Finally got the pic to work! This is my finished TD entry. It's the Italeri model built as one of the 1st Komp, 653 machines in Italy. I havn't got much reference material on the Elefant but from what I could see, the kit, instructions and decals are all a little confused as to what, when and whose machines they depict. I found one or two pics and a nice colour plate of no. 122 on the net so I followed those. I had some fit problems early on but I'm pleased how it turned out. Any criticisms welcome.

Rich

Looks like a nice clean build to me Rich. I have one of these in my stash and will be pleased if it turns out anywhere near as good as yours! What modifications and after market bits did you use, if any?

Very nice! A tad clean for me, but that's a personal thing. By the way that Zimmerite is some of the best I have seen - well done!

a nice, sharp build Rich. good job there...
are the zimmerit the plastic ones (typical of italeri) that come with the kit? any more pics?

The zimmerit is so sharp, and I like it very much. BTW, you might want to use some primer color on the section where the zimmerit is damaged. Damaged zimmerit usually don't carry the body camo paint scheme. Plus a bit pigment dusting will make your build excellant.

Hope you don't mind my comments. Anyhow, it is wonderful build Bud1.

Hi Rich

A beautiful piece of work. The camo looks fantastic.
I too, would like to know how you made the zimmerit. As far, as I know, the Italeri kit doesn't have zimmerit.

A very nice model you've made Rich. I like the zimmerit and the camo. I have the same kit in my stock and I'll be happy if answer the guys who already asked about this model. Congrats on finishing it.

Looks great Rich, good work all round

Thanks for your kind comments folks. Critisisms are great too 'cos I can fix things now or on the next model.

The zimmerit is the resin set for the Dragon Elefant by Atak. This was my first zim and the set is really nice. There are replacement zimmed parts for the glacis, bow, that exhaust cover(?) below the rear door and the tool box. Two zimmed vision ports are supplied for the front corners so you need to remove the ones molded on the kit. Paper thin sheets are provided for the hull sides and rear, fenders, etc. There's no instruction to show you where each part or sheet goes so you need to take it slow and work out each one. It fits very well with only a few small areas where holes don't quite line up with bolt heads for example. I was able to enlarge the hole slightly or try to disguise it with a little damage.

The only other things were all small mods based on photos I could find: I couldn't find a pic of an Elefant with headlamps (Ferdinand, yes) so I took those off the kit; I put spare tracks on the bow where Italeri say to put the jack; the jack goes on the back between the towing eyes; tool box goes on the back on that exhaust cover thing. The driver's periscope cover seems to stand way too tall so I lowered it; there are no periscopes for the driver or commander's cupola (I just added some small black-painted blocks); the tow cables are picture wire with the kit cable ends glued on; and those little strips that run down and out from the mantlet (to keep rain water out of the engine bay?).

I'm not sure about the kit painting instructions. The decals all look like they belong to early Ferdinands circa Kursk, long before the machines were rebuilt as depicted in the kit. I used the national markings, with rub-down numbering and my best guess at the 653 emblem which I drew large in MS "paint" then shrunk onto Testors decal paper.

I'm rambling on a bit here but hope this is useful if you have the kit in your stash. There's a few other pics in the TD gallery.

Rich