Dragon Elefant w/Zimmerit - Now Complete! Final Photo Update March 9th:

Looks like a fun project Ben, the Elefant did indeed have all-steel road wheels, no rubber on those puppies.

I think the Elefant is my favorite TD of WW II, even more so then the Jagdpanther. I just love the brute look to them and that 88mm....whoooo!

I built the older Elefant and it went together well. Just watch the directions, because I recall the running gear being backwards or something to that nature. I have the Ferdy premium in my stash, because I was unhappy with my camo and decals. Also I used DS tracks, which were great, but less detailed then the indy tracks.

Cheers guys,

Steel-wheels! Sorted

I'd like to have PE Fenders for this to beat up a bit but I'll see what I can do.

The DS tracks are ok but as I'll probably only be turning out 3-4 builds this year (I can only build at weekends - work is crazy busy and will get even worse next year as we've just taken on a big new contract). That basically means I'll be using Friuls on the builds that don't have Magic Tracks (like this one). Although they look ok, if I'm putting in a lot of time and effort on a build Friuls are a definate!

This should build up pretty quickly - it doesn't have a massive amount of parts so that's more time for painting & weathering the build, painting a decent figure (hopefully) and building the base. I want to keep the base simple but this time it will be a bit bigger and the plinth type base really looks good. I plan to make up a simple groundwork utilising Jerry cans, random stowage and a figure to give a good sense of scale. The nameplate can go on the side of the plinth.

If you do have any links to good Elefant info or photos I'd love to see what you've got.

Thanks guys,

Ben

Hey Ben - Great choice. I've wanted to build one of these monsters myself. Although I think I was leaning more towards a Kursk Ferdinand. I really like the dark green web camo...

Anyway, here are a few photos of Elefants I dug up. I'm sure you can find plenty more. (I have way more pics of Ferdinands than Elefants.) The key is to find a forum link where the members have done all the work for you. Good luck. I'll be watching this one come together.

Pretty sure these are all public domain - if not, these are for discussion only. 

and I love these last two... even though you can't get much in the way of color information off them.

Have fun! 

and here's a halfway decent walk-around of the Aberdeen Elefant for detail. I'm sure with a little searching you can find better pics of this one.

www.peachmountain.com/.../tanks_Elefant.aspx

Great photos Dave!

I reckon the barrel cleaning photo would make a nice little dio

Thanks buddy,

Ben

Hi fellas,

Saturday update! I started this afternoon and, as usual, took to the instructions with my trusty Highlighter pen and biro marking what parts to leave off until later and also marking an aim point where I wanted to get to with todays session. A leisurely 3 (and a bit) hours modelling has got the basic suspension assembly out of the way and the rear panel assembly completed.

As I'm going with Friuls I think they come with Sprockets (not sure how many or what type) so I'll wait until the Friuls arrive before I think about fitting sprockets.

I'm going to leave off the Jack Block to fit after basecoat painting as the kit PE comes with all the detailing to make the Block a lot better looking with carry handles etc.

I'm working from home tomorrow but hopefully it should be quiet enough to enable me to do the part I want to get done tomorrow which is the frontal armour and bow MG etc. I've only got New Years Day off so I intend to get a fair bit done then.

Photos:

Note: the instructions look like they want you to stick the suspension arms together but the when they are fitted it looks like one of the 2 wheels on each suspension unit will be sitting up so I haven't glued the suspension arms in the hope that the weight of the Friuls might make all the road wheels sit flat?

Note: There is some PE in use already! The part on the back (Intake/outake?) has an optional PE grill cover. Nasty gap there - that'll need sorting!

I'm glad this is underway now - I've been feeling lazy since Christmas and it's nice to have a fresh build on the bench!

I know it's not a lot to show but every build starts somewhere.

I'm going to enjoy this one!

Cheers guys,

Ben

Off to a good start with this one Ben, good call on the suspension elements. Do a test fit with the road wheels and you should be able to 'fix' them in the correct position that allows the vehicle to sit level when the time comes.

Ben, a nice start to what I'm sure will be a cool build--I've wanted one of these pre-zimmed Elefants myself, but settled for an un-zimmed one that "ll use Eduard PE on.

Anyway, I just wanted to remark about that barrel that you dissed. You seem to really not like two-piece barrels as much as I hate one-piece tracks, lol. In any case, a lot of times the replacement metal barrels are not correct in dimension--too long, in many cases. Be careful of that. Secondarily, you can easily make a plastic two-piece look perfectly acceptable by using a slower-setting glue, clamping it in a medium-strength clamp for a half hour, and then twisting the barrel in a few pieces of finer-grit sandpaper. I use the plastic ones all the time, and never have a problem with them. It's worth learning how to perfect them, as it saves you some money and time from having to acquire a new metal AM barrel for every ki hat doesn't come with the option.

Hi guys,

Thanks for dropping by Bill and Carl

Carl - I don't diss every two piece barrel by any means bud. If I do one of my Quickie Tamiya builds I'll use the split barrel BUT this Ferdinand barrel (it's on one of the old sprues labelled Ferdinand) is gross LOL! It's got waaay too many sprue contact points and is pretty ugly and thick. The kit has obviously been upgraded with an Aluminium barrel and slide moulded muzzle brake assembly so it's no extra expense this time.

The way I look at it is I am very restricted by my work commitments to the amount of builds I can put out - this year I reckon I'll be lucky if I complete the 5 really nice Dragon kits in my stash (unless I buy one or two Tamiya quickies). I don't build many kits per year so a few pounds (literally) on an AM barrel is a bonus for me. Any that aren't used go into the spares tub. 

Quick build update: I've worked from home this afternoon so in between phone calls have been tackling what turned out to be a VERY fiddly assembly of the front section. Several panels make it up and after half an hour dry-fitting I still had to settle for a bit of a gap between the lower panels but they are on the underside and will fill very easily.

The bow MG is on and moveable (I haven't assembled it fully as it won't be seen) as are the four little 90 degree Photo-Etch bits that the vague instructions look like they want you to put them on a particular area ina particular position so I did! I've since looked at some blogs and can see that some modellers have put them on how I have and others have left a piece sticking up but they aren't coming off again now and will be covered by spare links, Fender mounting arms and maybe stowage too! These instructions are very vaque, not poor - just vague. If I'm unsure of how a piece fits I'll usually look ahead a few steps to see how it looks but on these instructions they don't show detail of parts after the step where you fit them so I've been left guessing on a couple of bits. The fitment of the these front panels aren't great either - I'm hoping for a bit better later on!

Sorry there's not much to show you but I'm where I need to be to make good progress on my New Years Day bench session.

The next steps will see me assembling the gun, fitting the Fenders and starting on the Casemate build.

So far - not too bad The instructions are a let-down but what's remaining is a simple enough assembly

Thanks guys,

Ben

Hi guys,

I'm making good progress and wanted to get up to a certain point on the instruction sheet so when I came to my weekend build-athon I'd be be starting afresh on a new sub-assembly: in this case the Casemate and Gun mount/barrel assembly.

So Fenders are on along with the mountings etc. They stick up on the underside of the lower hull and fit just fine. Two small mounting arms are needed at the rear, two up near the front on the sloping part of the fender and two longer ones that sit right up front on the front of the fenders.

I know a few of you have this kit and are following this blog for pointers so I'll start with mentioning the four pieces of PE that you are asked to put up front. Don't fit them until you want the two Fender support arms on that go right up the front - also, I'd say don't fit them to the tank, bend them and fit them to the arms where the arms sit on the zim under the Bow MG. Bend them and fit one at the front of the arm and one at the back with the other bent half sitting underneath the arm. The idea is to give the impression that ech arm is sitting between to upright pieces

As I previously mentioned the instruction are not clear re these PE parts so leave them until you fit the fenders. Mine were trashed now so I just cut four PE pices and bodged them on so they looked like they were installed properly.

Apart from getting the Fenders on I fitted the round tube thingy? Barrel cleaning rod storage? There is simple optional PE mounting brackets so I used them - I'm trying to use more PE now as it's obvious that a good build benefits from good PE work!

Photos:

Below - note the part of the fender arms that sit on the Zimmed area; that's where you need to put the PE.

The rear of the left hand fender showing the mounting bracket:

The Tube on the RHS Fender:

Finally, note the Fender spring: Not very detailed so when it comes to detailing up near the end of construction and adding metal grab handles ets I'll wrap some very fine fuse wire around some rod to replace these kit 'springs':

So, progress being made! Instructions still suck big time but are ok. Just dry fit and dry fit again!

This weekend I'll get the Casemate and gun assembly sorted.

Happy New Year my friends

Ben

Some great progress Ben. I really need to get myself an Elefant kit

looking really good so far and don't you love that grey card in the Dragon kits every time I start one I go straight for that to see all the PE and other bits its like Christmas in every Dragon kit lol.. Keep it up I'll be watching

Cheers Rambo,

You've got to love the piece of card. In this kit you get a healthy choice of decals, some nice PE that I can actually work with, metal braid for the tow cables and a replacement turned Aluminium barrel!

Only tomorrow to go and I've got the weekend - all to myself!

Ben

Hi guys,

A quick Saturday update!

The lower hull is all sorted (apart from the running gear) so today it's Casemate time. I'm going to be VERY quick as I haven't had tea yet and there is a VERY good film on soon, too

The gun breech assembly is in place awaiting the barrel which needs to be fitted later on in the build. All the hatches are on and the crazy model-in-a-model Cupola is done too. Remember I'm still testing myself with PE so had to have a crack at the PE parts supplied for the Cupola i.e. 8 x square parts that go between the Periscopes and the round PE ring - it turned out ok. A couple are a bit wonky so I'm going to change them (a few spares are supplied). I could have taken the easy option and left off the Brass as there is a plastic part to use instead of the round piece and who would notice them eight tiny squares? I did it - I'm well proud!

Unfortunately my entire free weekend came clattering to a halt yesterday when I was told that I'd have to cover the 2pm-10pm shift tomorrow but if I aim to complete the rear section of the Cupola that should be within my time limit if it isn't too busy!

Oh, I haven't fitted the square barrel guard thing (name?) on the ball mount incase I need to move things around when fitting the barrel. Also, the single Periscope at the front is pretty poor in looks and has been moulded with no detail BUT I know I have a new one in the spares box with lens detail - this has nothing. I'll pop that on later as I will do with the wheels, tracks, tools and Jack etc - I want them to be fitted after the main paint has been applied. The same with the wheels and tracks so I can weather behind them properly before fitting.

Here's the Breech Assembly:

The Casemate and more crazy instructions - the Cupola was not as easy as it looks in the diagram:

What's up next for the build:

I hope you like her so far guys,

Cheers fellas,

Ben

Looking good Ben. It's going to hard to paint those periscopes. Good luck.

Hey TM - she's coming on well,

The round PE piece on the Cupola is only gently held in place with a couple of dabs of the fake finger nail CA glue as I'd anticipated issues with painting the lenses so it's all good buddy.

Thanks for the TM!

Ben

Hey Ben, she's coming along nicely...

I usually paint the periscope lenses and then mask them off before installation/painting. I even leave them masked until I'm all done with the weathering. Seems to work reasonably well. 

Hi guys,

Cheers for the Hasenpfeffer!

Making great progress - although I've been working from home this afternoon covering the emergency phone it's been dead so I've really rattled through the remaining parts of the build - I now have 3 nice sub assemblies ready to go!

Next weekend I've got some little jobs to do and I'll be able to fit it all together. I've got to sort the remaining hatches on the front deck, PE Jack Block Mount, Sledgehammer Mount and clasp, tow cable mounts, spare tracks, wheels and Friuls - plus there's the matter of the Friuls which I'll order tomorrow. I reckon I'll be basecoating this in another couple of weekends time depending on work.

One thing I'm REALLY pleased with is the Fender flap srings up front. They were supplied as moulded plastic with hardly any spring detail so I decided to use some thin Brass Rod and wrap 5 amp fuse wire around it - they look much better.

PROBLEM - I tried to test fit the replacement Aluminium barrel that came with the kit. I also assembled the kit barrel. In the ball mount there are two lugs that the plastic kit barrel locate into and slide into the grooves either side of the barrel - the Aluminium one will not push in far enough and looks like it is going to be too small in diameter. With the plastic barrel located it seems that the Aluminium one sticks out nearly 10mm too much! The lugs stop it pushing in far enough? Do I have to do anything to make this metal barrel fit - it's not looking great at the minute as if I was to manage to get it pushed in to the correct depth it's going to be waaay too small in diameter?

Can anyone help? How did you sort this out if you have built this kit?

Here are some photos - I'm loving this build!

Sub-Assemblies:

Dry Fitted to test:

My new springs:

Thanks for looking guys - I hope you like her so far!

If anyone can assist with the barrel I'd be very grateful!

Have a good week chaps,

Ben

Hello guys,

I was keen to wrap up today with the barrel in place and dry fitted. My previous post asked a question about fitting the metal barrel and what to do as it wouldn't go in the ball mount properly?

Well, I re-read the instructions and Dragon bought attention to removing 2 key pieces from the Breech assembly but used small print so I overlooked it - I should have known better by now!

Yippee!

All sorted,

Take care lads,

Ben

That's scary. I have the Ferdy Premium kit and it too comes with an aluminum barrel, part of the reason that I bought it. Now I'm scared

Hey Ben, I'm getting caught up in the Armor forum and read your Elephant thread!  Great build sir and its coming along fantastic!  Strangely I don't have one Elephant or Ferdinand kit in my stash and based on your build log I'm now itching to get me one!  With the Zim, of course!  Looking forward to some paint on it!!  

Thanks Eric and Ernest

Eric - all you need to do is remove two tiny little locator nubs in the ball mount. It's shown in the instructions and if I'd actually noticed it it wouldn't have been a problem!

Honestly it's simple - you'll find this build very easy Tiger, just take care with the front bolted armour as that can be tricky.

You should try this build Ernest or one of the variants but if you want Zim ready moulded on this has to be the one. It's a big old beast too - the build with Muzzle Brake on is nearly 9 inches long. No joking at the back

Thanks for the kind comments fellas,

Ben

hi this is looking great i am sure mine will pale in comparision keep up the great work

Cheers Treetopper,

Have faith in yourself matey - it's a simple assembly so I've probably made it look easy but I've still made a few errors on the way!

I'm still to decide on the colour/cammo scheme yet!

Ben

Cheers Guys,

We are moving forward guys! Onwards and upwards!

The plan (at present) is to basecoat the build with DY and add some light cammo squiqqles. I'm then going to apply the chipping solutions and a light coating of Tamiya Flat White. I want the basecoat and cammo to be visible and the build to look like it's wearing just the remnants of a whitewash coat. The bulk will be removed leaving small areas and built-up areas of white around running gear and hatches. I think this could work well if done properly.

The other option is a standard DY basecoat with either the green 'web' scheme or thin Rotbraun/Olivgrun freehand squiggly lines.

Either way, it's a long way off right now as it's going to get VERY cold in the UK from today onwards with forecast -7 overnight temperatures and East winds carriying rain/snow and generaly horrible, icy weather. As I have my airbrush setup in our Workshop I had to box it all up last night and bring it inside along with the stuff I keep outside with the airbrush like my Tamiya rattlecan and Vallejo airbrush primers, Vallejo varnishes and airbrush cleaners plus associated hardware. The Workshop may well be double glazed and brisk built and cavity insulated but it has no heating other than portable hating and an oil filled radiator. It heats up perfectly within 40 minutes but boy, it gets darn cold in there overnight! I dread to think of the potential damage this deep cold could do to my hardware and primers/varnishes.

The plan is to get the workshop heating turned on an hour before I go to spray in there and during that hour I can prepare my paints etc.

I'm about to do the final assembly work on the Elefant this afternoon and I'll be ready to turn my attention to the running gear and my Friuls. That way I'll be able to keep airbrush sessions to a minumum. I'll be using AK's Blemishing Fluid on the Friuls and the wheels will be sprayed DY on the sidewalls with brush painted Gunze Metalcolour (buffable) to be used on the steel tread - obviously no rubber on this monster!

The Jack & Block with PE mountings will be fixed on after painting of the DY basecoat and I'll try to make it look like whitewash residue was applied OVER the tools by leaving a little bit showing on the handles.

So, I'm off to get the bulk of the rest of the assembly done. I'll be keeping it in three sub-assemblies until I'm ready to paint just incase I need further access to the inner Casemate plus it will make test fitting the Friuls and roadwheels a lot easier with the lower hull on it's own!

So, what do you guys think to the 'Worn Whitewash' Polish Elefant idea?

Proper update later!

Cheers guys,

Ben 

Go for it Ben,You know I'm really enjoying the whitewash on my Tiger right now.

Anthony

Ben, the Polish WW Elefant sounds cool. If nothing else, it presents a challenge and an opportunity to do something beyond the regular camo idea.

You should also protect your paints from extreme cold. And don't forget, you can always warm them in a pot of hot water before you AB them---cold paint does not spray nicely. Warm paint disperses much better through the nozzle.

Hey Doog,

Luckily I have a great big Oak Wardrobe in the spare room which houses EVERYTHING apart from my airbrush, airbrush accessories, primers,ab cleaners and compressor.

The cupboard has my stash in it, my tools, my endless supply of various paints (Vallejo, Tamiya, Gunze, Humbrol and oils) plus my AK & Mig weathering products. They get well looked after - believe me

Now I've got my set-up in the Workshop all running smoothly (it's taken me a lot of time and ruined paint jobs to get my set-up to function how it does now) I want to keep it that way. I'm not taking chances with a forecast big freeze ruining my primers and compressor.

I hate this darn weather - it plays havoc with my knees!

A worn whitewash Polish Elefant it is!

I'll get some photos up soon but I'm onto the smaller things now so there's no BIG changes to report on yet. It's all coming together nicely though!

Ben