Dragon's 1/72 Elefant

J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Dragon's 1/72 Elefant

Posted by J-Hulk on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 12:29 PM

Hi folks!

Checked out Dragon's new 1/72 Elefant kit today. looks great in the box! Excellent moldings and fine detail.

The only disappointing thing was the belt-style trax. Although they were very well detailed, and appeared to be quite flexible, they still looked they'd sproing in a very unrealistic way unless the modeler came up with a very clever way to induce the appropriate sag.

It sells here for 950 yen ($860 US).

But other than the trax, it looks like a great kit to me!
Ah, even with the trax it still looks great!

~Brian

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wildwilliam

Member since
December 2009
From: West Grove, PA

Posted by wildwilliam on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 1:27 PM

Brian,
not exactly J-Hulk scale, tho, is it? Big Smile [:D]

of course, i was a bit surprised to see a 1/35 tank is smaller than a 1/24 Winston Cup car! Blush [:I]

funny how obvious the obvious is when it's right in front of you!

can you tell me the length, width height of either the real Elefant or the 1/76 version?
i know the 1:1 is a big boy . . .

ed.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 5:58 PM

Wow, for $860 US dollars that had better be some incredible kit. Does this kit include metal details? I know that the 1/72 Panther does. I know I'll be picking up all their 1/72 German tanks if they are that good.

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wipw

Member since
January 2003
From: Utah - USA

Posted by wipw on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 6:25 PM

Yeah, you could almost buy two of the 1/16 Tigers for that!!
Wow!

Bill ==========================================================

DML M4A2 Red Army ==========================================================

========================================================== -- There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness". (Author unknown)

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tigerman

Member since
March 2003
From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA

Posted by tigerman on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 8:11 PM

My wife could buy 20-30 pairs of shoes for that kinda of money. Oh, I hope not. Dead [xx(]

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it."-R.E.Lee

Eric

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 9:22 PM

I think he meant $8.60, but it is still funny bever the less.

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J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Posted by J-Hulk on Thursday, October 16, 2003 5:29 AM

Whoops!

Yup, that was supposed to be $8.60! My small, rapidly fading monitor is so bad, I can hardly tell periods from commas from nothing at all!

There is no metal in this kit at all, unlike the Panther.

The real 'fant was 23.3 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 9.8 feet high, according to Aberdeen Proving Ground's book Tank Data.

I do build the ocassional 1/72 or 76 kit, if it's good. I have the Fujimi JS-II sitting right here, in a nice little diorama. I'll take some pix and post 'em hereabouts. I also have the Fujimi Tiger I late and Porsche Tiger II, but they are woefully inadequate for posting, I'm afraid!

~Brian

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wildwilliam

Member since
December 2009
From: West Grove, PA

Posted by wildwilliam on Thursday, October 16, 2003 11:06 AM

so a 1/72 Elefant is smaller than 4" x 2" !?!?!
gracious!
then a 1/72 Sherman would fit in a matchbox!
seems wrong, but at an inch per 6 feet . . .

ed.

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J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Posted by J-Hulk on Thursday, October 16, 2003 11:13 AM

Nah, that's about right, WW!
I have Dragon's 1/72 Jagdpanther right here, and the hull meaures right at 3 5/8" long and 1 7/8" wide.

It is, after all, small scale!

~Brian

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erush

Member since
May 2003
From: USA, GA

Posted by erush on Thursday, October 16, 2003 11:44 AM

That's why I only do 1/35th or bigger on armor kits. Big Smile [:D]

Eric

Hi, I'm Eric and I'm a Modelholic too. I think I have PE poisioning.

"Friendly fire...isn't"

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djmodels1999

Member since
December 2002
From: United Kingdom / Belgium

Posted by djmodels1999 on Friday, October 17, 2003 3:49 AM

Don't knock the guy off small scale AFVs...! Amazing things can be done at that scale! Shame he does larger scales too, though...

LOL

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wildwilliam

Member since
December 2009
From: West Grove, PA

Posted by wildwilliam on Friday, October 17, 2003 7:33 AM

i'm not knocking the smaller scale stuff.
but w/ my bumble fingers, it's not really an option!
Smile [:)]

ed.

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J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Posted by J-Hulk on Friday, October 17, 2003 7:50 AM

I have a buddy who does some really great 1/76 armor. He refers to those who do not appreciate the joy of building the wee beasties as "sizists."
Funny thing is, this guy's almost my size!
You readin' this, G? Big Smile [:D]

By the way, speakin' of very wee bitty beasties, has Kaiyodo's and Dragon's series of 1/144 scale armor made it out of Japan yet? They're great! I have a healthy collection of 84 of the rascals deployed around the desk. They are pre-painted, but now you can get them unassembled as well. There are even aftermarkert metal barrels and decals! And conversion kits! And garage kits of the Maus, E-100, Karl, and other wacky armor.

Tiny fun!

~Brian

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djmodels1999

Member since
December 2002
From: United Kingdom / Belgium

Posted by djmodels1999 on Friday, October 17, 2003 8:04 AM

Starting to appear on shelves here in the UK. They look real neat! We need figures now!

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J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Posted by J-Hulk on Friday, October 17, 2003 8:15 AM

One of the guys doing the resin conversions and full kits has done some excellent German WWII and modern JGSDF figures. A series called "Mini Military Figures" by a guy called Kamide Korokoro. Not his real name, by the way.
He also gave me some excellent 1/144 Maybach engines and engine packing crates he's thinking about marketing.
Hopefully some of that'll get overseas!

~Brian

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djmodels1999

Member since
December 2002
From: United Kingdom / Belgium

Posted by djmodels1999 on Friday, October 17, 2003 8:24 AM

That would be quite cool!

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 17, 2003 9:21 AM

I know the CanDo pre-built King Tigers and Jagdpanthers are in Edmonton. On the Dragon 1/72 armor front, I just noticed on their site that they're producing a Ferdinand too. (seems the logical step). They're also producing a coouple of M1A1's so modern armor modelers arent left out.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 17, 2003 8:13 PM

I really enjoy the 1/72 armor kits. It gives me something small and quick to work on in between others. And I dont really have to worry about using detail sets and resin and this and that and is this right is that right. I just build em straight from the box just for the quickie enjoyment. And they usually look great too. I bit of a surprise for anyone interested is the Revell Bradley. Its really quite detailed and very nice looking for a 72 scale. I bought 3 of them and 2 of the M1s , which are nice too. I just wanted a nice Iraqi War scene without takeing up a 3 foot space.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 17, 2003 8:44 PM

whats the best 1/72nd kit of the Tiger 1, the kingtiger
and whats the dragon Panther like and whats the metal bits? i would like to try a 1/72 kit

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J-Hulk

Member since
February 2003
From: Tochigi, Japan

Posted by J-Hulk on Sunday, October 19, 2003 11:19 AM

Hi, Jon!
I've heard the Revell Tigers are very good. I've only built the Fujimi Tiger I Late, and it's very good, with excellent link-n-length trax. The Fujimi Tiger II is an old kit, but they re-released it with link-n-length trax. Not bad.

The Dragon Panther features a metal hull, as used in their pre-built models. Everything else is styrene. Great little kits, and nice, cheap little build-ups, too! I have the Jagdpanther, and it's very nice.
Strangely, the pre-builts are about the same price as the kits...

~Brian

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djmodels1999

Member since
December 2002
From: United Kingdom / Belgium

Posted by djmodels1999 on Monday, October 20, 2003 2:04 AM

The Revell King Tiger is sweet. Nicely detailled model. Henschel turret though.

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wipw

Member since
January 2003
From: Utah - USA

Posted by wipw on Monday, October 20, 2003 1:01 PM

I've got 3 different Tiger I's. The Revell is definately the best! The detail they cram into that little thing is truely amazing. The spaces in the rear deck grills are even open! Their Panzer IV was pretty neat, too, and a pretty easy build with the exception of the brackets for the shurtzen. They are very weak. I broke every mounting rail taking them off the sprue. I am in the processing of replacing them with the Parts PE set. Talk about some T I N Y parts! Wow! Braille scale, indeed.

Bill

Bill ==========================================================

DML M4A2 Red Army ==========================================================

========================================================== -- There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness". (Author unknown)

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, October 20, 2003 3:49 PM

By the way, for fantastic tank crewmen for 1/72-76th scale tanks, check these things out:

http://www.ab-figures.demon.co.uk/worldwar.htm

They are amazing!

Are they going to make a Ferdinand too? I'd love to build some and have Russian infantry swarming all over them. "Kein maschinengewehr? D'oh!"

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