Italeri

1/35 Sd.Kfz.139 Panzerjager Marder III

Kit Number: 6210

Reviewed by  Chris Mobley, IPMS# 42891

This Italeri release builds as an earlier version of the Marder than that of the Tamiya Marder III kit. Opening the box reveals three sprues of grey styrene. Some attachment points are a bit thin which was evident by the various parts running loose in the box. Several part numbers are also missing on the sprue but should not be hard to figure out what part you need. The hull exterior has nice details to it while the interior compartment is basic consisting of a couple of seats and an ammo rack. There is also a bulkhead between the driver and engine compartments. The road wheels have no detail on the back of them, the rubber just stops at the edge of the wheel without going on around. The plate on the front of the hull where the tow hooks are needed some sanding down to get it to fit correctly. Only other thing that had any fit problems on the hull was the center caps on the road wheels and idler pulleys. The ones on the idlers had posts that were off center and the ones on the road wheels just did not want to nestle down inside the road wheels straight. The kit has separate fenders with the basic assortment of pioneer tools and spare tracks. If you try to mount the side baskets on the gunners deck as the kits directs you to, they will not be level. They also do not connect with the rear basket as reference pictures showed. The bottoms of them look great but the top that is seen is a bit rough with some ejector marks. The Pak 40 has some nice detail and is traversable when complete. The gun shield around the Pak 40 has racks for ammo and other details. The instructions are not very clear on the exact correct placement of the shield though so it is helpful to refer to the paint guides or reference photos for that. Markings on the decal sheet include those for German Army, France 1944 and German Army, Russia, 1942. The decals are some of the best I have worked with on an armor piece, they were easy to work with and settled right onto raised details. Overall this kit is a nice build with only minor problems to contend with. Some small things like brackets for the spare tracks on the fenders would have been nice. If you are looking for a nice easy build as in between project this is a good kit to fit that bill and it makes a nice companion piece for the Tamiya Marder III.

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