Trumpeter

1/35 Panzerjager 39(H) Marder I

Kit Number: 0354

Reviewed by  Marc Brzezicki, IPMS# 33242

MSRP: $19.00 Imported by Stevens International (www.stevenshobby.com). Background When France surrendered in 1940 Germany acquired a number of vehicles from the former French army. Some were Hotchkiss built H-39's. Some were used as is and others were converted to serve as open top self-propelled mounts, carrying either 10.5 cm or 75mm PAK guns. This kit is of the 75mm PAK 40/3 designated Sd.Kfz.135 Panzerjager 39(H) Marder I. Searching my reference books I have found a handful of pictures of these vehicles in Normandy. Kit Trumpeter has released 4 kits of vehicles based on the Hotchkiss H-39. This kit arrived in Trumpeter's usual sturdy cardboard box. Upon opening it I found 6 trees comprising 199 parts molded in tan styrene. The lower hull was in a separate protected section of the box along with two sections of flexible vinyl tracks. A small sheet of decals was attached to the side of the box. Looking through the parts on the trees one finds that there are a number of ejector pin marks on the inside of the fighting compartment walls as well as on the inside of the gun shields. AMS took over and I took out my Waldron punch and die set and began making suitably sized fillers for these ejector pin marks. This ended up as a good practice session because there are parts included in this kit for the 10.5 cm vehicle which won't be used on the Marder, and some of these ejector pin marks wind up hidden by radios or stowage boxes fitted inside the fighting compartment. Like I said, it ended up to be good practice. Following the instructions I began by cleaning the parts for the suspension and lower hull. You need to make six bogey units. Cleanup of the parts was easy and I found that each road wheel had two ejector pin marks on them. It took a little time to figure out exactly how these parts went together since the instructions just point to a general area and there aren't the best locating marks on the pieces. Once all the suspension units were assembled and drying I moved onto the assembly of the lower hull. Trumpeter provides the basic parts for the driver's compartment as well as the engine firewall and radiator assembly. This area could use some TLC as it is pretty basic. The PAK 40 is a well-detailed kit all by itself. It has a separate breech and block parts, aiming mechanisms, controls, shields and handles. The kit barrel went together well and though Rubio makes a replacement barrel, I used the kit pieces. The rest of the gun went together without much difficulty and it looks pretty good all by itself. I next worked on the upper hull, which included the fighting compartment. This is where I found that many of the ejector pin marks that I filled were filled unnecessarily. I taped together the compartment walls then taped the upper hull to the lower hull to see if I could glue everything together so I could paint everything at once. Fitting the PAK inside this assembly was no problem, so I started gluing everything together minus the gun. I ran into a couple of problems with the front glacis plate. It's basically too short. If glued against the fighting compartment wall it leaves a step at the front of the hull and if lined up with the front of the hull it leaves a gap near the back. I took a bead of Apoxie Sculpt and put it along the front of the hull while fitting the glacis plate against the fighting compartment. This was I was able to blend the two parts together and not accidentally obliterate the nicely molded Hotchkiss marking on the front of the hull. I also found that part #K2 is only given a general location in the instructions. I referred to my copy of Panzers in Samur to see on an actual vehicle where that part went. Once everything was assembled to my satisfaction I began to paint the model. My reference photos as well as the instruction show a vehicle painted in the standard dark yellow with red brown and dark green camouflage. Using Tamiya paints I first gave the entire model a base coat of dark yellow. Then I sprayed a disruptive scheme using the red brown and dark green. I painted one of the return rollers dark green to look like it was a replacement. I hand brushed the various internal details as well as the tools mounted to the exterior of the vehicle. I found the tracks to be three links too long. Once I cut the three links away I used a heated screwdriver blade to fuse the tracks together though with only one pair of pins it's not a very durable/sturdy joint. I'd recommend using link-to-link tracks made by either Fruilmodel or Lion Mark. From the few pictures of this vehicle I've found there aren't many markings to be applied to this vehicle. I used a pair of dry transfer German national crosses from Archer. I'd recommend this kit to experienced modelers due to some of the haziness of the instructions. With all of the aftermarket updates, additions and upgrades made by Blast, Eduard, Fruilmodel, Lion Mark and Rubio a modeler can make a really spectacular model out of this kit. Thanks to Stevens International and Trumpeter for the review kit.

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