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THE ELEPHANT ITALY 1944


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12 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

No problem, I know the feeling well.  I must admit I had missed the Matilda build, very different to the usual camo finish, no blue for you. :wicked: I have the AK caunter set, I'll leave that for a rainy month. :whistle:. I always thought of the Maltese camo as a dry stone wall camo, If you have been to Malta, buff coloured dry stone walls are everywhere.

My Atak zimm has turned up, for the Elephant its number is 35004, and it looks different to yours, there is no vertical patterning and all around the bolt heads on the front plates and those circular covers the zimm has a radial pattern.  This is correct for the one that went to the USA, but not all of them were patterned like that. :hmmm: Best thing for a chicken, a roasting pan, don't forget the stuffing and roasties. :Tasty: 

Nothing like starting another kit to re-boot your mojo, especially something different, until it ends up on the shelf waiting to be finished.  Guess how I know. :facepalm:

HI BOB.......and yes......you can tell from pics of the siege that there was plenty of buff rubble to hide behind. I did notice there were two patterns. You'll find it really nice to apply and add additional battle damage. One thing I'd recommend is to soften the edge a touch if you add battle damage. A sharp cut edge didn't look good.

 

I'm off the Elephant, Matilda at present and decided to switch to figures and the Steyer I started at the beginning of the year. Haven't done figures before, so working my way through it. Although, I think a little build on the bus my come in at some point next week.......:D

 

I take it the KT's are on some other thread I'm not aware of......?

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6 minutes ago, Redcoat2966 said:

I take it the KT's are on some other thread I'm not aware of......?

They are on the Panzer VI GB, The S.PzAbt.501 and S.PzAbt.505, I really need to update them both, but with one thing or another... perhaps I should not join GBs, great starts and then...  I hate working to deadlines, prefer just to pick up something and do some work on it until something else grabs my attention, trouble is I get nothing, or almost nothing finished.  I mentioned along with the Atak zimm for the Elephant and zimm for a KT I have in the stash that I bought some Aber m.g barrels, well here they are:

IMG_0926

2 x 2 piece M.G 34 barrels and 1? gun sight for the cupola mounted m.g, and 4 x M.G 34 barrels for the armoured m.g in hull mounted positions on Tigers, KTs and Elephants, now I hope you are sitting down and not of a nervous disposition, put your cup of tea down before reading this...... this little lot and I do mean little lot cost ....over £30 plus p&p, along with the Atak stuff, with the terrible exchange rate at the moment the whole bill was £93.42.  Now I tried other places but no one else had the armoured m.g barrels or Atak and the other barrels were more expensive from Historex.  So when I fit these barrels to a KT and display them at a show I will have to employ some security guard to watch over them!

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8 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

They are on the Panzer VI GB, The S.PzAbt.501 and S.PzAbt.505, I really need to update them both, but with one thing or another... perhaps I should not join GBs, great starts and then...  I hate working to deadlines, prefer just to pick up something and do some work on it until something else grabs my attention, trouble is I get nothing, or almost nothing finished.  I mentioned along with the Atak zimm for the Elephant and zimm for a KT I have in the stash that I bought some Aber m.g barrels, well here they are:

 

2 x 2 piece M.G 34 barrels and 1? gun sight for the cupola mounted m.g, and 4 x M.G 34 barrels for the armoured m.g in hull mounted positions on Tigers, KTs and Elephants, now I hope you are sitting down and not of a nervous disposition, put your cup of tea down before reading this...... this little lot and I do mean little lot cost ....over £30 plus p&p, along with the Atak stuff, with the terrible exchange rate at the moment the whole bill was £93.42.  Now I tried other places but no one else had the armoured m.g barrels or Atak and the other barrels were more expensive from Historex.  So when I fit these barrels to a KT and display them at a show I will have to employ some security guard to watch over them!

Same here Bob.......I can't join for the same reason. I like to flutter around on various projects for a change. Nice looking barrels. I need to find some out myself for the Elephant and have some in for later projects. Unless I find some visual ref that standard was also fitted. I fitted a standard 34 on my Panther........it is a '45 themed one, so could say it was all they had and it'll do...:D

 

That was a hefty bill....for that lot.......I seem to feel that each kit now with tracks, PE and the kit itself - you don't have much change now from £100......:( Incentivises the bargain hunt for stuff, more and more.......

 

The bud arrived today and maybe looking at a start on that next week. Luckily, there aren't many PE upgrades for this one on the market......so OOTB for this one. Though scratch building the stretcher racks in place of the seating should keep me busy......

 

Redcoat

 

 

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3 hours ago, Redcoat2966 said:

That was a hefty bill....for that lot.......I seem to feel that each kit now with tracks, PE and the kit itself - you don't have much change now from £100......:( Incentivises the bargain hunt for stuff, more and more.......

Hi Simon, It could be worse, If I did not have my stash and I had to buy the KT and main gun barrel at todays prices it would be out of reach just for a GB.  I forgot to include my 4 shackles in the picture, that makes all the difference. :whistle:

Had a go at some chipping today, update on the 505 KT build. 

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Yeah, never thought of it that way. I have to say, not sure if anyone else feels the same....but kit prices seem to have increased noticeably in the last 12 months. I have plenty in my stash now to last a few years. .....but as always, looking for the occasional bargain and new build.....:D....I must get over to the GB page and take a look.

 

:yes:

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I have some of the RB non-armoured. Picked them up at the Telford show for £3 for two......so cleaned them out of all 4 packs....I think they are fine at 1:35th scale. I went on Ebay last night, and I think Aber are a little over priced at £12 with shipping.....and they don't have the vent holes of the standard '34, which are machined on the opposite axis in production. The armoured are just turned in one operation.....less time.....not sure why so much more money really.

 

I did find some Aber armoured, but shorter.....for £6 for two; shipped....so might go for those.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Redcoat2966 said:

I have some of the RB non-armoured. Picked them up at the Telford show for £3 for two......so cleaned them out of all 4 packs....I think they are fine at 1:35th scale.

Hi Simon, I have plenty of RB stuff and it's great, it's just they don't make these particular barrels.  On the start of the Panzer VI build someone had a perforated M.G barrel to put on their KT and I said unfortunately it was the wrong type, pity as I had some in my stash.  They replied with a picture of the Munster Museum KT showing a perforated M.G barrel, restored tanks uh!  On those MG 34 barrel information sheets they show them fitted in the co-axial position on a Tiger and Panther with just the flash eliminator showing through the mantle and I thought REALLY! at that price, just buy the short flash eliminators for that, £1 each. :ner:

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Hi Bob

 

I suppose non armoured when needs

must were fitted.......although I can imagine it would have irritated the Germans not being to the book 😁

 

I need to get some coaxial ones ...........For my Panther I used the kit part, but had to drill out the flash suppressor.......not the easiest thing to do 😬

 

I meant to ask. You ever used DEF Model Zimmerit. Came across it on EBay, but cant seem to track down a review anywhere on line or Scalemates.

 

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12 hours ago, Redcoat2966 said:

I need to get some coaxial ones ...........For my Panther I used the kit part, but had to drill out the flash suppressor.......not the easiest thing to do 😬

I know it's not easy to do, I use a small drill bit and then a pointy scalpel blade to try and get the funnel shape, but it's so easy to slit the end. :wtf:

12 hours ago, Redcoat2966 said:

I meant to ask. You ever used DEF Model Zimmerit. Came across it on EBay, but cant seem to track down a review anywhere on line or Scalemates.

I have seen it on ebay, but as it is a waterslide decal I have not bought any as I thought it would be too shallow in relief to look real, if you look on the panzer VI GB, there is a Zverda Elephant build where he used a decal zimm set, under a coat of primer it is barely visible, much like Eduard etched zimm, have a look and see what you think.

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11 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

I know it's not easy to do, I use a small drill bit and then a pointy scalpel blade to try and get the funnel shape, but it's so easy to slit the end. :wtf:

I have seen it on ebay, but as it is a waterslide decal I have not bought any as I thought it would be too shallow in relief to look real, if you look on the panzer VI GB, there is a Zverda Elephant build where he used a decal zimm set, under a coat of primer it is barely visible, much like Eduard etched zimm, have a look and see what you think.

Hi Bob........yeah, see what you mean. Not a good look at all.....I don't like the look, way too regular and regimented.........In fact, I think even the PE Zim is superior to that stuff...........Glad I got the ATAK.....:yes:

 

 

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Sorry, I would have thought that RB offers the armoured version as well. Indeed the ABER offerings look much much detailed, but let the customer pay. Especially the turret versions, where you only see when you point us towards it with macro pictures.

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11 hours ago, Redcoat2966 said:

Hi Bob........yeah, see what you mean. Not a good look at all.....I don't like the look, way too regular and regimented.........In fact, I think even the PE Zim is superior to that stuff...........Glad I got the ATAK.....:yes:

Hi Simon, I had a look, I googled: "DEF zimmerit review" and got a couple of hits.  There is a video of a guy applying some to a Tiger kit, he is very enthusiastic about it but no close ups and no paint sprayed on to show the effect, from what I can see it looks exactly the same as on that Elephant kit.  The Hobby Boss kits that require zimm come with  a sheet of embossed plastic card, have you seen that stuff?  It's has better relief than the decals but is too regular, still not as good as Atak, plus if you already have the a kit, no help there.

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8 hours ago, Soeren said:

Sorry, I would have thought that RB offers the armoured version as well. Indeed the ABER offerings look much much detailed, but let the customer pay. Especially the turret versions, where you only see when you point us towards it with macro pictures.

I tried any alternative with no luck, I agree the Aber armoured barrels are beautifully detailed, but I will only use them in the hull positions where that detail can be seen, for the co-axial  guns it will just be the simple flash eliminator end that I will use.

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22 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

Hi Simon, I had a look, I googled: "DEF zimmerit review" and got a couple of hits.  There is a video of a guy applying some to a Tiger kit, he is very enthusiastic about it but no close ups and no paint sprayed on to show the effect, from what I can see it looks exactly the same as on that Elephant kit.  The Hobby Boss kits that require zimm come with  a sheet of embossed plastic card, have you seen that stuff?  It's has better relief than the decals but is too regular, still not as good as Atak, plus if you already have the a kit, no help there.

I'll take a look Bob.....but I think I'll stick with ATAK for future builds, if they do a set for the kit. Although, I see plenty of kits coming out now with Zim moulded in. From what I've seen, it looks pretty good......especially on some of the Dragon Tiger 1's.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Redcoat2966 said:

I'll take a look Bob.....but I think I'll stick with ATAK for future builds, if they do a set for the kit. Although, I see plenty of kits coming out now with Zim moulded in. From what I've seen, it looks pretty good......especially on some of the Dragon Tiger 1's.

Manufacturers now seem to provide the zimm and Dragon seem to make some of the best, its the older kits in the stash that are the problem.

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Yeah, moulded as part of the kit looked OK to me when I was looking for a Tiger 1 recently. ....but I resisted buying one as I have plenty to get through for at least a couple of years........

 

My 3mm brass tube arrived this week, so going to get the last main detail part done so I can get on with this one.......

 

 

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26 minutes ago, Redcoat2966 said:

Yeah, moulded as part of the kit looked OK to me when I was looking for a Tiger 1 recently. ....but I resisted buying one as I have plenty to get through for at least a couple of years........

I don't have many Tiger 1s in the stash, but Hannants is listing the Tiger 1 with zimm for £75 and looks like Dragon are about reissue their 8 wheeled armoured cars at £70, like you I will resist and build items in my stash.

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Hi Bob.......yes, I think the drop in the pound is pushing up the price of kits. I have to say. The Border Model Panzer IV is pretty good, and a very good price.......under £30. I see they’re releasing quite a few kits now.......3 or 4 Panthers very recently. From what I have read, they are Takom moulds, with PE and everything 

 

I have about 10 or 12 Dragons in stock along with 5 or 6 Tamiya’s and a Asuka Sherman.....so unless I come across a bargain.....I’ll stick with stash in hand too.

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10 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

I don't have many Tiger 1s in the stash, but Hannants is listing the Tiger 1 with zimm for £75 and looks like Dragon are about reissue their 8 wheeled armoured cars at £70, like you I will resist and build items in my stash.

 

8 hours ago, Redcoat2966 said:

Hi Bob.......yes, I think the drop in the pound is pushing up the price of kits. I have to say. The Border Model Panzer IV is pretty good, and a very good price.......under £30. I see they’re releasing quite a few kits now.......3 or 4 Panthers very recently. From what I have read, they are Takom moulds, with PE and everything 

 

I have about 10 or 12 Dragons in stock along with 5 or 6 Tamiya’s and a Asuka Sherman.....so unless I come across a bargain.....I’ll stick with stash in hand too.

That is a problem I found. I regularly visit the scalemates "new kits" site. There always pop up the recent 2 in 1 Dragon offerings. A quick visit to ebay, et voila, bargain 😗. And one more for the stash. By this approach I tracked down all the Dragen Gen2 German Figure kits , but also bought 2 Tigers there. Only one is with moulded on Zimmerit though, the  Italy stationed tank with the remote controled Borgward. Fantastic moulding. The other one is their late Tiger sans Zimmerit, with almost 10 paintinge options. But I still have the decal Zim of the Academy Fehrman Tiger. Will a stash ever melt? 😅

Edited by Soeren
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  • 1 year later...

Evening all......hope we are all well and planning an "at the bench" weekend.....

 

Decided to switch from the Mobelwagen and work on a partially done project for a change of scenery...back on the "Elephant" on the Italian Front. I decided today to do a slight re-paint of the base coat in the pics earlier in the thread and then cracked on with some camo'. I know it's reminiscent of the Kursk "spider" camo'....but I thought it suited this large vehicle and looks cool.....:smile:

 

PsNPe3U.jpg

 

 

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ZT6Bk8d.jpg

 

That's it for today......catch you over the weekend....:yes:

 

Regards

Simon

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