Zvezda 1/100 'Elefant' - Completion

Blimey! I finished a model. :)

Final thoughts...
These diminutive 1/100 scale tanks seem to off-set my painfully slow productivity. (Maybe I should try a 1/600 and see if I can finish something in a reasonable amount of time!) ;)

Anyway, there are quite a few things I am not quite happy with, although this has to do with my standard of painting rather than the model itself.

I actually understand why some modellers think that changing scales means modifying your technique. There were several times I tried to use my normal 1/72 painting effects on this smaller model only to find that they just didn't look right or just plain didn't work.

So, it's a learning process (again) and I will tweak my techniques for this smaller scale as I go along.

As to the Zvezda kit itself, I suppose the biggest disappointment is the overly simplified track tread. They seem to be taking a leaf out of Armafast's design manual and have just given you some slatted treads. A bit disappointing as Battlefront has proved that detailed track patterns can be done at this scale.

Not much else to say really. 1/100 scale models are *FUN* and I found it relaxing not to have to worry about the minutiae and just get on with the model (and have some fun with an attractive camo pattern). I shall certainly be doing more in this scale over the next few months.

Zvezda 1/100 'Elefant' - Part 2

As my airbrush is out of action (I may have to buy a new one) I am back to using 'rattle cans'. I did look around for a good acrylic spray 'Dunkelgelb' - German Dark Yellow - but the only one I could find was by Flames of War in their War Paint range. Called 'Panther Yellow' it seemed to go on as well as Humbrol's excellent sprays...

Had my airbrush still been working I would have used Vallejo's excellent water-based polyurethane German Dark Yellow Primer. This has a tinge of pea-green to it, rather than the sand-yellow of the Flames of War paint...

Left: FoW's 'Panzer Yellow'. Right: Vallejo's 'German Dark Yellow'.

Choosing a Camouflage Pattern
Now to the hard part, choosing a camo scheme. The Zvezda Elefant is the early model typical of the type that first saw action on the Russian Front in 1943, still, there are some very attractive patterns to chose from...

As I am keeping this model, exclusively, for games against mid-war Soviet opposition I don't mind that it won't get as much play as - say - a Panzer IV or a StuG III. It's just such an attractive model to have in my collection, and I am such a sucker for tank destroyers (I really want to build more)!

So, let's get cracking with my chosen camo type (with some poetic licence)...

As my airbrush is bust, it's back to good old brush painting. This may take
some time!

Phew...Boy, I am rusty, but it's getting there!

Track Record
Just a little aside, because I have several of these little 15mm tank kits on the go at the same time I had the unusual sight of five sets of tracks on my small workbench at the same time!

As well as the 'Elefant' tracks - top middle - I am currently working on four
other sets; a Panther set, Panzer IV set and two sets of Sherman tracks!

After base painting these tracks a dark colour - black for the Shermans and German Grey for the panzers - I painted the outside of the roadwheels with Vallejo's Dark Rubber (except the Elefant's which seems to have all steel road wheels/rollers).

Then I gave all the tracks a rub with a graphite pencil to give the impression of bare steel. Then it's off for a light coat of gloss varnish in preparation for the application of some German insignia...

Oooops, I forgot (having learned this before) that doing the graphite pencil
work *before* glossing is a bad idea. The shiny 'steel' effect disappears
after a coat of gloss varnish! Du-oh! 

Decal Stage & 'Pre-Weathering'
Well, there are actually that many decals to apply, just three German crosses and two sets of vehicle numbers. I don't have 1/100 scale decals to hand so I'm hoping my smallest 1/76 German decals will work (I know the crosses will be a little too large). There was some poetic licence to my application of decals and they are not historically accurate but are intended to be suitable for tabletop gaming purposes.

With the decals quickly applied I moved on to a new process that I have just started applying to my models - 'pre-weathering' prep. The idea is to lay down a thin wash of peaty brown to indicate surface dirt and to take the 'newness' off the pristine painted model prior to more intensive weathering.

An added bonus of this 'pre-weathering' wash was to modulate the basic FoW
Panzer Yellow - which I thought was a little too bright - and make it more like
what I think Dunkelgelb is supposed to be like.

I have also started to apply some 'mud' (Humbrol Dark Earth Powder) to the tracks, so it's starting to look something like a finished model, but I have still some focused weathering to apply.

I am pleased with this newly added phase in my painting and will start to use it on more of my models. In fact, I had occasionally already been experimenting with a sort of weathering prep using powder pigments, but this was very hit and miss and I was never really satisfied with it. Using a light - diluted - wash is far more effective.

Next: Deep weathering - chipping, etc.

Small Project (Pun or Irony) - 1/100 'Elefant'

I love tank destroyers, they are my favourite type of armoured vehicle. So, when I started playing GF9's 'TANKS' tabletop game I was very keen to start adding 'TDs' to my model collection. And, quite by chance, while visiting my local model store I was really excited to find that they just happened to have a Zvezda 1/100 scale 'Elefant' (or 'Ferdinand', as they prefer to call it)...

At just £3.50 I couldn't not buy this and in any case, it would make a wonderful practise painting project to get me used to working with this smaller scale.

As usual with Zvezda's 'Art of Tactic' range of wargaming models, the kit is simplified and there are only a handful of parts...

The whole thing is designed to 'snap together' and I had it completed in five minutes. But despite the model's simplified detailing it still looks an impressive little thing...

From a historical point of view, the actual usefulness of this particular tank is somewhat limited. It was rushed into service for use in The Battle of Kursk and it was hampered by many design flaws as a result. However, despite its weaknesses, this tank destroyer still took a horrendous toll on Soviet armour. But, by 1944 it was technically 'obsolete' as more satisfying designs became available (like the Jagdpanther) and aside from a small cameo part in the Italian campaign, the 'Elefant' apparently disappeared from the German inventory.

Knocked out Elefant, Italy, 1944. Source: Wikipedia.

I have read that two remaining Elefants did take part in the final battle for Berlin, but this was just an indication of how desperate the Nazis were by this point. As far as I can tell, these tank destroyers did not take part in the Normandy campaigns. So, from the point of view of my GF9 'TANKS' game, it won't be making regular appearances.

Next: Priming and choosing a camo pattern.