1/50 panzerjager Ferdinand

**rockpaperscissor** · #1 02-03-2017, 09:49 AM

The Ferdinand tank hunter was called up in September, 1942 to make use of the 90 existing, unused Porsche Tiger chassis that were just sitting around after the contract for the Tiger went to the Henschel design. Hitler personally approved the 72 ton prototype in March '43. It was armed with the successful PAC 88 gun. A single 7.9mm machine gun stowed inside the vehicle was the only defensive weapon. All 90 were put into action at the tank battle of Kursk. Despite modifications to the drive train, many of them suffered from the same mechanical problems that plagued the original Porsche Tiger and never made it to the battle field. The 50 survivors of Kursk were reworked with extra armor, a hull mounted machine gun, a commander's cupola and wider tracks. The improved Ferdinands were renamed "Elefant". Despite its shortcomings, the Ferdinand/Elefant managed to rack up a 10:1 kill ratio. 4 survived 'till late in the war, and 2 examples still exist: one in Kublinka, Russia, and the other at the Aberdeen proving Ground in Maryland.

This kit was designed for the folks at War Thunder by Vadim Tarasov, a young (14 y/o) paper model designer from Russia. I did make a few modifications to his model. Better looking outer tracks from a World of Tanks Tiger were used. More detailed wheel faces were taken from an online illustration. I modified the tracks with center guides and raised cleats. Lots of layering to the hull adds interest. The tow cable is made from embroidery thread. The paper base has a "Battle of Kursk" panoramic background. I still need to add tall field grass groundwork to tie the base into the background picture.

No assembly difficulties were encountered, and with a few mods, the kit builds up into a really nice looking model.