Sd.Kfz. 184 "Elefant" - Schwerer Panzerjäger Tiger (P)

Born from a rejection letter. Built into a legend.

In 1942, the Wehrmacht needed a new heavy tank. Two companies competed for the contract: Henschel and Porsche. Ferdinand Porsche was so confident he'd win that he started building chassis before the results were even announced.

He lost.

Henschel's design became the Tiger I. And Porsche was sitting on 90 fully built chassis with nowhere to go.

The solution? Take those 90 orphaned hulls, mount the devastating 8.8 cm Pak 43 L/71 - the long 88, the most powerful anti-tank gun Germany ever fielded - behind a massive fixed casemate of 200mm frontal armor, and send them to war as the Schwerer Panzerjäger Tiger (P) - heavy tank destroyer, Porsche chassis. Ordnance designation: Sd.Kfz. 184.

They named it the Ferdinand, after the man whose stubbornness brought it into existence.

July 1943. Kursk. The Ferdinands rolled into the biggest tank battle in history - and from the front, almost nothing the Soviets had could touch them. The long 88 was killing T-34s at ranges the Soviet crews couldn't even return fire from. But the Ferdinand had problems of its own: no hull machine gun meant Soviet infantry could swarm them at close range. The mechanical reliability of Porsche's electric-drive transmission was brutal in the field.

The survivors were pulled back, upgraded with a hull-mounted MG 34 for close defense, and redesignated the "Elefant." They fought on in Italy and the Eastern Front through 1945 - fewer and fewer of them each month, but still terrifying from the front every single time.

Only 90 were ever built. Every single one started as a rejection letter from the Wehrmacht to Ferdinand Porsche.

What you're building:

• 1,750 pieces in 1:28 scale - a serious build
• 5 crew figures included with painted weapons and gear
• The unmistakable Elefant silhouette - fixed casemate, sloped armor, the long 88 protruding from that massive gun mantlet
• Elevating 8.8 cm Pak 43 L/71 main gun
• Working tracks
• Opening hatches
• Engineered for display - this is a centerpiece tank destroyer

⚠️ HEADS UP - STICKER APPLICATION: This kit uses stickers for the Balkenkreuz markings rather than pad-printing. We want you to know up front before you order. No surprises when the box arrives.