One of the more interesting areas of German armour development during the second world war was the many and varied types of open topped self propelled guns, or so called tank destroyers, that were developed and fielded. The Marder III took the very successful 75mm PaK 40 Anti-Tank gun and mounted it onto the chassis of the Czech built 38(t). Most mainstream 1/35 scale military model manufacturers have produced a Marder kit and this is Tamiya’s offering.
This particular kit is a limited edition version that takes the basic Tamiya Marder III kit and adds the ICM German Tank Maintenance Crew set to it giving you a little vignette in a box. it comes in a medium sized tray and lid box containing six dark yellow sprues ( two of which are the same ) and a pair of vinyl “rubber band” style tracks.
The mouldings are as usual excellent, totally flash free and having the faintest of mould seams only. The level of detail on the parts is very good, being quite delicate in some places, and the fit of the parts is faultless.
The interior is good if somewhat simplified in detail, having all the main components necassary but being a little lacking in the smaller parts which should be in there, especially the radio and crew gear. The rear wire basket is very good for a plastic moulded one probably being about as good as you can get without having to resort to photo-etch.
The gun is a very nice representation coming with a nice looking sight and sharply detailed cradle. Assembled with care it can be elevated and traversed. The barrel is made in the usual two halves which means care must be taken when gluing them together but the fit is perfect, leaving only a very faint joint seam to remove. The gun shield is also thicker than it’s true scale thickness but again this is a constraint of the medium, not a fault in the kit. Both the front and rear travel locks can be positioned in either the transit mode or deployed mode.
The hull is made up of several pieces rather than the usual single tub, being mainly just the lower chassis with a gun and armoured shields mounted on top. The upper hull sides are a little overthick in scale terms as the real Marder only had very light armour meaning it is nigh on impossible to represent the scale thickness ( about 0.2mm ) in plastic. This is however a detail that will only be seen by those aware of it.
The chassis is a simple affair with some of the detail moulded onto the side panels of the hull with the rest being made up of twelve parts - three per corner. The road wheels are very nicely moulded as are the three piece sprockets and two piece iders. All the road wheels and return rollers are one piece per unit. The tracks are the usual Tamiya tracks being one piece vinyl tracks which are adequate but lack the hollow guide horns and the sharpness of detail definition that individual link tracks have.
You get a total of six figures in this kit, the original two Tamiya figures plus the additional four ICM figures. The two Tamiya figures are posed standing in the vehicle with one holding a shell. Both are dressed in the reed green uniforms of the mobile gun crews and both wear side caps. The mouldings are very good though both faces look very much the same. The four ICM figures are made up of two crew wearing the same reed green panzer cut uniforms with one checking his watch as if imaptient with the repair work being carried out by the other two figures, one of whom wears overalls and a side cap, the other being in a shirt with rolled up sleeves, hatless and holding a wrench. Again the mouldings are very good with nice, sharp detail.
Decals and painting guides are provided for five vehicles – 1.7th Pz.Div. 42nd Tank Destroyer Bttn., Russia 1944 : 2.19th Pz.Div. 19th Tank Destroyer Bttn., Russia, winter 1942 : 3.15th Pz.Div. 33rd Tank Destroyer Bttn., North Africa 1942 : 4.7th Pz.Div. 42nd Tank Destroyer Bttn., Russia 1942 : 5.2nd Tank Destroyer Bttn., Russia, autumn 1942.
This is a first rate kit that builds up nicely into a very nice model. The Dragon version has more parts, photo etch and individual link tracks so if you’re looking for the best in detail then that’s the one for you, but if you want one that builds up quickly, easily and looks good at the end then you can’t go past his kit, either with or without the added ICM figures it is still a great little a kit.
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