time a new company, called Admiral Toys started up and presented a true, all die-cast (with a few plastic parts, rubber tracks, etc) tanks. Beginning with the Panzer III-H without the turret storage bustle. You can decide how detailed you think they are. I think they’re pretty good. While not as extensive a line as the Dragon they were the best and only Pz-IIIs in 1/72 for several years. The price point of .99 put them in the same price range as the Dragon and as Dragon didn’t have the Pz-III in any variant Admiral had that market to itself.
The Admiral Pz-III-H is one of the nicest toy tanks ever made in this scale. It is relatively rugged and feels as if you’re picking up a toy TANK and not a hollow piece of plastic in the form of a tank. All the PzIIIs come with a small wire ‘aerial’ that fits into a hollowed cone on the starboard side of the tank.
Admiral subsequently extended their line to include an Afrika Korps Pz-III-L in desert tan and then a Panzer-III-M with schurtzen on the hull and around the turret, painted in a darker tan and dark dark green camouflage. Comparable to what the Germans used in Russia in 1943-44, until they were all gone. They had plans to come out with a Pz-III-L in winter livery but went bankrupt before they were able to.
They also produced a more extensive line of fighter aircraft as well as these three tanks. They used Dragon’s strategy of using the same basic molds for the three variants but with significant
You will discover that these models are both coveted and quite rare, the “M” model being the last, lowest manufacturing volume and hardest to find.