When I was spending some time on e-bay, it just struck me that I haven’t seen any interior update sets for Sd.kfz 184 Ferdinand/Elephant. Yet there are atleast three kits out there: Italeri, DML and Trumpeter.
Does anybody know of a company that makes an interior kit for the Elephant?
/Tony
Jaguar makes a very nice interior for the Ferdinand/Elefant, although it can be hard to find.
Trumpeter hasn’t kitted the Elefant in 1/35, only 1/72. Most interior kits are for 1/35.
finding an interior for one of these babies is difficult,6 mos. ago one went for 45 plus on the e-bay.how about good reference material for the interior?[sigh] personally i would take both.a drive train would be an excellent addition .imagine a small dio. dpictng the engine cover being lifted off for some surgery.awsome
Thanks for the info Hermes! I acctually didn’t know that the Trumpeter Elephant was in 1/72 scale, but it was a interior kit in the 1/35 scale I had in mind.
The Jaguar kit looks fine, but it’s a bit expensive. The interior of the Elephant must have been the most spacious of all the wwII tanks, even though gun took up some room.
I’ll see if I can’t find any good reference photos of the interior. Maybe it’s possible to scratch build the whole thing.
/Tony
You can probably scratchbuild the fighting compartment details easily enough, although there is a sad lack of reference photos for the Elefant (after all, there are only two left and one of them’s rotting away out back at aberdeen[:(!]) The only really visible area is the driver’s compartment due to the large front hatches.
Verlinden also makes an interior set for the Ferdinand/Elefant, but it’s just as expensive as the Jaguar set and probably not as good.
Hermes:
After spending some on the net looking for pics, I also dicovered the lack of interior shots. I wonder why there isn’t any interior photos from the Ferdinand at Kubinka? Have they welded the hatches or is the tank still seen as a big military secret?[;)]
I forgot to tell you that I’m thinking of making some more parts of the interior, other than the drivers compartment, visible. Here’s two pics from a tank from s.Pz.abt. 653 in Kursk. Now you see why I need a full interior.
/Tony
You may want to do what I’m planning to doing for my 1/35 scale kit.
I’m using the Jaguar interior with up-scaled engines and generators from the 1/48th scale Bandai Pz.Jag. Elefant Sd.Kfz.184 kit #3 (Check e-bay or online old kit dealers ). Radiators I hope can be sourced from other Pz. engine compartments which are close to the style to those shown in the source below.
Drawing and picture sources: Heavy Jagdpanzer: Development, Production, Operations; Spielberger, Walter J.; Schiffer military History; ISBN:9780764326257; pp70,71,76,77 and 101.
I have yet to find an overhead drawing of the Elefant/Ferdinand interior.
If anyone can locate an overhead view of the interior of the generator and engine compartments please let me know with the source reference.
I called the Aberdeen Tank Museum regarding pictures of the generator and engine compartments. I was told no pictures exist and the access hatches have been welded shut. I couldn’t believe no record was kept of the propulsion section of this rare vehicle!
Hope this info is of use to you and I hope someone out there has information which may be of useful to me!
I