This is the 6th kit I made, again a win on Ebay, this one came complete with a Jordi Rubio L71 monobloc barrel and Jaguar single track links. The kit was by Italieri and the quality difference was readily apparent in comparison to Tamiya. Although the finished article is very nice, the Italeri sprues are messy and the parts require a fair bit of trimming and filing to get them clean. The fit is not perfect, and I found the technique of having to weld the undercarriage with a hot screwdriver deeply annoying.
This said, making the kit was not to bad at all and you do get two crew to fit in the tank. The zimmerit was applied with two part milliput superfine compaund, after scuffing the surface of the kit lightly with a modelling drill. Instead of using my zimmerit jigs, I used a techinique from Ospreys "How to model the Panzer Kampfwagen VI Tiger" book. This was basically using a 5mm screwdriver to indent the pattern and it worked very well, giving far crisper definition than my jigs. I also order the Eduard etched brass set to help super detail the kit, this provided a much better commanders cupola than that provided as standard.
For painting, I used Citadel miniatures black spray as an undercoat, then sprayed on Tamiyas matt khaki as the base coat. then using dark yellow to highlight various areas I shaded the vehicle, then applied the camouflage pattern using Tamiyas matt dark green. the tank was then wethered using Citadel Miniatures acylics, washes and pastel chalks, the markings being painted on by hand using the very handy express mask you get with the Eduard etched brass as a stencil
Operationally, these behemoths first saw action in the abortive Kursk offensive of 1943, on which the Wehrmacht placed such great hopes. They served in thier original Ferdinand version, named after the man who designed the machine, Dr Ferdinand Porsche. These machines differed little from the Elefant but those differences were decisive. The Ferdinand lacked a machine gun, and a decent cupola for the commander, so as they swept the Russian armor before them and penetrated the Russian defences, they became easy meat to brave Russian tank hunting crews who could approach these beasts with virtual impunity as they outran thier infantry support. The Ferdinands were reduced to taking pot shots at the infantry with thier main armament " quail shooting with cannon" as General Heinz Guderian said after the battle. Taking heavy losses at Kursk, the Ferdinands were withdrawn for refit and retrofitted with the machine gun and improved cupola, renamed Elefant, and sent back into service in Italy where the allied offensive was under way. Here the Elefants met thier fate as they fought a rearguard action against the Allied advance.
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