Death from over the horizon, say hi to the Elefant.

This looks like a good kit John .
As for Elefants in the battle of Berlin, I have never heard of that. I'll see if I can find
something for you.

Thanks for coming to look Paul and Tommy.

Yep, two Elephants were present in Berlin and at least one managed to give a very good account of itself. Although they were completely unsuitable for a fight in a city, they were available and the situation was worse than desperate. Further four or five, varies according to sources, in Zosen with Kampfgruppe Ritter.
The last act of a tank destroyer with lots of potential, that although had serious issues due to the very advanced hybrid technology, when used in the right scenarios proved devastating.

The Elefant has a special place in my heart. Second piece of armour I ever built. Great behemoths which weren't as useless as many try to make us believe.
Never realised some were used in the defense of Berlin, interesting. Looking forward to this one being built!
Green with Dark Yellow lines sounds good anyway!

The building part is over except for the tracks. 
The kit has some issues. Generally speaking it is not bad, but not brilliant either. 

Detail is good. Fit is good, although you have to look into the matter as to how to glue a few big parts to make them sit well without gaps. 

The big problem is the waterslide decals for the zimmerit. The kit's plastic is  slightly oily, so a wash at the parts that zimmerit goes on is a good move. The decals now, need a punch and die set, plus cutting at the slots for various things if you want to actually get them in place if you don't want to commit suicide or throw the kit to a wall. 





Microset is also a good friend of yours if you want them to stay put!





I think the reason i cannot find in the net pics from the decals on the kit is because they can't be perfect, no matter how hard you try. This is how it will look after all that. 
(I did make a stupid move on the right side, but there was no way to repair that without destroying the whole decal).














The zimmerit appears to be good on the card, but after you place them on the kit they are hardly felt. The relief is not pronounced enough. (Not sure this was the correct word.). In my humble opinion the waterslide decals was a bad call from Zvezda.  Too much work and you cannot be sure it will survive the process. They should have used dry transfers. 

Now regarding the tracks. They are link and length. That means that you don't have enough parts to absorb any gaps if there are any, in conjuction to the fixed sprockets, ( the Elephant has no tension wheels, but sprockets on the front and the back), that means a possible disaster. So since the forward sprocket doesn't have an axle but is glued with two attachment points on the hub, i scraped the positioning pin at the rear ones. They can be rolled, so i can place the parts as required to make them fit properly and be glued at the end. 










Next step, primer. Let's see if the decals stay in place and if the zimmerit will be visible.....

PS: I apologise for the lengthy post. I thought i could save some trouble for someone by writing about the kit, since it actually sold really well! I also apologize if i didn't explain some things properly, but English isn't my mother tongue. 

John, that is a bloody good build report on the kit fella and your English is far better than that of some English people on here .

The weathering should make the zimmerit pop.

It all looks good to me. The Zimmerit might be a tad light, but with a wash it should jump up good

Since i had the day for myself, i decided to relax and model some more. So we have paint. 
First five shades of green, (a German love story... ) 









and then three shades of dunkelgelb.
The colours were sprayed to be much lighter at their final shades. Filters, washes etc, it should be fine.
We'll see.
Next step, the tracks.... 

Oh man, gorgeous already.