Hello people
Im working on my 1/35 Tamiya Marder III m and carnt decied if i should make another dio "2nd one" or display it on a plain base on its own
I would love to make a dio in the snow,I can only find a few ref pics on the Marder III m, I belive these were painted dark yellow and then the crew added red/brown camo in the field, did they brush or spray this ? here are some more questions,,,,,
1 . why the dark yellow ? ,on what terrain were marders used ?
2. which troops and vehicles would support the Marder ?
3. are there tracks i can add, who makes them ?
4 . can i get a crew kit repairing or loading ?
5 . would Marders have been used in snow and white washed ?
and here are some pics of my progress so far - im still getting used to camera so sorry for poor quality of pics.
Please feel free to make good or bad comments/critism
Thanks for looking,,,,,Andy

A few answers for you:


1. It was a good base to add darker colors (brown and green) onto. It also blended in well with the Russian steppes, their major opponent at the time. The Marder III M was used on the Eastern Front and on the Western Front, so you have plenty of options there. Don't know if any saw action in Italy. They came out too late for Sicily or N. Africa.

4. There are a few loading crews...I believe both tristar and miniart make some, although I believe both sets have the crews in summer outfits.

5. Yes yes. I have pics of whitewashed Marder IIIs in one of my books.

Crews would either spray OR brush on the camo colors, so you have options there.

It looks great so far. And your pic quality looks fine to me as well. Keep it up.

Rob

Hi there,

Good to see another Marder IIIM. Working on one myself as well. To awnser some of your Q's:

1 - Dark yellow was the basic German camouflage colour for all vehicles from 1943 to the end of the war. Crews applied green and brown camouflage patterns depending on the terrain/theatre of war. They were used on the eastern, Italian and western fronts from 1943 up to the end of the war.

2 - Not sure, will have to check my references. You could also search on the internet or check the Tamiya decal instructions for more information.

3 - Yes, Modelkasten and Fruil have replacement tracks. I'm looking for suitable ones as well, see my thread here.

4 - There are lots of figures available from Dragon, Tamiya, Miniart, Warriors, Tristar etc. etc. You shouldn't have a problem finding some. Most SP gun crews would fit the vehicle.

5 - Yes they were!

Hope this helps. Your progress looks real nice!

Martin

First, it looks like you're off to a nice start. I especially like your weathering on the floor of the fighting compartment.

If you mean aftermarket tracks, you could try Fruilmodel or Modelkasten for replacements.

As for the camo,
German camo paint was supplied in tins of concentrate which the individual units would mix with whatever solvent they could. Turpentine, gasoline, water...whatever they could manage. This resulted in a large variety of color intensity for the secondary camo colors. They then sprayed or brushed on the colors. I've also read that most german tanks had onboard air compressors and were issued with sprayguns. I don't know if this also applied to self propelled guns, but since most were adaptations of tank chassis it wouldn't surprise me if it did.