Dragon USA

1/35 Sd.Kfz.184 Elefant w/Zimmerit

Kit Number: 6465

Reviewed by  Rob Folden, IPMS# 45545

MSRP: $49.95 Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Zimmerit. To some modelers such as myself, it is a word that strikes fear and brings terror to the workbench. But not anymore. With the advent of slide-mold technology and DS Tracks, Dragon has been at the fore front of the modeling world. And in response to that age-old modeling fear of Zimmerit, Dragon has started to produce kits with accurate Zimmerit molded in. Now, having seen Zimmerit applied to tanks by other modelers, and knowing what was involved with the process and noting how it came out, I was a bit skeptic at first. But when my Elefant arrived, I was immensely impressed. The Sd.Kfz. 184 Panzerjäger Tiger [P] Elefant was a tank hunter. With a non-traversing gun, the Elefant could only fire forward, with limited ability to adjust the elevation and attitude of the gun. Built on a Porsche Tiger chassis, the Elefant was armed with an 88mm PaK 43/2 L/71 gun, the same gun used by the famous German 88 Anti-Aircraft gun. The Elefant [originally Known as the Ferdinand for its creator, Ferdinand Porsche] first saw combat at the Battle of Kursk. Based on the results of the battle, all remaining Ferdinands were recalled to the factory and upgraded to the Elefant. This included adding a ball-turret MG 34, a commander's cupola, and the famous Zimmerit. The Zimmerit was a paste, applied to the hull [to a certain height], and textured, which prevented US Infantry from attaching magnetic mines to the hull. The rough coating provided enough distance from the metal hull that the magnets wouldn't lock on. The Dragon Elefant with molded Zimmerit is an excellent kit. Based off their original Ferdinand kit, the Elefant features re-tooled hull pieces to include the Zimmerit pattern. I was very impressed with the level of detail on the Zimmerit. Dragon did its homework here, making sure that the Zimmerit was only molded to those areas that actually had it, stopping part of the way up the hull. The kit also includes the MG 34 for the front ball-turret. This is the entire MG 34, not just a barrel sticking out. Other interior detail includes the internal workings of the 88mm, as well as interior detail on all the hatches and gun ports. With all that, I was a bit let down by the lack of a floor or any diver/main cabin details. The kit also comes with a 2"x3" fret of Photo-etch. While some of the PE is a great replacement for the kit parts, I found some of it to be a bit too thin and opted for the kit parts instead. However, take care, the kit parts I chose to use became high-speed projectiles when trying to glue them on with tweezers [hence the missing tow cables/brackets] Dragon also included metal tow shackles and pins, metal tow cable [although it is too long for a single cable, and too short to make two cables], and a turned aluminum barrel. Dragon also included clear vision blocks for the driver and commander's cupolas. Tracks are provided in the form of DS Tracks. I had never worked with Dragons DS styrene before. I found it took Tamiya glue very well, even allowing me to glue the tracks to the tops of the boogey wheels to provide sag. They took paint great, and had a crisp molded detail to them. I chose to paint mine with Floquil Old Silver, followed by oil washes of Raw and Burnt Umber, and finally weathering done with various rust and earth colors of Mig and Bragdon powders.

The construction of the kit is very straightforward. It begins with the boogey wheels and tracks. I did have a bit of trouble here, in that the front drive sprockets do not have positive locations, instead they feature off-center mounting tabs that allow the modeler to rotate them to adjust the slack in the tracks. I found it was easiest to mount all other wheels and the rear drive sprockets, allowing them to fully cure. I then painted and glued the track, and set it on the running gear, then adding the front sprocket. I used some blocks of styrene to shape the tracks, and then adjusted the front sprockets to meet the track. Although it wasn't as easy as just gluing the tracks on, I still found it easier that using individual track links. And speaking of individual tracks, Dragon thoughtfully provided a small amount of them for use on the hull as spare tracks. After the running gear was all on, and painted, I continued building the hull. The fit was great on most parts. I did have some issues with the rear hull plate meeting up with the side plates, but that might be solved with better [or different] clamping. There was a slight mismatch with the front armor plates where the MG 34 is. The bottoms of the two plates seemed to have a bevel in them that did not match the top of the plate below them. Additionally, they did not match correctly with the engine deck piece above them. I suspect this is due to the change in pieces from the Ferdinand kit to the Elefant Kit. A little putty and minimal sanding took care of both issues. The rest of the construction was event free. When it came to painting, Dragon provided FIVE paint schemes to choose from. A word of caution, after finishing this one, there was some heated debate at the local IPMS/USA club meeting as to whether or not a Zimmerit Elefant would have worn this camouflage pattern, as it was apparently only used at Kursk. Either way, I chose it due to its complexity and interesting nature. I started with a primer coat, followed by Tamiya Dark Yellow cut 15% with White and thinned with Lacquer thinner. I then used Tamiya Dark Green, cut with 15% White and a bit of Tamiya Buff, again thinned with Lacquer thinner, to due the camo. After a coat of Future, I applied the decals with a bit of setting solution [later gently pressed into the Zimmerit with a make-up sponge]. Weathering was done with a pin wash of raw umber, and everything received a coat of Testor's Acrylic Dull Coat. I opted to leave the tools and spare tracks off of my Elefant, as it will be mated to a modern tank-transporter for a museum diorama. Having been to, and worked with military museums, I have seen very few examples where tools were left on. Overall, I cannot express the joy I had in building this tank. Compared to others I've built, this can almost be considered a stress-free vacation. Very little putty, virtually no sanding, and a fun paint job…what more could one ask for? My compliments to Dragon for releasing this kit. It was a fun building experience, and a privilege to build. My thanks to both Dragon Models USA and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to build and review the Elefant.