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Elefant


Panzer Vor!!!

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I can't comment on the Tamiya or Italeri kits, but I have the Dragon kits of both the Elefant (6465) and Ferdinand (6317), both look very detailed in the box, typical Dragon offerings.

The Elefant comes with moulded on zimmerit but has the DS 'rubber band' type tracks.

 

 

Edited by XL929
bad spelling!
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The Elefant was essentially a reconditioned and improved Ferdinand.

During 1943, the Ferdinand tank destroyer on the Eastern Front suffered from mechanical problems that were compounded by poor visibility and the lack of any close defence weapons. The large smooth steel surfaces were also a magnet – quite literally – to infantry-placed explosive charges. The surviving Ferdinands were therefore withdrawn and rebuilt with more reliable engines, a modified Panzer III cupola with all-round episcope vision, a bow mounted machine gun, and renamed "Elefant". Zimmerit coating was also applied to combat magnetic charges.

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2 hours ago, Panzer Vor!!! said:

The Elefant was essentially a reconditioned and improved Ferdinand.

During 1943, the Ferdinand tank destroyer on the Eastern Front suffered from mechanical problems that were compounded by poor visibility and the lack of any close defence weapons. The large smooth steel surfaces were also a magnet – quite literally – to infantry-placed explosive charges. The surviving Ferdinands were therefore withdrawn and rebuilt with more reliable engines, a modified Panzer III cupola with all-round episcope vision, a bow mounted machine gun, and renamed "Elefant". Zimmerit coating was also applied to combat magnetic charges.

 

So you have this month's Model Military International too!  (6-page walkround of last surviving Ferdinand in Kubinka, Brett Green build of 1/48 Elefant as a Ferdinand.)  Slight slip by Brett there, methinks: that's a StuG III cupola, not a Pz III one.

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7 minutes ago, Seahawk said:

 

So you have this month's Model Military International too!  (6-page walkround of last surviving Ferdinand in Kubinka, Brett Green build of 1/48 Elefant as a Ferdinand.)  Slight slip by Brett there, methinks: that's a StuG III cupola, not a Pz III one.

No  :fraidnot:

Is that where it came from ??

 

 

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The Revell kit is a rebox based on Italerie's 50 odd year old mold, according to Scalemates:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1027299-revell-03254-sd-kfz-184-elefant

 

I don't know which is better - Dragon or Tamiya, but the latter does include three crew figures, and Tamyia does sell a dedicated zimmerit set for their Elephant, which can be found cheap on ebay.

 

regards,

Jack

 

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, Panzer Vor!!! said:

The Elefant was essentially a reconditioned and improved Ferdinand.

During 1943, the Ferdinand tank destroyer on the Eastern Front suffered from mechanical problems that were compounded by poor visibility and the lack of any close defence weapons. The large smooth steel surfaces were also a magnet – quite literally – to infantry-placed explosive charges. The surviving Ferdinands were therefore withdrawn and rebuilt with more reliable engines, a modified Panzer III cupola with all-round episcope vision, a bow mounted machine gun, and renamed "Elefant". Zimmerit coating was also applied to combat magnetic charges.

Thank you, I appreciate the explanation.  It was something that I often wondered about as most times when I Googled information for either, pretty much the same images showed up.  Now I have a better idea of what to look for when trying to distinguish between the two types.

Edited by Wm Blecky
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