Ferdinand/ Elephant differences

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

What are the differences between the Ferdinand and an elephant? I have extensive photos of the Aberdeen elephant and also was very fortunate to have spoken with Thomas L. Jentz the day I took the pictures; he concluded there were no real differences between the two.

2

the only differences are
the Elephand had a commanders cupola the ferdinand didnt
the Elephand had a hull machine gun the ferdinand didnt
different fenders
tracks and air vents

3

I may be wrong but the Elefants had zimmerit applied and the Ferdinands did not.

4

Elephants are Ferdinands that have been reworked and had the problem areas removed

the Zimmerit was on ferdinands too

5

wreck902 I would be really interetsed in seeing your picks of the elefant from Aberdeen.

6

A couple of more upgrades were added armor, wider tracks for lower ground pressure and I believe a change in the gun mantle. Really think of the Elefant as a Sd.Kfz184A1. And relocation to sunny Italy.

7

Ferdinand was the prototype that failed and the Elephant was the improvement to the Ferdinand…that failed.

Cheers!

Mike

8

Gygaxx,

They were an good defensive weapon that was used in the wrong way for the wrong job. They could & did punch holes in Russian armor at several kilometers and they were not anywhere near being in range of the Russian guns. But, making an assault on a defensive position like Kursk was just the wrong use. More were lost to Russian & German mines that Russian tank/antigunfire. Most were recovered and upgraded. b The drive train did need lots of work, but the Germans was hard pressed to come up with weapons to take out the T-34’s. One gun had to stop firing at the Soviets because they ran out of ammunition and they were not missing very often.

The muddy terrain and poor roads in Italy along with no air cover put all German armor in a bad postion there.

Imagine them outside the bocage area after D-Day with good air cover, picking off Shermans & Churchills long before they were in the Allies gun’s range. Instead of the American tankers seeing Tigers everywhere it would have been Elefants!