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Building the Dragon Ferdinand

Background

The Ferdinands first saw action during the Battle of Kursk (Operation "Zitadelle”) on July of 1943. The Ferdinands were assigned to sPzJagAbt (schwere Heeres Panzerjager Abteilung) 653 and 654, which saw action in the northern side of the battle near Orel in Russia.

In the Battle of Kursk, the Ferdinands were used as break-through tanks, a role for which they were completely unsuited, they were however proved to be very effective weapons as tank destroyers especially when engaging targets at long range (up to 4.5 Km). Overall, Elephant was a very advanced design, which proved to be a superb defensive weapon with an enormous firepower.

Construction

Before I begun to assemble this Dragon Ferdinand (DML 6133), I first gathered as much information as I can about the subject matter. The additional information usually dictates methods I need to apply in building the kit. After I finished gathering and reviewing all information that I got my hands on, I decided to build the kit based on the “Ferdinand” Nr. 623 of sPzJagAbt 654 in Russia during the battle of Kursk.

The Dragon Ferdinand was built straight out of the box. There was nothing fancy about the build process because the kit components fit together easily. The details were accurate and crisply molded, thus not requiring any correction. The only additions to the kit were the headlight wires and tow cables, which unfortunately the manufacturer did not include. The only modification done with the kit was the addition of battle damages.

I add a few damages in order to give the kit some tinge of realism. The damage on the left front fender was achieved by sanding the plastic until it was thin enough to be twisted. After achieving the desired thickness, I twisted the fenders to simulate subtle dents using pliers. I also applied hit deflection marks on the front plate armor of the upper hull super structure using a router attached to a mini-drill. The front lower hull armor plate also received the same treatment as the upper hull superstructure. Some deep scratches were also applied on both sides of the upper hull super structure as well as the toolbox.