Continuing with their popular 'Modelling the' series is this one of the Marder. To the uninitiated (such as myself) a Marder is apparently just a big gun on the chassis of an obsolete tank. They are quite useful for troop support and could probably knock out some enemy tanks, but since they have no turret (just shielding for the crew from enemy light arms), are not designed to be under direct fire. There are a number of Marder types, depending on the chassis used and on the gun plunked on those chassis.

Author Sam Dwyer follows the standard format for these books with a brief history of types, the models used, and some information on tools and materials. He has also made a decision to stay with 1/35 scale for this book and as is quite the norm, has chosen to dump the usual tons of aftermarket bits into each build, so no out of the box section on this one.

Basically, here are the builds that are in the book:

Marder I using an Ironside kit with an AFV gun and Fruilmodel tracks.

Marder II ausf D using the Alan Hobbies kit with Modelkasten tracks and bits from some Tamiya kits.

Marder III mit PaK36r using the Tamiya Marder III kit along with detail bits from Aber, K59, CMK and Fruilmodel.

Marder III ausf M based on the Tamiya Marder III ausf K kit with bits from TMD, Aber and Modelkasten.

The final build is a diorama based on the Italeri Marder III ausf H kit and using bits from Royal Model, Tamiya and Moskit.

There is also a Gallery section showing models built by others as well as appendices listing available kits and accessories, museum Marders, and a bibliography.

Throughout the book and the various builds, there are special techniques and building tricks that are highlighted and useful to modelers of other subject types in addition to the armor fan. The book is easy to read and includes a plethora of superb photographs of the subjects during construction as well as when completed.

For the person who wants to learn a few new tricks as well as those who are wanting a guide to help on that next masterpiece, this book is very much recommended.

August 2005

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