Dragon 1/35 Elefant - "102" 1/653 Italy - WIP

The Ferdinand/Elefant was extrememly heavy having a combat weight of about 72 tons.  As you can well imagine, this created tremendous logistical problems.  Their extreme weight required great care when choosing the terrain in which to drive over.  It was not uncommon for them to literally break through bridges. 

This would prove to be a serious problem in both Russia and Italy as the infrastructure just couldn't handle these heavy, highly specialized vehicles.  Often times, they would bog down immediately in any soft or wet earth.  As you can imagine, it required a lot of pulling power to "rescue" these vehicles. 

It amazes me how many times these great tank killers were so mis-understood by the higher ups and sent into terrain which was totally unsuited to their limitations.  

The Elefant has its spots!  They are on a little heavier than I would have liked, but some touch up using Dunkelgelb in and around some of the spots (mostly the green ones) should make them appear a little wispier.  Most of the photos I've seen of #102 show it very dusty, so the dust coats and weathering will tone it down a lot. 

Looking really fine there Scott. Cant wait to see the beuty finished. OH yeah, you had a Tiger a while ago, didnt you? What ever happened to that? LOL.

...Guy

Great looking pachyderm Scott !  Primo camo and zim work. 

Larry

Luftwoller wrote:

Looking really fine there Scott. Cant wait to see the beuty finished. OH yeah, you had a Tiger a while ago, didnt you? What ever happened to that? LOL. ...Guy

I'm working on that one too.  I work on the Elefant while I'm waiting for things to dry on the Tiger.  They both look so cool sitting on my workbench, can't wait to get them both finished and in the display case. 

Thanks for all the kind words my friends.  I'm still learning the ins and outs of free handing camo schemes (been too used to masking and just spraying with aircraft )  I need to work on making my spraying a little lighter and wispier on these types of schemes.  I'll get the hang of it eventually.

Ferdinand fun fact of the day.....

There were a total of 89 Ferdinands that participated in Operation Zitadelle (organized into two Schwere PanzerJaeger Abteiling, Heavy Tank Hunter Battalions - literally translated).  These were credited with 502 confirmed tank kills, 200 anti-tank guns and 100 artillery pieces.  Pretty impressive stats no matter how you look at it!!! 

Thanks guys, I appreciate the confidence boosters. 

Ferdinand/Elefant fun fact of the day.........

Elefact of the day.........

One of the modifications made to the Ferdinands to improve their close in defensive capabilities was to install a bow mounted machine gun.   Can you believe Ferdinands didn't have one?.  Apparently the original design called for a bow mounted machine gun, but the manufacturer was uncomfortable with compromising the integrity of the two armored plates of 100mm each (200mm total) and deleted the bow machine gun from the design at the time they were built. 

This proved to be one of the achilles heels of the Ferdinands during the battle of Kursk and the desperate defensive fighting at the Nikopol bridgehead.  After these battles, the remaining Ferdinands (42 + 6 that had already been sent back to be rebuilt, for a total of 48) were sent back to the Nibelungenwerke in Austria, to give them much needed maintenance and overhauling.  They had many upgrades done to them at this time to correct some of the deficienies (i.e. lack of bow machine gun, new commanders cupola based on the StuGIII, zimmerit and many other minor upgrades and modifications).  In order to try to minimize the compromize to the integrity of the armor plate where the bow machine gun was installed, an additional 100mm plate section was bolted on around the machine gun port, providing a total of 300mm (that's 11.811 inches!) of armored protection in that spot!  Holy cow, that's a lot of armor!!! 

Most of the pictures I have of Elefant #102 in Italy show it to be very dusty, so I put down an initial dust coat to start toning things down a bit.  I'll do another one in the final stages of this build. 

I'm currently prepping it for its markings.  Once those are on and sealed up a nice series of washes should bring out the zimmerit and bolt detail very nicely.  That's when it's really going to start coming alive. 

Looks Fantastic Espins1!!! ...I love the camo!

Very nice big boy, Love the scheme. Hurry up and finish it. What are you playing at man

...Guy

Thanks guys.  I need to post a picture of my Tiger sitting next to the Elefant so you can get a perspective on just how freakin' huge an Elefant is!  I'll do that once all the wheels have been attached to the Tiger.

Now for the Ferdinand/Elefant fun fact of the day..... 

During Operation Zitadelle, one Ferdinand ran into an exceptional streak of bad luck.  It was destroyed by a friendly PzKpfw III tank that "fell out of the sky".   

A direct hit from Soviet heavy artillery triggered an explosion of a Borgward carrier that was just starting out on a mine clearing mission.  (The Borgward carriers were loaded with a 350kg explosive charge, sent into a minefield via remote control from a controller tank, a PzKpfw III, then detonated so as to cause any mines in the immediate area to be detonated).  The explosion was so powerful that the PzKpfw III Controller tank was torn apart and most of it's hull hurtled through the air directly at the Ferdinand.  The falling tank cracked the gun tube and wrecked the engine grating, tearing apart the fuel tanks and starting a fire which consumed the poor hapless brute. 

That has got to be one of the must unusual double kills (triple if you count the Borgward) during all of WWII! 

edit: here is the pic

Ferdinand/Elefant fun fact of the day.... 

As you can imagine, maintenance work on these brutes was difficult due to their extreme weight.  A 16 ton crane was required just to lift the superstructure off of the hull! 

Edit: Here is a photo

The decals have been applied to my Elefant, only three markings.  The tactical # on the hull sides "102" and a Gothic script "U" on the upper right corner of the rear hull.  The vehicles in this company had their conversion updates (from Ferdy to Elefant) completed very quickly so they could be rushed to Italy to help deal with the Anzio beachhead.  There wasn't even a Balkenkreuz on this Elefant. 

I'll be sealing up the decals tonight, weathering begins tomorrow assuming my wife's surgery goes well.

Catching up with this thread....amazing work! Maybe in a few years I can build something half as good as that!

Enjoyed your "fun facts" by the way...

What did you use as backup for your pics? The black backdrop shows the elephant in nice stark detail.

This thread also made me think, maybe some of the machines we see in museums/bases have been "decorated" (painted/refurbished) a-historically

Great work!

JMart wrote:

Catching up with this thread....amazing work! Maybe in a few years I can build something half as good as that! Enjoyed your "fun facts" by the way... What did you use as backup for your pics? The black backdrop shows the elephant in nice stark detail. This thread also made me think, maybe some of the machines we see in museums/bases have been "decorated" (painted/refurbished) a-historically Great work!

Thank you, I appreciate the kind words and am glad you're enjoying the "fun facts".  There are so many interesting things about these vehicles which I'm very passionate about, so I figured I'd share them here.   

The backdrop came with the portable photobooth and lighting that I found from a great vendor on e-bay.  It came with two backdrops, one black and one white.  Each one has two sides, a velvety side (which I like) and a shinier nylon looking side. 

Here are several photos of the Elefant all glossed and decaled.  This particular company of Elefants had their conversion work rushed (when the Ferdinands were being upgraded to Elefants, so to speak) so they could be sent off quickly to Anzio to counter the threat of the Allied landing there.  They carried virtually no markings.  Elefant #102 had tactical numbers on each side of the fighting compartment and a Gothic Script "U" on the upper right hand corner of the rear of the fighting compartment. 

Now on to the weathering! 

Elefact of the day

In most cases (assuming these brutes were deployed properly) their armor protection was perfectly able to assure the crews survival on the battlefield, despite both enemy artillery and anti-tank fire.  On July 8 1943 the 3rd company of the 1/653 encountered their Soviet counterparts..... the SU-152 tank destroyers, armed with a 152mm howitzer capable of firing a 40kg (88+ pounds) armor piercing shell.  Three Ferdinands were hit and lost in this encounter.

Build update.... it's oil wash day!!!  I'm going to start by laying it on it's side, then applying the oil wash to the wheels, sprockets and sides.  That should really bring out the zimmerit, nut and bold detail.  I'll have pics this afternoon. 

panzer88 wrote:

Beautiful work, I built the same one years ago.Was my first try at using cavalier zimm, turned out good. Yours is looking great, can't wait to see the beast finished. Just a question, what references are you using for all your "Ferdy and Elephant" facts, very interested in possibly acquiring?

Thanks, I appreciate the comments. 

These are the best of my Ferdinand/Elefant references.  The first two books are from AJ Press Gun Power #22 "Ferdinand Elefant Vol.1" and Gun Power #23 "Ferdinand Elefant Vol. 2" both by Tadeusz Melleman.  These are the best that I've found that cover the development and technical aspects, along with some brief history.  Highly recommended.

This book has a wealth of photos and historical information.  "The Combat History of German Heavy Anti-Tank Unit 653" by Karlheinz Munch.  I need to get my hands on the 654th book as well.

Hello espins 1

Like very much, and the info.  I have 3 of this baby, 2 already finished and 1 waiting in the production line.

Greetings

Thomas

Looks fantastic Scott. Really starting to come together. Like everyone else here, i cant wait to see this thing done. Great photo BTW of the exploding Borgward.

...Guy

Thanks again guys, I appreciate the interest and the comments. 

Here is a quickie shot about 30min after I applied the first oil wash to the left side.  As you can see, all the detail is starting to come alive! 

Now I'm off to make a dump run to get rid of the last of the old bathroom cabinets and counter top from the remodeling.  As long as I don't somehow injure myself, I'll have more progress pics later. 

Here we are after the 2nd application of the wash on the left side.  I really like how the zimmerit detail popped out after this 2nd wash.  The key is not to go too heavy with each wash.

I meant to post these last night, but got sidetracked with a nice BBQ steak dinner with my wife. 

Here are some photos from after the oil wash treatment of burnt umber oil paint mixed with turpenoid.  I think it brought out the details very well, especially on the wheels, zimmerit and weld seams. I applied the wash twice to each of the areas.