I like the odd fighting vehicles that came out during WWII. The many different vehicles fielded, often as stop gap or desperate attempts to turn the tide of the war. The Ferdinand/Elefant is one of my favorite subjects and I have built just about every offering out there. When Amusing Hobby announced they were releasing them WITH interiors I almost danced a jig.

I got the Ferdinand/Strabokran kit a few months ago and was impressed with the kit or kits as it is really two kits in one. The quality of the castings was impressive, the metal barrel, individual link tracks and vinyl tracks are included as is some photo etch. The quality of the large clear parts is also impressive, no sign of distortion. There are lots of parts for the interior and while the detail is a bit sparse that is to be expected in 1/35 scale.

The Elefant arrived a few days ago and I compared the two kits. They are identical of course, I even compared the plate steel texture molded into the hull. The difference between the two kits are what you would expect between a Ferdinand and Elefant. The added armor on the front along with the bow machine gun are nicely done tho the machine gun could always be improved with an aftermarket barrel. The main difference between the kits is the lack of a metal barrel for the main gun and no vinyl tracks and the addition of printed zimmerit. They share the same photo etch and clear parts.

I want to build one as a combat loss and the other under repair. I just haven't chosen which will be which. I don't plan to use the clear parts but to glue them in place and paint them. I have several large scale dicast Star Wars vehicles from Code 3. They have panels that can be removed that are held in place with magnets. I'm considering doing that to the engine covers and the upper and lower hull so I can remove them and display the interiors. I'm also considering an aftermarket metal barrel for the Elefant and some different zimmerit because I've never been impressed by printed zimmerit.

I'm quite impressed with Amusing Hobby's offerings, the detail and quality surprised me. A lot of companies don't put forward the effort or include the number of goodies that Amusing Hobby has or they charge you a premium. Accuracy? Couldn't tell you. Haven't seen a lot of Elefant interiors but comparing them to Dragons offerings shows they are almost identical in size.

If you need small strong magnets you should dissect CD-players. The laser beam is controlled by an angled mirror and this mirror is maneuvered by small coils interacting with tiny magnets. Scrapped computers or portable DVD/CD-players contain these.
Some of the mirrors and pieces of glass in there are also tinted ....

I got neodymium magnets from dead hard drives the I can cut into shapes that I can then place In areas where I removed material to recess the magnets. Fill in any gaps with epoxy, sand smooth then paint.

I wish they'd release a Ferdinand without that crane thing as it just makes it much more expensive, but apparently they're not planning to do that.

And I already have a Dragon Elefant..

Aliexpress is flushed with cheap rare-earth magnets -this is where I get mine from (magnetizing models is something I like to do; I am building the Ferdinand right now -you can see the progress on my blog, and was planning to do what you do: make the top removable. (It may be transparent, but the area is so small you can hardly see any detail once all the hatches, etc. are installed.)

Buy the Elefant and build it as the Ferdinand. The Elefant parts are additional to the Ferdinand kit.

Oh? Was hoping for something like that, but there's no review yet. So, the upper hull has the same opening on top and the old flat doors are included?

I did check Dragon's Elefant sprues again, but they don't include Ferdinand specific parts.

The Elefant kit has the same sprues as the Ferdinand with a few extra sprues that contain Elefant specific parts. Both kits contain the same, large, clear sprues but the Elefant has an additional clear sprue which contains a Elefant specific engine cover and a new top for the casement. The Elefant had a cupola where the Ferdinand didn't. Since the new kit has the original clear sprue it has the top for Ferdinand which has the flat door type loader and commanders hatch parts. The instructions have been modified to show the assembly of the Elefant but you could figure out the assembly of the Ferdinand without too much trouble.

That's just what I was hoping for, thanks a lot. Aiming for the Elefant kit then.