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This tank spend most of 2009 in Full, where it was cosmetically restored. It's now back in its place in Thun, sitting between a Jagdpanzer IV and a Jagdpanther.













Massimo

Massimo,

do you have further information on the engine/gearbox removal?

P-O

I can confirm that last summer in Full they told me the interior was beyond repair, most likely sabotated by the tank's crew. What they were trying to do was to make it able to "roll", not run, so that moving it around would be easy.

I asked about it to Tobias Haudenschild and he told me he wasn't sure the tank is able to roll now, but he knows that they added something that should prevent any torsion bar from breaking.

That's all I know.

Massimo

Its a late model, but where are the schurzen? the skirts?

- Massimo_Foti

I can confirm that last summer in Full they told me the interior was beyond repair, most likely sabotated by the tank's crew.

Nothing is beyond repair. Look at the Wheatcroft/Littlefield Panthers. I guess they mean 'beyond economical repair.'

They've made a beautiful job of the exterior, whatever.

Nothing is beyond repair.

Sure!

I guess they mean 'beyond economical repair.'

I guess that's the point. Even if the same crew is working on restoring a Kingtiger to running condition but, as a matter of fact, raising money has been the hardest part of that project...

Massimo

Massimo's photos now online at PTC, added to my older ones:

Thun StuG III

Thanks for the update Trevor. The "time machine effect" is always cool.
I have mixed feelings about listing both the Panzermuseum and the SHP under the same page... They are pretty much separated entities and, most important, while the Panzermuseum is pretty much opened to the public, the SHP is not.

What about the tanks inside the base (Pz 39, G-13 and diesel Centurion), do you plan to list them separately?

Massimo

Why keep these outside? The weather will detroy them like the ones at Washington.

- Massimo_Foti

I have mixed feelings about listing both the Panzermuseum and the SHP under the same page... They are pretty much separated entities and, most important, while the Panzermuseum is pretty much opened to the public, the SHP is not.

What about the tanks inside the base (Pz 39, G-13 and diesel Centurion), do you plan to list them separately?

I have given a lot of thought to this, and while I understand your point of view I think it is best to keep them all as one location entry, including the base tanks. I think the situation is not unusual, most collections have some vehicles that are permanently open to the public and some that are hidden away (sometimes the majority are hidden). For many other collections I list this is true - e.g. Bovington, Saumur, APG, Fort Knox, Kubinka, etc. In each of those cases it is also true that there are tanks on display around the surrounding military base some or all of which may belong to the main collection (and some whose ownership is unknown or unclear). In all cases I list these together.

In addition, there are practical considerations with regard to how the website and database work. Firstly, this way works well for showing multiple locations near to each other on a Google map (e.g. a main Thun location with multiple nearby sublocations) whereas trying to show multiple different locations on the same high level map will put them on top of each other. Also, it is easier to handle the regular moving around of vehicles, e.g. a vehicle moving from one Thun sublocation to another one. Finally there is just the practical consideration that people visiting an area, say Thun, want to know what's there and are not concerned about who owns each vehicle.

That's my current point of view. I'm happy to discuss it further, and certainly respect your opinion, but currently I don't see the SHP situation as being exceptional compared to other collections. Of course this requires that I make it clear what vehicles can typically be seen easily and which can't.

Now that I think about other collections I see your point. You have to accept some trade-off aftêr all.

Massimo

Trevor, now that I think about it. I've send also some shots of the tank while it was under restoration in Full, last year, did I?

Massimo

Yes, you did - they're sitting in a backlog, I'm afraid.

Chatting with people in Full I was told that in exchange for the restoration work, Full Museum got the engine and transmission out of the StuG III.
I was pretty surprised to hear that, and I recalled the voices of the G-13 (from Fort Pre-Girod) that was send to Poland and was supposed to be exchanged for a StuG III. Now, that G-13 is no longer in Full since more than one year but I wasn't able to get news it, if and when and why it went to Poland...

Massimo