Dragon

1/35 Marder III H

Kit Number: 6420 Smart Kit

Reviewed by  Tracy Palmer, IPMS# 39188

MSRP: $50.99 Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Also reviewed: Pavla M 35-09 Ammunition Pak 40/75 and M35-01 barrel set MSRP: 35-09 - $2.95, 35-01 - $3.50

The Vehicle The history is really quite simple for the Marder III H. The Germans took a chassis made in Czechoslovakia and combined it with a 75 mm antitank gun and voila, an interim tank destroyer until something else could be produced. The Germans converted 417 vehicles in this manner. The Model My first thoughts on this build were that I was going to build and review this model from a less-experienced modeler's point of view. I will try to hold to this approach, as I queried some friends who are less experienced in armor and asked them what they thought about some of the problems I encountered. My first concern was indicated right on the box cover-650 parts! Holy cow - does this thing drive away when I'm done? The box had 14 plastic sprues, 3 frets of photo etched parts, a cover for the top, and the back grill already soldered together.

Also, the gun barrel was a one-piece aluminum tube, and the tracks were individual links (240 of them!) in a bag. So, 240 tracks subtracted from 650+ total parts leaves… 410+ parts on this tank. Here we go. Assembly Being a Dragon kit, I had high expectations for clarity of instructions and part design. I was disappointed. While this was by no means my first Dragon kit, the fact that is was labeled as being a 'Smart Kit' led me to believe that the pitfall of other kits had been rectified. Such was not the case. The first seven Steps are fairly easy and straightforward. With the minor exception that I prefer to assemble tracks last, it went together well. In Step Eight, you start building the engine and transmission. Step Nine is where I encountered the first minor problem. The transmission and firewalls are installed, followed by the front armor plates. The gap on the sides was huge. When I tried to squeeze the sides together, it was noticeable, and did not allow other things to fit. I used some plastic card glued in with Tenex as shims, which solved the problem very nicely. Step 10 was the killer! It would appear that the guy who created these directions never built this kit! What the directions tell you to do is bend a photo etch part to make a storage rack for the shell holders. The directions show it built BACKWARDS! OH by the way, photo etch parts only bend one way ONCE! So when I tried to bend it (VERY carefully!) back the opposite way, the whole thing fell apart! This was a bad thing. I scratch built another one and put the shell holder in. This trick was WAY beyond basic/novice building. In Step 11-13 you build a beautiful engine and put it in the engine compartment. Remember this part, as we shall come back to it. Step 14 was the other killer. The directions tell you to put the bow machine gun together in the wrong order, and it will never go together the way the directions tell you to. I hope you dry fit this or else you are done for! In Step 15 you build the rear engine covering, Steps 16 and 17 are the tools, and Step 18 is the placing of the engine covers and the really cool grill basket I mentioned earlier. Now remember that beautiful engine we built in Step 11-13? Well, we just covered it up and there is no way to see it!! That bothered me in that if I am going to do all this work on something, I would at least like to see it, even a little corner. NOPE! Steps 19-27 were all about getting the 75 mm gun put together. Not only was it a pleasure to build, it went together with no problems at all. I think that my only problem was deciding which mantle to put on the end of the gun tube. Painting and Marking Dragon gives you two options for markings in this kit; one in grey and one in dark yellow, both unidentified units. I chose the grey one. Three decals later, and I was done. It was dusted, clear coated, and photographed! Overall My overall impression of this kit was very good. I loved the upper hull/75mm gun. I thought the tracks were well done and easily assembled. The one fit issue in the hull was something that a builder with moderate levels of experience could handle. The backwards photo etch part and poor directions were a serious challenge for any modeler. So, with that said (again!), I would recommend this kit to modelers who have some experience in working with photo etch, some scratch building skills, and a moderate experience level in general. I worked about 45 hours on the kit, a good 6 of which were fixing things already mentioned. Extras The Pavla tank rounds are quite nice and molded well. If Dragon did not give you rounds with the model, these would have come in very handy. One problem with the whole ammo issue is that even the Dragon rounds do not fit into the shell holders. But for displaying a vehicle in the reloading stages, these are great. The Pavla barrels are another story. These are molded in one piece to the pouring plug, but the company failed to remove the mold seams from the castings. This not only shows when looking, it is out of alignment and makes finishing the top of the barrel very difficult. I think the molds might need to be relooked on this one before we get too excited about the barrels. References I was really not going to mention any references, as this was supposed to be a straight out of the box build. But after the confusing directions, I had to find some pictures of what was really going on. The two books that I used were: 1. Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War 2 by Peter Chamberlain and Hilary Doyal 2. Tanks and Armor: PanzerKampwagen 38(t) by Terry Gander I would like to thank Dragon USA for supplying the kit and IPMS for the opportunity of doing this review. I would also like to thank Pavla for the opportunity to review their two products.