'East' from ClintB: Ferdinand

Well not what I was expecting to paint at all. I was supposed to be painting some WW1 German East Africa troops. Clearly this has not happened. As such I have had to reach into my reserve projects bin and paint something different

Ferdinand.

Was the secret weapon for the Battle of Kursk. However it was not fully thought out and there were problems.

In September 1943, all surviving Ferdinands were recalled to be modified based on battle experience gained in the Battle of Kursk. During October and November 1943, 48 of the 50 surviving vehicles were modified by addition of a ball-mounted MG 34 in the hull front for anti-infantry ability, a commander's cupola (modified from the standard StuG III cupola) for improved vision, and the application of Zimmerit paste. The original vehicles had no athing to stop infantry at all...well maybe some bad language from the crew.The frontal armor was thickened and the tracks widened, increasing the weight from 65 to 70 t. The improved vehicles were called Elefant; this became the official name by Hitler's orders of May 1, 1944. Possibly as a stopgap before the Elefant modifications were available for the original Ferdinand vehicles, the rarely seen Krummlauf curved barrel upgrade for the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle was allegedly meant to allow crews of Ferdinands to defend their vehicle without exposing themselves.Three Bergepanzer Tiger or Bergetiger armoured recovery vehicles were built in Autumn 1943 from Tiger prototypes, and one battle-damaged Ferdinand not suitable for the Elefant modification was converted into a Rammpanzer Tiger or Rammtiger, an experimental breakthrough vehicle.

But this has no MG so is a Ferdinand. Only 98 were ever built and 2 were captured and thus survived the war. One by the Russians at Kursk (Battle of) currently in the Moscow Tank Museum. The other one (an elephant) was captured by the Americans at Anzio in Italy. This one is currently at the Bovington Tank museum on Loan .

The model is a Zvesda 1/100th scale plastic Kit and I bought it for the sum of £2.75 while I d not see myself putting this beast on the table very often It will help bolster my German PBI force which is mostly Infantry based. So one German heavy very rarely is a far more realistic force than many WW2 Players strive for.