Panzerjäger 38 füer 7.5cm PaK40/3 (Sd.Kfz.138)
Marder III Ausf.H
1:35 Dragon/Italeri/Tristar Kit comparison
Engine Deck
Engine decks showing the positioning errors with the Dragon and Italeri kits but are correct on the Tristar deck.
The position of the hinges is correct for the Ausf.G but again are different on the Marder H
Photo of real Marder III H engine deck showing the hinge location and bolt layout in relation to the travel lock.
Rear side trays with the Dragon and Tristar basically correct but the Italeri parts are a mess.
Dragon rear basket made from thin flat etched parts with thin plastic strip surrounds
that require a bit of work to fit, the angle of the rear basket bend is also too sharp and just does not
look convincing in the flat 2 dimensional etched metal.
Both Italeri and Tristar baskets are one piece plastic with the Italeri basket being way over scale and not
enough bars (16 instead of 24) while the Tristar has the correct number of bars (as does the Dragon etched basket)
but the bars could be thinned a little for a more scale appearance
Rear engine intake, Dragon and Tristar provides this in etched parts with the Dragon mesh being finer but the
contours of the Tristar frame is more accurate with the bolt head cut-outs and well defined separate etched bolts.
The two bolts on the side of the intake fairing are actually missing from the Dragon kit, hence the undersized cutouts.
There is a small etched wing nut that holds the sliding cover in place which is with the Dragon cover but missing
from the Tristar cover and as can be seen the less said about the Italeri intake the better.
The Gunner's seats on the rear compartment wall, the Tristar parts have excellent cushion texturing and placement
while the Dragon seats are plain without any detail and positioned too far outboard.
Image of actual seat for reference
