1st Dio idea.. (input welcome)

hey, im no ww2 guy (i think i'll just put that as my signature), but if you can pull it off great. it shouldnt be too hard as alot of guys should be able to help you out with what you want to do!!! good luck!

Welcome aboard!  I think it will make a wonderful gift for your grandfather.   I see two vehicles on dioramas often as long as it has the purpose.  

From what I remember reading the books about the Eastern front... Panzergrenandiers is the motorized infantry division and they often are on move in SdKfzs so Marder III is rarely found with this division.  Marder III was commonly assigned to the Waffen SS and Wehrmacht.  Marder IIIs were best employed in defensive or overwatch roles. 

It would be great if you can build a Krupp light truck or Opel Blitz truck to carry supplies.  I'd love to see your process if you can post pictures.  Guys here in the forum are usually helpful!

I have a couple of ideas along similar lines, AFV's being reloaded from trucks. In fact i have several ideas for Dios with more than one vehicle. As long as it is thought out right i don't see a problem with it.

As for which truck, the Tamiya Opel blitz truck they brought out a while back might work. I know its a early war version, but i don't see any reason why there still wouldn't be some around in 43. For one of my ideas set in late 44, i plan on useing the Zvezda L4500A. I don't know anything about the truck so i am not sure if it's sutable for Kursk and i don't have the kit yet so i can't recomend it, but it might be worth looking into. Most Marders i have seen seem to be part of Infantry Divs, but i should think some Pz Gren and Pz Div would have them. I believe they were often part of the anti tank units to replace the towed Pak guns.

Your idea sounds like a good one and i hope it comes off. 

If you're wanting to do a Heer (Army) unit on the Russian Front, your best bet is units from the Grossdeutchland Panzergrenadier Division.  They were considered elite, and received the best equipment before any other units (along with the Panzer Lehr Division), even Waffen-SS units.  Their tactical marking was the Stalhelm, below, and is on about every German armor decal sheet...

Cuff Title for Uniform:

The GD's Panzerjager battalion had one company of Marders, consisting of three platoons, each one with three Marders. 

So then my next question is:  What vehicle could I use to bring supplies to the Marder?

An Opel Blitz would work fine for a supply truck.. Tamiya and Italeri both have kits of it.  The Italeri is cheaper than the Tamiya kit, but pretty well detailed, although there are some fit issues at the doors and hood.  This can be handled easily by opening the doors though.  If you open the hood (which was often done when parked to cover the windshield in order to nix a chance of a reflection giving away it's position to a bored Allied attack pilot), you'll have to scratch-build an engine for the Italeri. I don't know about the Tamiya kit though, I never bought it...

Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it.

I was thinking an Opel Blitz as well, I just wasn't sure if there was a special kind of vehicle that the Germans used extenstively as an ammo hauler.  Looks like I'll have to look into both Italeri and Tamiya kits. Thanks for the advice on the hood and windshield, Hans!!  Invaluable info!!

 Anybody have any experience building up a Tamiya Opel Blitz kit?  Curious if it comes with any kind of engine? If I had to scratch build, not too sure what I would use instead.

I think I'll take your input on this one Hans von Hammer, I wiki'd Grossdeutchland Panzergrenadier Division... and why not put the best equipped unit in my 1st dio.  <--- what an awesome idea!!

Speaking of the supply truck... you should check this out.  There is one being build right now in the forum.  Good luck!

 /forums/1170042/ShowPost.aspx

Thanks for the link deafpanzer.  Went snooping around on the net today and came across a review on perthmilitarymodelling.com for an Opel Blitz engine from Plus Models.  It comes with both PE and resin parts.  They gave it a good rating, some mods need doing on the Tamiya models chassis, but all in all, good.  Here's a couple pics, for some reason I can't figure out how to insert a link?!

im just a 15 year old teen but i have seen many photos and films with tha volckswagen "Kubelwagen" bringing in from Supplies to information to the battle field. good luck with that im sure he"ll be proud.

            P.S. If you at all run in to any refferences about french buildings that arein the ww2 era let me know.