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This Post WW2 forum is intended for asking and discussing reference or historical related issues pertaining to any time after WW2 (1945+) subjects. |
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| Subject: | Re: Revell Marder 1 A3 |  |
| Date: | May 14, 2002 |
| From: | Christophe Jacquemont | |
Here's my review for those who don't have access to the main site :
SPz Marder 1 A3
Background
The Marder 1A3, which first entered service with the Bundeswheer in 1989,
is the latest in the line of Marder
IFVs (Infantry Fighting Vehicles). When introduced, the Marder was a
pioneer in its field, along with the Soviet
BMP-1. The upper hull of the A3 variant is entirely different from
previous versions. The A3 also sports new
armored side armour which also doubles as stowage bins.
When Revell-Germany made their comeback to military modelling a few years
ago, they started by repackaging
existing kits from Dragon and Italeri. They also had a agreement with AFV
Club, which saw the release of the
AFV Club Scorpion under the Revell logo and of the M88A1G, actually and
AFV Club M88A1 with some
new parts in plastic and photo-etch.
The Marder 1A3 was the first all new tooling kit designed and produced by
Revell. There have been other
Marder kits on the market, namely the two Tamiya offerings : SPw Marder
and Marder 1A2. The original
Tamiya Marder is an early production type and a very crude model. The
Marder 1A2 is a slightly reworked
and updated version of the older kit but still has many faults. The only
redeeming feature of the Tamiya kits is
that they both include a detailed engine.
In the box
Fortunately, the Revell kit is far superior to the Tamiya kits. It is
moulded in a rather brittle bright green plastic.
There is a transparent plastic sprue for the headlights, taillights and
reflectors, a welcome sight in an armour kit :
I hope the other manufacturers will follow path! Moulding quality is
excellent but there are a few sink marks
present, especially on the turret parts. The tracks are moulded in a very
soft rubber compound, they stretch
easily but have good detail. The decal sheet is very good, with no less
that six marking options!
I found detail and Òin actionÓ photos on the Marder 1A3 in various issues
and special issues of ÒPanzerÓ
and ÒTank MagazineÓ , but the Vol 28 N¡14 of Military Modelling (published
in October 1998) is much
easier to find and has an outstanding Òwalk aroundÓ feature with more than
70 overall and detail colour
photographs of this infantry fighting vehicle.
Comparison with the photographs quickly shows that the kit has great
detail and is outstandingly accurate,
although the turret might have been better. I found the kit so good in the
box that I decided to build two. This
construction article is about my first project, mostly straight from the
box to get a feel for the kit and gain useful
knowledge for my second project which will involve superdetailing, partial
interior detail and a full engine.
Off with those skirts!
Because I knew I wanted to build another kit later, I chose a
configuration that was visually quite different.
During NATO winter maneuvers, German tracked AFVs frequently have their
side skirts removed, to move at
ease in mud and snow. The Marder without its skirt looks like another
vehicle altogether. ItÕs an easy matter
not to install these skirts on the model, but this configuration meant I
would also have to muddy up the
suspension, tracks and lower hull considerably and this meant some
planning ahead. My scale mud consisted in
Stucco putty, mixed in with Tamiya extra thin liquid cement and a little
static grass. I otherwise assembled the
model as per instructions.
The lower hull and suspension (stages 1 to 4) went smoothly. I modified
the rear hull plate (part 8) by cutting off
the bottom of the rear mud flap bellow the moulded on diagonal line. This
part is removed on real vehicles when
the side skirts are off.
Because of the muddying process I decided to fit the tracks at this stage.
The tracks are a bit too long, between
a link or two too long in fact. I removed two links per side and
superglued the tracks on the suspension, I had
to stretch them slightly but they fitted perfectly.
Upper hull
Assembly goes from stages 5 through 14, no real problems here although the
fit can be problematic sometimes
especially the side armour panels but I got things right eventually. Some
of the mud mixture was added with
parsimony on the front upper hull, front mudguards and sides. I didnÕt use
most of the transparent parts
(except the rear light clusters) because they would be covered by mud
anyway.
The parts went to my spare box and were replaced by styrene discs made
with a punch and die set. The
handles provided in the kit are well moulded but overly fragile, I
replaced them with metal wire.
Turret
Stages 15 through 25 deal with the turret, again fit is a bit fiddly
sometimes and you have to watch out for the
numerous sinkmarks, which are not easy to spot on the green plastic. The
sinkmarks were filled with Tamiya
filler and sanded. I hollowed out the end of the turret MG and replaced
the main 20mm gun tube (part 35) with
a beautiful turned brass barrel from German aftermarket manufacturer New
Connection. I didnÕt fit the Milan
missile assembly to my model as it is not always mounted on the real
vehicles. One problem I had is that the end
of a tow cable was broken in my box, and the broken end was actually
missing... I scratchbuilt towing cable
holders from plastic rod and strip but didnÕt fit cables to my Marder.
Painting decals and weathering.
There are not that many camo options for Marder 1A3s, they all serve with
the Bundeswheer in a tricolour
NATO scheme. Some receive winter whitewash during winter maneuvers. I
chose a standard green, brown and
black scheme with no whitewash. The assembled model was first covered in
black from a spray can. Green and
brown were then sprayed on with an airbrush, followed by an earth colour
on the lower hull and running gear.
I applied the decals before final weathering. They are well printed and
thin and went on smoothly.
Weathering a really dirty vehicle is difficult if you want the model to
look reasonably good at the end of the
process. I started with localised washes with thinned acrylic black paint.
A dusting of very diluted earth paint
with an airbrush followed. I then carefully buffed the areas susceptible
to high wear on the rear vehicle (hatches,
areas where the crew would climb on, etc...) . In the end the model
doesnÕt look too bad.
What I should have done...
In retrospect, I should have blanked off the side sponsons with plasticard
and redone the driverÕs and
commanderÕs periscopes (easy to do with plastic strip). There are also
holes I should have filled on both sides
at the front where the glacis meets the vertical front plate. The joint
between the glacis and the vertical front
plate is not very strong, it partially gave way after construction and had
to be reinforced with superglue. When I
build this kit again, IÕll add a plastic beam inside this joint to make it
stronger.
Conclusion
The vehicle looks quite large and impressive when finished, its hull is
only slightly shorter than a Leopard 1Õs
and the Marder has a taller silhouette!
Overall this is one of the nicest modern armour kits that have been
released in recent years. When you take into
account the very low price (at least in Europe where itÕs a third of the
price of TamiyaÕs latest Leopard 2A5)
and the good looks of the real vehicle this make an irresistible package
for the modern armour modeller!
Christophe Jacquemont |
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