Pz.Kpfw.141 Pz III Auf M research question

[jknaus]

I'm working on a Pz III Ausf M at the moment, well that and a King Tiger. Anyways the Ausf M has 2 covered lights on the fenders. The conduit for power runs from the base of the lamp to the front glacis panel and down to somewhere. I've looked in all the books I have and spent a couple of hours searching for a picture to no avail. Does anyone out there have a picture or drawing of this conduit path? Thanks in advance.
James

 

[RichB]

From Panzer Tracts, the conduit ran from the inboard side of the base straight towards the hull. It turned down thru the fender and entered the hull thru a junction box.

Cheers,
Rich

 

[jknaus]

Thanks Rich. I'd really like to see the routing also. Its amazing how little photographic references there are.
James

 

[Cheyenne]

James , all Pz III 141's from E series to N were essentially the same interior wise . The alphabetical designations were from changes in armor , armament , power plant etc.
Your Pz III M got its alphabetical letter for the raised exhaust for wading and brackets for side armor , otherwise it's an L , which became an L because of the larger gun , ..... etc. on down to the E which was the first mass produced Pz III .

If you look at the cutaway pic , upper left you can see an electrical junction box on the side wall .

In the real 1/1 pic you can see the same el box . What's really cool and this is just spitballin but above the gauges next to the vision port is another el box which I believe is the on/off switch for the lights .
You're never going to find pics of the wiring where it comes through the front hull plate below each light into the tank . It appears that the wires are not in conduit from under the lights to the first junction boxes , then it looks like conduit from the boxes to the back of the tank .
Hope this helps and I was able to explain this sanely .

 

[jknaus]

Thanks I did find a picture of the conduit eventually and it is different from the previous versions. I wondered if the L with the Notek lights would be the same but it isn't. The conduit came out the inboard side a few inches and then drilled down through the fender ( I know that's not correct terminology but my mind is letting me down at the moment). Cool picture on the inside. I don't think I ever noticed the junction box before. The line drawing Rich gave shows it and I didn't recognize it at first. I posted the defining pic on my build but here it is.

Thanks again and appreciate the help. The cutaway will help with one of the other 7 Pz IIIs I have to build.
JAmes