IPMS WEST DES MOINES CHAPTER

Revell's 1/72 'Elefant' Tank Transporter By Joe Lotz

Germany SLT 50-3 " Elefant" & Sattelanhaeger

Since I mainly build mainly modern German Military Vehicles in 1/72 and 1/35 scale I decided to do an inbox of the new Revell of Germany Elefant Tank Transporter that I recently bought.

The tank transporter SLT 50-2 "Elephant" & 52 semitrailer SaAnh ( original designation) with steering on all axles was designed for better maneuverability and off-road mobility on the battle. It was to replace the first generation tank transporter that, among other things, had too large a turning circle, which meant that it could only be used on surfaced roads. In addition the amount of heavy hardware available such as the Leopard 1&2, Geopard, Marder and Biber rose substantially, which necessitated a new transporter. In 1970 therefore the Faun Company began to develop the tractor at the same time as the Krupp company began to develop the semitrailer By 1971 a prototype of the complete combination was ready for intense testing. The tractor was made by Faun, but the trailer was built under license from Krupp by Kaessbohrer.
The first production vehicle was was officially delivered to the German Army in April 1976. Between 1976 and 1979 a total of 324 were built and it is worth noting that the SLT 50-2 was only built in this one series. The advantages of the SLT 50-2 are primarily the all-terrain mobility it derived from its all wheel drive, its ergonomically shape and its adherence to rail loading dimensions. In addition the 17-ton winches can be used for salvage operations.
The SLT 50-2 was modified for the first time in 1984, but due to the improvement in combat capability of the heavier versions of the Leopard2, in 1994 a general upgrade program was initiated for the 324 vehicles. In addition to a new engine (Deutz MWM Diesel TBD 234), fundamental modifications were made from from the driver's cab through to the 5th-wheel coupling. By the time this modernization was completed in 2000 all the vehicles had been refitted and under the new designation SLT 50-3 "Elephant" they can be used by the German Army until at least the end on 2015. As the Elephant is one of the heaviest and longest wheeled vehicles used by the German Army, it can only be driven by soldiers with long service records who are specially trained and qualified to drive heavy duty vehicles. It is customary for the Elefant crews to give their vehicles nicknames such as " Baby Hoermann", Streetfighter", "Dumbo" or " Green Devil". In addition to be used in Germany, the Elephant is used by the German Army Contingents with IFOR, SFOR and KFOR mandate. In the meantime the Elephant has come into use with the Polish Army. When discarded Leopard 2 tanks were sold to the Poles, from 2002 onwards, they also took small numbers of the SLT 50-3.

Technical Data SLT 50-3

Engine/Capacity : Deutz MWM Diesel TBD234 V12/ 734bhp
Drive : 8x8 all-wheel
Max. speed : 65 kmh
Range : 600km
Length/Width : 8.83m/3.07m
Weight :22.8 tons

Technical data 52 ton semitrailer

Length/Width :13.1m/3.15m
Loading Platform :7.8m/3.15m
Weight :16.2 tons
Max. Load Capacity :52 tons

The Kit

The kit comes in a open-end box the size of a 1/35 scale kit. The box-Art shows an Elefant loaded with a Leopard 2A4. After opening the box there is only one word " WOW". The plastic bag contains 4 sprues in dark green styrene with 324 parts. Yes, 324 parts which is more then most 1/35 scale kits have to offer. Well, my kit had actually 325 parts, because I found an additional loading platform. The assembled length is more then a foot. The side of the box shows pictures of the assembled prototype as well as a call-out for Revell paints needed. Included in the kit is also a clear acetate sheet for the windows and a small decal sheet with nicely printed details. The instruction booklet has 16 pages with a total of 97 assembly steps, including painting. The parts detail is crisp with no flash or visible injector pin marks on the parts. However, my kit had a couple of small sink marks and the end of the loading platform that need filling.

Conclusion

This is the 1/72 kit. A must for the 1/72 scale armor modeler. It will however require experience because of the number of small parts. I give Revell of Germany a high-five for this kit. Now I just need to get the guts to build it and maybe put a Leo 2A4 or a Marder on there, or maybe the Biber that's sitting on my shelf. Now if Revell could issue a kit of the new Bridgelayer based on the Leo2 or a Gepard in 1/72 scale.

References

The reference below is from a German web site that has hundreds, if not thousands of picture of the vehicles used by the German Army, including the SLT 50-3 Elefant and the 56ton Franziska.

http://www.panzer-modell.de/

©2006 West Des Moines Plastic Surgeons