Tamiya Marder with rails from the Tamiya sandbags and brick wall set. Tamiya textured dirt and snow paints were used for the scenic effects.

Overall, a very good job of painting, weathering, and scenicking, but I think the left side suspension should be tilted downwards in the direction of the mine crater, and the remains of the upper run of track should have some sag to it. As well as a few individual track links bown off by the explosion.

Yes, Biggles, I wasn't happy with how it looked like it was floating and so I skewed the vehicle. However, it was not possible to adjust the suspension, especially since on this kit, the suspension arms are molded as part of the chassis side panel. What I did is move the Marder in such a way that all wheels are now supported in some way, by the ground, resting atop track teeth, by the anti-tank obstacle rails. I did have to take a bit of artisitc licence with the second raodwheel on the left side. I have it angled outward (suggesting damage to the axle by the rails), leaning on a rail. The track sag actually makes sense if you were to see the scene in person because of how the tracks are damaged. The right and left sides are subject to different tensions. Also, the tracks are frozen in place.

In case it is not clear, the Marder is not on a mine crater. The scene was made to depict Russian anti-tank obstacles embedded in a ditch or gully, covered by snow. A vehicle coming down the slope would not be able to see the rails or be able to stop in time and the forward momentum would carry it forward enough for many rails to cause damage by damaging tracks/wheels and penetrating the thinly-armoured chassis bottom. This scene shows the vehicle after many months rusting away, as the snow is beginning to melt:

Here are some hastily-shot pics of the revisions. I think I need to take some clearer shots to show the corrections, but until then---

Glenn - the way you can easily move the wheels is by leaving the suspension arms where they are, but you glue the wheel lower on it. Let me find a pic.








you just glue into the new hole

Greg, I tried your suggestion, but for many reasons it did not work out satisfactorily. Instead, I added more rails and now the "floating" wheels are firmly supported and so the wheels look fine without sagging. In fact, the scene makes more sense now. The Marder drove along the top of the rails before they detracked it.

That's one of the problems with some 1/48 kits - a lack of options concerning suspension. They're all designed to sit on a flat surface. Great if you're just doing road convoys!

It can be done, here's a few examples I found in 1/48

Unfortunately for me, I didn't set out to make this model with this diorama in mind. The Marder was made two years ago and only recently did I decide to display it as disabled on anti-tank obstacles. I got the idea after reading the Osprey book on Soviet Field Fortifications. Amusingly, I have separate suspension units from the Hetzer kit which are very similar to the Marder so that I could have done a sagging suspension from the outset, if that had been the plan. It is a good thing that we have the HobbyBoss KVs and T-34s with individual suspension components.

This is the original diorama: A mud daubed over winter camouflage abandoned Marder in the springtime.



And then it became this: