RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi,

Starting construction of the hull.

Hull parts are separated from their sheets, sanded smooth and cleaned up. It takes about 30 minutes.
The tub is ready within a few minutes with superglue. It will be a pretty big animal.
Plasticard strips will be required to fill the gaps and solidify the joints. Then an overlay plasticard sheet will be applied over to make the front plates seamless. These gaps must be expected by the builder and should be dealt with a cooler head in subsequent steps once all the main parts are in place and the overall situation can be assessed.
Always need to make sure everything is square and strait. Double and triple check everything before gluing or sanding.
This is fun, the Marder hull taking shapes.
Main top components are put together. Frames are provided to ensure the parts will be at the right angle, very good.
Dry fitting of the upper hull on the chassis shows that things are ok, no major issues. All joints will need heavy preparation with specific angles, sanding and custom made plasticard strips required for each gaps. These gaps are too big and structural in nature to just fill in with putty. This is plastic so everything can be easily dealt with. I imagine that the builder that ordered his hull in metal will have a lot more difficulty putting this baby together.

I have verified all part dimensions against my Tamiya kit, Overall width, length, hatch size, etc are very good. Only the lower hull width between the 2 tracks seems smaller than expectations, but giving a couple of extra mm for each tracks to fit between the hull and the schurzens, probably not a bad thing...
But for now, I will leave the upper hull aside and concentrate on transposing the Leopard 2 suspension to the Marder hull. It is certainly not a conventional approach. Need some more brainstorming now that the lower hull is ready. Hope this will work out.
Regards, Louis

One of my first kits was a tamiya Marder. Great to see one being done in 1:16.

Hi,

Here is the main suspension.

When I got the kit, I was happy to see that it was configured for Tamiya King tiger suspension. I borrowed one set from my Porsche King tiger just to be sure (below). Looking around, these parts are very difficult to find. The AAF tank museum shop has them but after all the required elements are individually selected (including the required screw bags, shafts...) and the outrageous shipping fees, it added up to US $135. I thought it was ridiculous for the needed 12 suspension arms. Dry fitting of the Tamiya suspension on the plastic Ludwig frame also showed that the torsion plates were clumsy without their metal base. So I decided to study a cheaper alternative. I have more time than money.
I thought the HL Leopard II suspension would be good enough for the Marder, it is after all in the same family. However, the bottom of the lower hull of the Leopard is angled while the Marder is strait, some adaptationis required. Below, the needed 12 suspension elements are removed from the Leopard II after a prototype proved that it was a working solution, leaving 2 spares in case of issues. As I was cannibalizing the Leopard chassis of all usable parts for the Marder, it made sense to push further with such transposing attempts. Worse case is that it did not work out, so plan B was to order the Tamiya parts...
The self contained individual suspension elements are cleaned up for further modifications.
My solution was to cut them is two sections for installation of both side of the Ludwig suspension hole on the hull.
There are the individual parts for each suspension arm and ready for installation.
The suspension hole on the Ludwig hull is made a bit bigger for the spring to fit. Here, the base of the suspension is glued on the interior, facing outward and making sure it is properly centered with the hole.
Then the exterior part is glued after positioning it properly with the suspension the arm. It is important that the stopper be at the right location.
Spring is put in place
Marder suspension arms are installed, aligned, looking good and working fine, exactly like when they were on the Leopard chassis. It was a 5 hours operation end to end, including the prototyping. The road wheels can simply be attached to their arms with the HL screw. A much simpler task than trying to figure out a way to put HL wheels on Tamiya shafts.
Probably unnecessary but to make sure everything is solidly in place, I poured epoxy over each of the suspension base inside the chassis.
With this critical step completed, the risk factor has been lowered and I will be a bit less worried. And I saved US $135.

Now I can concentrate on assembling the rest of the hull, something a lot more fun.

Regards, Louis

re: the AAF Tank Museum experience, Louis, my first order with them meant spending more on shipping (outrageous, as you say), import duties, and miscellaneous levies than on the order itself.
With my second order, I had an electronic wrestling match with their irritating credit card software, and lost. So, I wrote a complain to the Director, who then offered a shipping rate that had never appeared before. Only one rate (sky high with USPS) had appeared previously amounting to almost £70...at each check out. The Director was very helpful and 'discovered' that had another shipping rate one third of the cost of my previous orders. What's more, I was allowed to be billed by PayPal, which got around the software torture. Apparently, they used to offer PayPal transactions, but PayPal fees became prohibitive. Ironic, non? Mais oui.
I wasn't being ironic, however, when i said the Director had been very helpful. She really did get things sorted for me.
If you buy from them again, go though the 'contact us' option first, as I did..to complain about shipping costs. They have great stock there, so it's probably worth the effort.

Hi,

This is the construction of the hull, always my favorite part of a build.

The upper hull is installed on the chassis. Angles were given on the edges of the chassis for a better joint with the upper part, and with the addition of a 0.5 mm plasticard strip all around, the fit is good and solid.
Prior to determine where to install the gearbox, the Leopard 2 sprockets were reduced to the same size as the reworked tracks discussed earlier. The cut was made at the base.
A plate for the gearbox is provided but reinforcements and a new base for it need to be created because I did not use the vertical frames for the Tamiya suspension.
It takes a lot of trials and adjustments but the HL leopard 2A6 gearbox is installed on the Marder like I was hoping for. That Leopard 2 chassis is really paying itself. This is preferable because the Leopard sprocket need the extended shaft that comes with its gearbox. It would have been an issue trying to use a Panzer III/IV gearbox with Leopard sprockets.
View from the inside. With the gearbox at a angle like this, it fits the Marder hull, with around 1mm to spare...
When positioning the gearbox, it is critical to install it so that the custom wide sprockets are centrally positioned between the schurzens and the hull, and same on both sides of course.
View of the gearbox installed
The model as it is today. So far, it goes like a charm and it is a really pleasant project. I have a soft point for APCs...
Regards, Louis

43rdRecceReg wrote:re: the AAF Tank Museum experience, Louis, my first order with them meant spending more on shipping (outrageous, as you say), import duties, and miscellaneous levies than on the order itself. With my second order, I had an electronic wrestling match with their irritating credit card software, and lost. So, I wrote a complain to the Director, who then offered a shipping rate that had never appeared before. Only one rate (sky high with USPS) had appeared previously amounting to almost £70...at each check out. The Director was very helpful and 'discovered' that had another shipping rate one third of the cost of my previous orders. What's more, I was allowed to be billed by PayPal, which got around the software torture. Apparently, they used to offer PayPal transactions, but PayPal fees became prohibitive. Ironic, non? Mais oui. I wasn't being ironic, however, when i said the Director had been very helpful. She really did get things sorted for me.If you buy from them again, go though the 'contact us' option first, as I did..to complain about shipping costs. They have great stock there, so it's probably worth the effort.

Thank you for the information. Next time, I will give it a try for sure.

regards, Louis

Hi, here is a short post on the references being used.

In addition to my old Tamiya 1/35 Marder and the Referenzen section of http://www.panzer-modell.de, I watched many times the following Bundeswehr videos on youtube which give very exciting reports on the vehicle in action, and they contain close ups of key areas. The allies should be glad the Germans did not have this vehicle in WW2.

https://youtu.be/2FS1sp-143M

https://youtu.be/18JSH0et1rs

I purchased this old German publication on the Marder. Old black and white pictures, good graphs but few close ups.
I had hopes that the more recent Tankograd book on the Marder would be a key "walk around" reference for the build. However, it contains almost no close up pictures. Many of the photograph present the vehicles at the same angle and somewhat far, and almost no interior shots, no graph and no technical drawings either. The interior pages are pretty much what you see on the cover. I guess it is ok for story and for painting reference. Sadly, its not what I needed for this build.
The interior of the Marder infantry compartment is very complex. I am having difficulty finding interior drawings of it. Need to keep on looking. I spotted another German book but it is expensive. I'll see.

Regards, Louis

Hi,

Continuing on the hull.

The 2 small parts on the front corners are quite something to install... There is actually no perfect way to install them so the builder need to do his best and then deal with the gaps. Those who have build such kit know that gaps on angled joints all around the vehicle need to be filled properly for a solid and beautiful model.
The builder must not throw tubes of putty in the big gaps. Such filling would take an eternity to try, will shrink, crack and won't make a solid joint. My method is to insert strips of residual plasticard of the required size and thickness in the gaps, mixed with superglue, which can then be sanded smooth with files very shortly after. Putty is only used for thin applications.
The same area after a good sanding. Once polished and primed, it will be seamless and sleek.
Getting ready to install the engine cover. I realised that the hinges parts provided with the kit (on the left) were of only a vague resemblance to the real ones and were too small, so I had to make new hinges by copying those on the Tamiya kit, and double checking that size and shape were as per photographic reference. They also have various angles to repro so these are no mistakes.
Its only natural that the engine cover be made to open and close like the real thing.
The brass rod will be hidden under the hinge covers.
Engine cover is installed, opens up and closes perfectly.
Went around the whole vehicle to plug holes and gaps. The rectangular roof part that goes on top of the rear ramp needed to be replaced with a new one made of residual plasticard, the kit part was too short and narrow. This new one fits much better and saves time to achieve good joints.
With such engine cover that can be open and closed and the roof of the fighting compartment that can be lifted, superb and easy access to the interior of the vehicle is provided and will make maintenance and operation as real pleasure.

The Marder is like a Ferrari and is slowly becoming a favorite.
I ordered another Marder book from Germany. Hopefully, it has some interior drawings for the rear fighting compartment. In similar way as the M113, I want to see something interesting when the rear ramp opens. But the Marder interior is way more complex than the M113 so I may have to limit my ambitions.

Regards, Louis

Hi,

Here is the running gear.

As mentioned in the pre-planning post, each HL Leopard 2A6 road wheel was made narrower by removing about 1.5mm between the 2 wheels. It helps with the fit to the Marder because reducing the wheels themselves would be complicated.
These are the parts that I have assembled to complete the running gear. Bottom left are Panzer IV rollers from an earlier project that required these to be replaced by all metal rollers. Then on the lower right are the Ludwig parts for the roller ams that need to be assembled. Top right is the idler adjusters cut out of the HL Leopard 2A6 chassis. To the left are the roller shafts from the HL chassis. Above and top left are Tamiya running gear parts that are a leftover from a Leopard 1A4 reconditioning project from 10 years ago and that can be reused here. Never throw anything away...
6 return roller units need to be made. The middle guide teeth of the Leopard 2A6 tracks will need to be shortened a bit to fit such return rollers. The ones coming with the HL chassis were not of the right style. The Marder needs these 2 roller wheels side by side.
I would have normally installed a Henntec Idler adjuster unit but the units from the HL chassis is available. This is an experiment in trying to save 35EU plus shipping. There is not much left on the poor HL chassis that was cannibalized to the maximum. I seem to have saved a lot of money that can be put to more visible use.
The HL idler is transplanted on the Marder, works well... I added the idler part from the Leopard 1A4 as per reference.
The HL Idler part on the inside fits the Ludwig groove, although I had to trim the metal part a bit for a perfect fit into it.
The external housing for the driving gears has been added to the front chassis as per reference. The front mud guards are not installed yet, they must be mounted at the same time as the side schurzens because they are integrated to them and must be aligned perfectly.
Overall look of the Marder running gear, not as per instructions but of my own design. Although most of it will be hidden by the schurzens, I wanted it to look good and be as accurate as possible. I am missing the 12 stoppers for the suspension. I am looking for them.
Be aware that the pre-cut holes for the return rollers were 4mm too low and need repositioning.
Here is the Marder glacis, items were added as per my 1/35 model and photo reference. The creation of the hatches, hinges and periscopes will require a post on their own.
But enough of the chassis for now. I want to look at the situation with the resin turret and its buildup will be my next sttep.

Regards, Louis

Hi,

Here is the turret.

These are the main resin components cleaned up, and also others parts gathered for the build. Needed parts includes 5mm and 4mm aluminum or brass tube, push rods for elevation and servo. The resin part needed quite a lot of effort to clean up. The base is very good and dimensions are accurate (great) but it has some air bubbles but no big deal. The gun stand and movable unit show much distortions and are a lot more difficult to handle. The metal barrel provided with the kit is great and comes with a lenght of fibre optic cable for the flash.
A bit of planning is required before going too far. First, once the resin parts are glued, that's it, there is no more access to the interior of the gun stand and gun unit. Here a 5mm aluminum shaft is being used to link the gun unit to the stand. A push rod is attached to the shaft in order to provide elevation and its connector will run down into the core of the turret through a hole drilled at the bottom of the stand. It is quite a simple arrangement. The cables are for the gun flash.
This is the stand. I put a washer between the stand and the movable gun unit in order for the elevation to be smoother. Resin against resin will give a lot of resistance and the elevation servo would likely have difficulty elevating the gun.
This is the gun unit. I made my own gun flash unit using a large LED to which I drilled a hole to insert the fibre optic cable for a better and permanent joint. Here also, once you glue and seal the other resin half, it will be impossible to get access to the interior of this unit, so test and retest everything before sealing. If you have to crack open it later for some reason, I think it will heavily damage the much fragile resin parts. There is much distortions in these parts and it takes a lot of care to assemble. Many applications of putty and sanding will be required to finish it correctly.
A small servo under the turret roof will provide elevation. I will install it later at the same time as the rotation unit to ensure no mistakes in the placement of the servo.
Here it is. the turret core. It only got its first coat of putty and sanding, a lot more is required to plug the gaps, distortions, air bubbles and to make it smooth and accurate. A smaller 4mm aluminum tube will be inserted into the left ring of the turret to hold the IR box that needs to be scratch built.
The turret needs a lot of detailing.
Now you can see where this is going. I am happy with the progress and I think it will be a beautiful Marder.
Regards, Louis