TheMarder III was a typically expedient German response to the Wehrmacht’s encounters with heavily armoured KV-1 and T-34 tanks in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa. The chassis of the obsolescent Czech Pz.Kpfw. 38(t) was matched with 7.5 cm and 7.6 cm anti-tank guns to deliver a new tank destroyer – the Marder III. The Marder III had quite a high profile and negligible armour, but it was a low cost and easily deployed weapon against contemporary Soviet armour.
Tamiya released their 1:35 scale Marder III Ausf. M kit in late 2002. This is the version fitted with the German 7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun. Tamiya previously released another 1:35 scale version of the Marder III equipped with the captured Soviet 7.62 cm Pak 36(r) on the same chassis, but with a radically different superstructure adaptation. I think the Ausf. M looks much more streamlined and attractive than the 7.62 cm-armed version.