What is the dfferance. I have the Dragon Elefant, and I really don't want to do the zimmerit. So could I screw that, and make a Ferdinand? Or did some Elefants not have Zimmerit.

~Chip :-)

Chip,
When they were first used in combat at Kursk in 1943, the vehicles were know as Ferdinands. Depending on the unit (653 and 654 SPzJagAbt) some vehicles had zimmerit and some didn't. The 653rd stayed on the eastern front until late 1943 (it absorbed the surviving vehicles from 654) and then returned to Austria. While there, the vehicles were rebuilt. Changes included: new commander's cupola, hull mg ball mount and zimmerit. At that point, the vehicles were renamed elefant, for reasons only known to the German high command. 1st co. 653 SPzJagAbt was deployed to Italy (the Aberdeen Elefant comes from that unit, captured at Anzio). When the other 2 companies were ready to go, they were deployed to Poland and later East Prussia. By this time, the unit had been reformed into a single company (the 614th PzJagKomp). The last of these vehicles were supposedly lost around Berlin. HTH.
Regards,
Georg

Hi Chip
I'm halfway thru building the DML Elefant and as i have neither the patience or the skills to do Zimmerit using putty etc i'm using the Eduard PE set.I also believe that Cavalier models? do a resin Zimmerit set.The main differences between the Ferdinand and Elefant were 1: no bow machine gun on the ferdinand 2: the commanders Cupola and possibly the tracks.I have seen somewhere that a couple of the Elefants used in Berlin towards the end were without Zimmerit, but have seen nothing to substantiate this.
There have been a couple of posts about the Elefant on missing-lynx today so it might be worth your while having a look there,also in their gallery there is at least one Elefant built without zimmerit
HTH
Peter
PS it may even be worth your while contacting the DML importers to see if you can purchase the parts to make the Ferdinand from the Elefant because i have a feeling that they are 90% the same kit.

Thanks Guys for all of your help, and how is that Dragon kit coming along?

~Chip :-)

I am not sure about the ferdinand, but the DML elefant, you need to correct the roof hatch hinges, which is molded backwards. And the chevlon on the tracks are inverted as well. This is really nitpicking of a great kit, but if you wanna make it accurate. Royal model has an upgrade set that corrects it, and Fruil's tracks are correct.

HTH.

Hi Chip
It's coming along ok I guess,it's only my second attempt at indy link tracks so i'm taking things carefully.I have noticed that as you put each link in and the section gets longer the track starts to curve so you need a ruler against the guide horns to straighten it out.This leads to occaisional links not fitting as tight as they should.
Unfortunately i can't afford Friulmodel tracks for this kit (they'd actually cost more than i paid for the kit) and i was unaware of the difference in the hatches.Overall i like the kit (my first DML kit) apart from the tracks it goes together very well.
There is a review of it in Oct 2001 Internetmodeler,another (build) review in issue 16 of Military vehicle modeller international and in Military in Scale (nov 2001) there is a build of the Ferdinand.
HTH
Peter

the name sorry liitle joke, no sorry dunno the diference

I too am working on the DML Elefant. I took someone else's advice (can't remember the callsign, they posted a thread here somewhere) and used squadron white putty and a peice of plasticard in an exacto knife to make my zim....do it a little at a time and its not so bad (not to mention the odor gets to you after awhile, USE a fan) Here is an example of my zim....the cool thing is if you don't like it....let it dry and you can scrape it right off (with a little work).

Zululand,

Wow, awesome info. Precise and exact.

Thanks

If you do decide to go ahead with zimmerit ... here is a link to a friend of mines who recently built it and used ATAKS resin zimmerit. he also dressed it up with nice artillery hits.
unpainted/painted/eduard PE zimmerit
Fredrick didnt like the eduard zimmerit as it was very "flat" and didnt project well, so he ordered Ataks zimmerit from jadar hobby in Poland .
Here the final version can be seen . Click on "show replies" so you can see more pictures with better lighting. Comments are in Swedish. PM me if you have any questions!
If you decide to have a go yourself with putty or milliput, these pictures may be useful. Good luck

I read that when the vehicle was first used in action, it was given the informal nickname "Ferdinand" after its designer Dr. Ferdinand Porche, but when the military finally got around to officially naming it, they choose to stick with the animal theme and called it Elefant after making some upgrades. Therefore early ones are Ferdinands and later ones are Elefants.