DRAGON MODELS

The Elefant (Sd.Kfz. 184) was an anti-tank vehicle sometimes called the Ferdinand, after its designer Mr. Ferdinand Porsche. Ninety Elefanten were manufactured in just a few months during mid-1943. It was first deployed during the Battle of Kursk and, though destroying 320 Russian tanks, performed very poorly in other respects: many units broke down and they proved dangerously vulnerable to infantry, lacking a machine gun. They went on to serve in Italy in 1944 and the final units were involved in the Battle of Berlin. Based on the hull of the Tiger (P) and armed with an 88mm gun, the Ferdinand made its debut at Kursk in 1943. It didní«í´t fare well due to its bulk and lack of a secondary armament, and so they were overhauled in late 1943, many of them going on to serve with sPzJgAbt 653. This model shows precisely such a vehicle, now armed with a bow machine gun, and re-designated as an Elefant. This model is realistically painted in a three-tone camouflage scheme, and wears a finely depicted scale coating of zimmerit, exactly as the original vehicle appeared in Poland in 1944.

Info: Porsche Sd.Kfz.184 Elefant Display Model German Army sPzJgAbt 653, #232, USSR, 1944