Updated RK Ferdinand-- Mostly Done

[Captain Canada]

Faker !



She's coming along now ! I see what you mean now about the sloping armour....looks good, and really adds to the size of an already large tank.

Also got a kick out of the cat. So typical.

" Hey...what are you doing ? Why aren't you petting me ? What's this...what's that smell.....and this smell ? Sniff....sniff.....bite ! "

[scooter]

Still have some things left to do like the travel brace, the driver's and Commander's hatches, the M-151 remote weapons station, antenna, a few other greebles, and then splotches.  But she's coming along nicely, I think.

[Logan Hartke]

Very nice!  Has a very modern SPG look with that gun elevated like that!  If you replaced the barrel with a 155mm 52-caliber howitzer, you'd have a hard time telling it from a PzH2000!

Cheers,

Logan

[Captain Canada]

The angles on your new armour make it look like the turrt is turned towards what ever side you're looking at ! Neat effect, and a good way to keep the enemy guessing 

[scooter]

All that's left to do is source decals or stencils and seal it under a couple coats of Future and flat clear.  The broadband radio aerial is a 3" length of WD-1 field telephone wire.  And write up the backstory

[Captain Canada]

Looks like that cat in my neighbourhood we kicknamed Splotchy 

Nice work. She sure looks German now !

[Father Ennis]

I think you should change that way to big antenna !!!  It just ruins an otherwise great model by being an eye catcher.  Just my 2¢ worth but something that needs to be said.  IMHO ,your build is great ... 

[scooter]

I think you should change that way to big antenna !!!  It just ruins an otherwise great model by being an eye catcher.  Just my 2¢ worth but something that needs to be said.  IMHO ,your build is great ... 

That "way too big antenna" is actually correctly scaled (3" antenna = 9' rl).  The FM and broadband whips that Army and AF units use for tactical communications are 10' tall, HF whips are about 13'.  Although I'll probably tack it down, in a "tied down" position, once everything else is done.  The nice thing about WD-1 is its adjustable.

[NARSES2]

That's nice mate

[Father Ennis]

Ok, I stand corrected.

[scooter]

Ok, I stand corrected.

I did take your suggestion Padre, and tack it down yesterday, as if it were in travel configuration (because antennas hitting trees gets annoying on the range)-

[scooter]

Prepositioning decal placement on Paint.net-


Front view, with American-style "bumper numbers"
Translation- 3d Division, 1st Brigade, 1st Regiment, 3d Battalion, A Co. #322


Curb Side view, with the German style vehicle Number, national insignia (subdued), and the nickname "Dicker Hans" (Fat Hans, which happens to be the nicknames of almost all my German armor on World of Tanks).  Roadside would be mirrored with nickname, insignia, and vehicle number.

[Captain Canada]

Looks good. I like the gun up top. I like the look of the antenna down like that. Even if correctly scaled, it looked too wonky standing straight up. The markings are pretty neat too !

[Father Ennis]

Looking great !!!

[scooter]

And now...the backstory! (And if there's anything gramatically wrong, I blame Google Translate )

Elefant Schwerer Infanterie-Begleitfahrzeug (象重步兵支援车辆) (Elefant Infantry Support Vehicle (Heavy))

During the early 2000's, the Republikswehr watched with great interest the NATO invasion of Afghanistan and the US-led invasion of Iraq, particularly the Heer to see the lessons learned of using modern armor in urban warfare.  Noting that the heavy armor of the NATO led forces was being used inefficiently, the Republikswehr began looking into a new domestically built infantry support vehicle specifically for urban warfare, and to supplement the Bradleys, Strykers, and Warriors.  In a keen sense of historical irony, two designs dating back to World War II, the Sturmgeschütz III and Elefant heavy tank destroyer, were selected for the medium and heavy infantry support role with current IFVs placed into a light support vehicle role.  Each infantry battalion 1 dedicated company of Stug and Elefant ISVs.

The Elefant Infantry Support Vehicle (Heavy) incorporated lessons learned, both from the Cold War and War on Terror.  The hull armor incorporates an advanced unobtainium/ferroceramic/vibranium composite with embedded reactive armor; armored sponson boxes make up the glacis and lower hull sloped sides.  A Kevlar spall liner provides crew protection from armor splintering.  Three Caterpillar C15 ACERT turbodiesel engines coupled to a Jinan Heavy Industries 7 speed automatic transmission and gearbox propel the 65 tonne armored fighting vehicle to an on road speed of 65kph and an off-road speed of 45kph.  The power pack is a field-maintainable and line replaceable unit.  The engine is mid-mounted, separating the driver from the rest of the four man crew; crew voice and data communications are achieved through a Thales Canada TopSIS-derived fibre-optic intercom system.  Tactical vehicle communications are provided by a Thales Group AN/VRC-111 50w Single Vehicle Adapter and AN/PRC-148 MBITR/JEM, with cabling for the VRC-111 50 Dual Vehicle Adapter's second antenna already in place; integrated FBCB2 (Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below)/BFT or Joint Battle Command Platform capabilities to provide joint force mission support.  Two voice-powered telephones are located on road and curbside rear sponson boxes to provide local voice communications with the crew and supported infantry element

The primary weapons system is the Rheinmetall/Weifang Heavy Industries smoothbore 8.8cm cannon, capable of firing sabot, high explosive anti-tank, and canister rounds, tied into a German-made EMES 15 fire control system with a dual magnification stabilized primary sight. The primary sight has an integrated Neodymium Yttrium Aluminium Garnet (Nd:YAG) solid state laser rangefinder and a 120 element cadmium mercury telluride, CdHgTe (also known as CMT) Zeiss thermal sight which are both linked to the AFV's fire control computer.   The 8.8cm cannon is fed from 8 round magazines, is also capable of breech loading single shot, and takes 30 seconds to reload with the cannon required to be "out of battery" to replace magazines.  Secondary weapons system includes the M-151 Protector remote weapons station at the commander's cupola, mounting either the Mk. 19 40mm automatic grenade launcher or a 12.7mm heavy machine gun.  The M-151 can be fired by either the commander or gunner, and can take its targeting cues from either the integrated sights or EMES 15 fire control system.

The Elefant entered service in the early twenty-teens, and received its trial by fire in a United Nations authorized mission to Somalia, in 2035.  The 1st Infantry Regiment of 3rd Division's 1st Brigade worked with NATO infantry in relieving the cut off and surrounded American 42d Infantry Division's 50th Brigade.  Depicted here is A-322, nicknamed "Dicker Hans" from A Co., 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division, which was credited with destroying 5 al-Shabaab T-72 tanks, 3 al-Shabaab BMP-3s, and supported 15 building clearing actions in the Battle of Jilib.