Tamiya 1/35 Tiger (P) Elefant

[RangerNeil]

Next up in the Tiger family is the Elefant, also known as the "Ferdinand". This is the Tamiya 1/35 scale version.

This monster tank hunter had an odd beginning as one of the contenders for the Nazi Schwerer Panzer (Heavy Tank) that became known as the Tiger 1. Two designs were submitted - Henschel submitted design VK4501 with a conventional powerplant/drive train and centrally mounted turret whilst Porsche submitted design VK45-01P with a forward mounted turret and a complex electro-mechanical drive system (later to resurface in the Maus). Although Hitler was fascinated by the Porsche drive system the contract was awarded to the Henschel design in part because it was a less complex system but mainly because the Porsche design required large amounts of copper, a commodity the Reich was short of. However Porsche had completed 100 hulls in anticipation of winning that now had no use as designed and rather than waste these hulls the Oberkommandante des Heer mandated they be converted into casemated tank hunters making them the precursor to the Jagdpanzer and an improvement over the open-topped Panzerjaegers. Conversion was relatively easy, the electro-mechanical drive meaning the engine could be put anywhere, all that needed to be done was change the length of the power cables to the drive motors. In the final design the two engines sat between the driver & radio operator positions and the gun crew & commander in the casemate meaning communication was only poscible whilst the intercom functioned. . Approx. 91 Ferdinands entered service designated Panzerjäger Tiger (P)
In the field the type proved slow and unreliable, the engines tending to overheat, and with high fuel consumption. Recovery of damaged Elefants was another problem - the standard recovery vehicle at the time was the BergePanzer IV. Whilst more than capable of recovering Panthers, to recover a Tiger 1 required 3 Bergepanzers and to recover an Elefant required FIVE!! As a result three of the remaining 9 hulls were converted to Bergepanzer Ferdinand specifications.
Although the Elefant usea the same "slack track" design as the Tiger 1, Panther etc the suspension was much simplified with 6 wheel on 3 suspension units per side as opposed to the complex interleaved "Schachtellaufwerk" design Henschel used on the Tiger 1.
The Pak-43 main gun was very effective with a 28⁰ traverse and an elevation of between -8⁰ to +14⁰ but initially the type lacked any defensive weaponry and Kursk proved them vulnerable to infantry up close. As a result a hull machine gun was installed in front of the radio operator.
Only two Elefants now survive - one in the US Armys Fort Wragg collection that was captured at Anzio - hull number 102 and one in the Kubinka Tank Museum in Russia, captured at Kursk, hull number either 150090 or 501.

The kit
Instructions




















Hull and Casemate


Sprue A (x2)


Sprue B


Sprue C


Sprue E (x4)


Sprue G


Polycaps


Decals


Friuhl metal tracks


Zimmerit decals


The build.
As ever the quality of Tamiyas kits impresses. Everything goes together without hassle, the instructions even refer to removing the excess from sprue attachment points.
First job was building up the front of the hull where the driver and radio operator are located.


Followed by the gun mount - this uses polycaps on the hinges which - hopefully - will prevent the dreaded "barrel droop"!


Next up is the casemate - outer collars for the mantlet and shell case ejection port




Then the hull, upper front deck and casemate are joined.




I skipped adding the main gun mount and crew seats to the interior as its getting close to the interesting part of this build - adding the Zimmerit!!

[Stokesy44]

Off to a great start.

I built this a few years back, its a great kit. I had the Zim stickers like you but went with link and length tracks instead of the Fruils. Winterised it, added a crew and put it in a dio.

Challenge accepted?

[digger303]

Going together like clockwork.

[RangerNeil]

Off to a great start.

I built this a few years back, its a great kit. I had the Zim stickers like you but went with link and length tracks instead of the Fruils. Winterised it, added a crew and put it in a dio.

Challenge accepted?

How did you get on with the Zim stickers/decals?? Thats the next job for the hull assembly here, never aeen, let alone used, them before.

Not sure about the dio yet. Current plan is to build the 5 members of the Tiger family - possibly with early/mid/late variations on the Tiger 1 and turrets on the King Tiger. Once done I'll thinknabout putting them on dio bases and suitably weathering them.

Got to admit - Tamiya are probably THE best answer to severe mojo reduction! I was fitting a number of small brackets to the hull yesterday and was expecting to have issues of the "hole toobig/hole too small/what hole?" variety but everything fitted beautifully.....

[Stokesy44]

How did you get on with the Zim stickers/decals?? Thats the next job for the hull assembly here, never aeen, let alone used, them before.

Not sure about the dio yet. Current plan is to build the 5 members of the Tiger family - possibly with early/mid/late variations on the Tiger 1 and turrets on the King Tiger. Once done I'll thinknabout putting them on dio bases and suitably weathering them.

Got to admit - Tamiya are probably THE best answer to severe mojo reduction! I was fitting a number of small brackets to the hull yesterday and was expecting to have issues of the "hole toobig/hole too small/what hole?" variety but everything fitted beautifully.....

I was really impressed with the stickers. I needed a little CA glue on a couple of edges and a tiny amount of filler where they didnt conform precisely but for the most part they went down beautifully and looked great when painted.

I love Tamiya and you're right, the mojo boost effect is awesome when everything fits so well

[RangerNeil]

How did you get on with the Zim stickers/decals?? Thats the next job for the hull assembly here, never aeen, let alone used, them before.

Not sure about the dio yet. Current plan is to build the 5 members of the Tiger family - possibly with early/mid/late variations on the Tiger 1 and turrets on the King Tiger. Once done I'll thinknabout putting them on dio bases and suitably weathering them.

Got to admit - Tamiya are probably THE best answer to severe mojo reduction! I was fitting a number of small brackets to the hull yesterday and was expecting to have issues of the "hole toobig/hole too small/what hole?" variety but everything fitted beautifully.....

I was really impressed with the stickers. I needed a little CA glue on a couple of edges and a tiny amount of filler where they didnt conform precisely but for the most part they went down beautifully and looked great when painted.

I love Tamiya and you're right, the mojo boost effect is awesome when everything fits so well

So far so good. Only observation I'd make is the instructions tell you to fit the Zim transfers after step 6 when some of the hull brackets are on - which meant slitting the decals to fit around them. It would have been better had they been fitted after Step 4 before any brackets etc get fitted. The panel that goes on the front of the casemate is going to need splitting carefully as the two rain gutters run down obliquely through it each side.
This is as far as I got today - spent a lot of time looking at the paint runs in the big Mil.....

[aur0ra145]

Looking good!

[digger303]

[RangerNeil]

We have an Elefant with all its Zimmerit applied. It was a long, fiddly job but, like Stokesy said, well worth it.










I've started painting using the late war ('44 on) Dunkelgelb - RAL7028 father than the Intial Dunkelgelb - RAL7028 that I used on the King Tiger but I'm having second thoughts. The late version is more a greenish gray than sand yellow:


The upper wheel is unpainted but more or less the colour of the Initial Denkelgelb.
The bottom one is painted in the '44 on Dunkelgelb.
What does the collective mind of the forum think will look best??

[Stokesy44]

My uneducated view is that the 44 Dunkelgelb doesn't look right. Its too grey for me.

[digger303]

My uneducated view is that the 44 Dunkelgelb doesn't look right. Its too grey for me.

What he said

[RangerNeil]

Opinions accepted chaps - I will over-paint with the yellow InitialDunkelgelb.

[digger303]

Museum Panther.
Not sure if this helps or not

[RangerNeil]

Cheers Digger - that's the Initial Dunkelgelb in the AK pack. Will be hitting the paint this afternoon.

[Stokesy44]

Any excuse for some Panther Porn!

[RangerNeil]

Paint altered to Initial Dunkelgelb, suspension units added, idlers (front) and drive sprokets (rear) are fitted as are type A road wheels. Type B are drying.




Barrel, muzzle brake and mantlet are assembled and drying, started looking at the crew figures.

[RangerNeil]

Progress....


Next job is scrubbing the Friuhl tracks in soapy water before dunking in the burnishing fluid. Weird thing with those - Tamiya's instructions tell you how to make up the individual plastic track links so I counted the number of links they used and made up the Friuhl tracks accordingly. Test fitted them last night - and they were 120mm too short so I had to make up more links to fill the gap. No idea what happened there as the Tamiya and Friuhl links look to be the same width.....

Other than this the only jobs left are the cammo overlay and adding the hatches, pioneer tools and jack!!
Its been a lovely build, start to finish so far!!

[digger303]

Beautiful looking tracks and not even painted yet.

[RangerNeil]

First layer of cammo - the Rottbraun- is on.
Green goes on tomorrow.


Tracks have been in the burnishing fluid. Ultimate say it can be used up to three times but I think 2 is the max. I was after the same rusty look the King Tiger tracks got but the best I could get was a dark grey on this second use And again there are patches where the tracks have stayed bright. This time I spent nigh on 15 minutes scrubbing them in very hot soapy water followed by a thorough rinsing and then wrapping in a paper towel per track to dry.

[digger303]

Tiger/ Elephant looking very good.
Wondering about those tracks and if a good soaking in a solvent might be worth while before the soapy water. Definitely something is acting as a barrier. To me it looks like you got a better result this time in terms of getting less untouched spots.

[Garion77]

Nice work ! nice paint job !

[Stokesy44]

Tiger/ Elephant looking very good.
Wondering about those tracks and if a good soaking in a solvent might be worth while before the soapy water. Definitely something is acting as a barrier. To me it looks like you got a better result this time in terms of getting less untouched spots.

I reckon its time to call it a draw and get the brown and rust paints out. Sometimes its good to know when to retreat.

[RangerNeil]

Tiger/ Elephant looking very good.
Wondering about those tracks and if a good soaking in a solvent might be worth while before the soapy water. Definitely something is acting as a barrier. To me it looks like you got a better result this time in terms of getting less untouched spots.

I reckon its time to call it a draw and get the brown and rust paints out. Sometimes its good to know when to retreat.

Yep - think you are right there. I blended the main tracks in with a mix of greys but the "add-ons" need more!





But the bulk is now done. Just got to add decals and finish the final 2 crewmen off then do the final matt top coat. For once playing with an Elefant gun didn't mean the 7.62 L1A1!!

[Stokesy44]

Nice paint job. The Elefant is such a great looking vehicle with those big slab sides!

[RangerNeil]

Nice paint job. The Elefant is such a great looking vehicle with those big slab sides!

Cheers All by hairy stick too! The AK paintset is optimized for brush and I've not had much luck thinning brush paints...
The decals are now on and waiting for the Microset to dry off before the Matt clearcoat goes on. The two tow cables are painted Metallic Grey, when thoroughly dry the cleats and eyes will be done in Iron and they can be rigged on the sides. The spare track sections have been coated in AK Rust after touching the bright spots in with flat black. Crew figures need some minor tweeks inc. working out how the hell to add the Panzer pink piping to the epaulettes etc.

[digger303]

Hair of the dog works ok for those epaulettes.
Great job especially for brush painting.

[Garion77]

Nice job ! love that kind of thank. I've been using AK's 3rd gen for a while now and they are indeed hard to get hang off to paint with an airbrush. What kind of thinner are you using ?
If using Ultimate's it's almost 60% thinner or even a little more with one or two drops of retarder. But lately, I've been using VMS thinner which is great and for a mix it's about 50/50 without the necessity of adding any retarder except may be for fine detail work. I didn't try yet with their own thinner yet but from what I heard it's good with around a 60/40 mix.

Great job again !

[RangerNeil]

OK - calling this one finished now - quite pleased with how the Elefant has turned out!!

[digger303]

Nice brush work.

[WordenB]

Very nice job Neil, what a beast of a tank!

[RangerNeil]

Thanks for the kind words, both if you. Really are much appreciated!!