Old MSgt

Just minutes ago Armortek unveiled their Limited Edition 1/6 Elefant at this years Bovington Tankfest.

While the Elefant is on loan to the Bovington museum from the US for a couple of years, Armortek took the chance to inspect it to closely copy it in make their newest AFV.

You can check out the specs and pics on the Armortek home page.

I didn't see the measurements but the weight for it is listed as '90kg'... I went to a kg to lb conversion website and 90kg is only 198 pounds!

Surprised me cause I thought it'd surely weigh more than just that! I think it's a typo cause a couple hundred pounds ain't noth'in!

Mike in Kentucky

Crius

I would think it would weigh a bit less than the Panther. The Elefant is built on the Panther chassis, right? How much does an Armortek Panther weigh?

Crius

Here's a video with a 1/6 Elefant, not the Armortek, and you have to skip ahead to about 7:50 to see the Elefant in action. I can't wait to learn more about the new offering from Armortek, and this may be just the tank I've been waiting for!!

Old MSgt

Hi Gary!

An Armortek Panther weighs about 360-370 pounds and a Tiger 1 about 375-390.

I thought the Elefant was larger than a Tiger 1 and used electric drive. I'll have to get out one of my books on it...

Mike

Crius

Has Armortek made any info on the new Elefant available on the internet yet?

Old MSgt

I don't know but all the info I've seen is on the Armortek Products site. Heck, they've probably just gotten home from the Bovington Tankfest because it was today.

The new owners mentioned weeks ago (when they unveiled the Pak 40) that they were going to debut their new AFV at the Tankfest so I've been checking their site today.

Heck, look at the Armortek 'Buy It Now' prices. 700 Pounds down to reserve it then gradually pay the total before it ships. The US is Zone 3 so we pay LESS for it than the English do because of the VAT tax.

If I was going to get one, I wouldn't even order the motors (Motion Pack) til later. They'll always have the Motion Packs BUT they only produce different AFV models for a few months then go to something else.

Crius

So that's about $5,800 US and that's without the motors, but including the shipping, correct? That's a pretty good piece of change. That's like, half a brand new car. The little devils in my head are schemin' already.

But I really hope they do another run of the 251.

And hey, did you get the 222? I want to see photos, Bro. Und macht schnell.

Old MSgt

Email me Gary (I lost your email address somehow) and I'll send some pics of the 222 and what I've got done on the Sherman.

Couple days ago I was doing more upper deck details and suddenly said 'BS! I'm tired of this! I'm gonna DRIVE this thang!' I worked the lower off the 'lazy susan', put the tracks on, turned it on, drove it off the lift, and 'WRANG IT OUT!' Ran GREAT! Just have to do a few more little details and then I'll put the deck/turret on. Then the markings/weathering...

Mike

Tanque

The Porsche Elefant and what became the Tiger I were competitors for the heavy tank contract. Offhand not sure what the Porsche chassis weighed in turreted tank configuration
like the Tiger I but I suspect they were of similar weight. The Elefant/Ferdinand with ginormous steel box weighs more than a Tiger I.

The Elefant was not built on a Panther chassis, not even close. I'm pretty certain any variant of the Porsche chassis ( except perhaps the recovery tank form)
weighed more than any Panther.

jerry

Crius

Thanks, Jerry. So the Elephant chassis is closer to the Porsche tank that eventually lost out to what became the Tiger one? But heavier? An Armortek Tiger One weighs in at close to 400 lbs., so what would you say accounts for the low weight of the Elefant model? Maybe a mistake when they say 190 lbs.? Maybe the new owners don't plan to continue using scale thickness for armor? Any ideas or guesses?

Here's a photo I lifted from the Armortek site.

Tanque

Just looking quickly around the net the Tiger I is listed at 54 metric tons and the Elefant at 65 metric tons.

Not knowing how Armortek makes their models past or present I can't say if their newest offering is using any weight saving
techniques that would account for the weight difference.

All else being equal different thickness materials will make a model lighter or heavier than other comparable models of the same scale.
With respect to the bare lower Henschel and Porsche chassis I'd have to believe they are/were close in weight assuming the materials used were
similar with perhaps the Porsche edging up in weight. When the Tiger and Elefant are compared that giant steel box on the Elefant is massive and would tip
the scales.

Jerry

Panther F

Wow... an Elefant now?!!! I thought 11.5 pounds for my Panther and 13 for the Sturmtiger was heavy... even without batteries.

So if you must transport it to a show or tank meet, ramps are a necessity (so is a car with that space) because I wouldn't feel comfortable asking someone to help unload a beast like an Armortek tank!

sevoblast

It is the Porsche Tiger 1 hull, the good Herr Doktor started production before the tests were finished and Henschel won the contract. To save all the money spent on I think 50 Porsche Tiger 1's Berlin paid to have them made in to tank hunters with the long 8.8. 3 of the original Porsche Tiger 1's served on the East Front and I think another 3 became Berg Elefants. No one seems to know what happened to the Bergs or the 3 Porsche Tiger 1's.

Old MSgt

Okay, a few days ago I emailed Armortek to ask the measurements of their new Elefant and I just received a response. The measurements were in cm so I used a website conversion to get inches.

Length from tip of gun tube to rear: 128cm or 50.5 inches
Width: 55cm or about 21 inches
Height: 53cm or 20.5 inches

Mike

Crius

Mike, did they confirm the weight?

TheBennyB

Always my thoughts on not getting the bigger scale stuff as well Jeff. I have a fear that the build would be awesome, but run it a couple times and now it's taking up room collecting dust that everyday toys could be at. Still love the idea and will live through Gary's enthusiasm.

TheBennyB

Gary, if you want a nice book on the Elefant check out "History of the 653." The soft cover is widely available but the pics aren't quite as clean as the hardcover, though more friendly in the bathroom rack!

https://www.amazon.com/Combat-Histor.../dp/0811732428

Panther F

That's true, like my M5 Stuarts. 29" in length (no barrel overhang), 15" wide and 16" tall... taking up space and a huge duster. Being all plastic (I can't remember the weight) it isn't much to move around..

And it's a toy compared to the Armortek for sure.

Crius

The size of these things can be a bit overwhelming, but with the Hetzer I'm still in the "compact car" category, and if this goes well I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can do with these two Dragon Kubels I have (one a type 82 that's in kit form, and the other is the balloon tire but it came pre-assembled), and I still have the Sd.Kfz.250 halftrack that should be another very interesting build and much, much easier to transport (that one is narrow enough and light enough that it fits neatly in the back seat of my Malibu. But I have some very cool places to drive the Hetzer real close by, like I don't even need to put it in a vehicle, I can run it down the sidewalk for the two blocks to the park, and with the .50 cal mounted and FPV laser sighting I don't see it getting boring anytime soon. I just don't think I can get enough elevation to hit that stupid bird that keeps crappin' all over my Chevy, Man.

Old MSgt

Good Morning!

Yeah Gary, it was confirmed that 90kg (about 200 pounds) is the 'empty' weight. But, between you, me, and the sh... POTTY house walls, it WILL be heavier IF the scale hull thicknesses are used. 200 pounds is about what an Armortek Sherman weighs.

The motors weigh about 6-8 pounds each and the ESC modules are very light. Then the batteries?

Word'll get out about how much it weighs when buyers start posting their builds on the Armortek build forums..

Mike

Crius

Those sealed lead acid batts you guys use add a considerable amount of weight. I'll be running the Hetzer on two different batteries, one 6S and one 2S, and the two of them combined only weigh a touch over three pounds. I'll bet just one of those SLA batteries weighs a good five pounds, and you need two. And the motors and gearboxes I got weigh in at just over 7 lbs. each.

There's no way I'll be able to raise the money for an Elefant before they sell out (any word on how many they'll make in this offering?) and even if I could I think I'd be looking for an Armortek PzIII first. The Tiger One is my dream tank, but I'll probably never even try to acquire one, mainly because of the size and weight. I've been considering shopping around for a beater mini-van that I can adapt with some ramps and just keep it insured half the year, like a motorcycle, but a guy at work had a really interesting idea that I plan to look into. We were talking about how a strange but very effective vehicle for transporting 1/6 tanks would be a Cadillac hearse, and Rich says what about the flower car? Huh? Flower car? I guess they make them special to ride behind the hearse and carry all the floral arrangements, and it's kind of like a Caddy hearse turned into a flatbed truck. The Cadillac suspension would give the mush soft ride you want so the tank don't get pounded (can you imagine putting one in a dual wheel pick-up? It would pound the poor tank to pieces!) and the flatbed part is pretty low since it started life as basically a Cadillac station wagon. I plan to look into it and keep an eye out for a good transport vehicle. Or maybe an old ambulance like the Ghost Busters use? I hate to say it, but for me a dedicated tank hauler would be the way to go, even if it means giving up my life long goal of never, ever owning a mini van. No offense to those that own them, but I HATE those things!! So much that I won't even ride in one, let alone drive one, and here the tank hobby has me considering actually owning one. How life changes, eh?

TheBennyB

Go find yourself an old subaru Brat! No cover from the elements though.

Imex-Erik

Hey I was just wondering... what are your local laws on paintball guns? You might have a problem taking that guy to the park if you plan on shooting anything. Oh and if I was going to go only 2 blocks away I would make a trailer to cart myself in while I'm at it lol. A lot of parks are against anything RC these days. We are lucky enough down here to have an airport and park within 2 miles that are super RC friendly and Florida's first drone racing park just opened north of Tampa but other than that almost all parks are banned from anything RC here.

Old MSgt

And don't git a HEARST Gary. The ONLY time I want to ride in a 'hearst' is on that FINAL trip.

But we had a young troop in our shop (in the military) who DID purchase an older hearse and cleaned it up. It looked good and he'd use it when he took leave to travel from the California desert cross country back to Tennessee. Said when he got tired he'd just pul in to an Interstate rest stop, crawl in the back and take a nap. Said a couple times he woke at night with curious people looking in the glass and... well, he had a little 'fun' with that!

If I was going to haul some rc tanks anywhere, I just borrow my brothers' box trailer and make some 2x4 frames to go around'em then strap'em down.

Mike

Crius

You know, I actually checked that out, and as I expected, this is Detroit, where the weak are killed and eaten, and the fuzz are so damn glad it won't penetrate a bullet proof vest that they really don't care. Seriously, though, paintball doesn't have many regs here, because most of the laws in the criminal code refer to pneumatic guns that expel a metallic BB or pellet. Paintball kind of slips through the cracks, and the sport is hugely popular around here, even more than laser tag. And of course, just because it has a paintball cannon doesn't mean I have to fire it, and I know enough not to get into trouble down at the park. And there are some really choice spots to get video down there, like the pedestrian bridge across the Rouge River. I'm already wondering if I can come up with some kind of cannon effect that blows smoke or powder without a projectile, just for playing around in public.

And Erik, you've got me thinking yet again and once more you've given me an idea, for a cart to put the hetzer on to wheel short distances, like down to the park on the other side of Beech Daly from me, right by the cop shop. I don't like the idea of driving across a busy main road like that. I'm thinking one of those with the bicycle tires on each side that's similar to a wheel barrow. Hmmm, more figgerin' required.