Well, finishing up the build… The previous installments:
So, further difficulties… although not big ones.
The periscopes do not fit into their slots -neither on the driver’s hatch, nor on the top of the vehicle. Bummer.
The mantlet (part number A8) of the gun barrel did not fit into place, either; I trimmed about a mm off from the end to be able to slot it into place.
Because the gun is set off-set, and not centered (I had the bright idea to display it off-centered… talk about self-goals), I can’t fit the roof of the fighting compartment into place. The gunsight gets in the way, unfortunately. I strongly suggest centering the gun, or leave the hatches open so that the gunsight can stick out of the tank. I will have to figure something out; maybe display it lifted.
The tank is essentially done apart from the tow cables and a few minor parts. I will glue the fenders in place once I installed the tracks, and call it a day. I am still unsure about what tracks to use as I am not happy with either options, but I would like to stress something. None of these issues are deal-breaking – the model went together rather well. It is quite a spectacular-looking model, and considering that it comes with a full interior it was not a tour de force to build it. I do confess my love to the MiniArt kits with interior, but a T-54 was a much, much more involved process. This model went together surprisingly quickly. The ease of building obviously does come with some compromise with regards to detail. The question obviously is how much detail you can live without. I am happy to say that this level I am fine with -milage may vary. I am sure there will be a 1kg Voyager update set with PE and resin for the people who wish for more. Perhaps an aftermarket set of tracks would be useful but otherwise I am fine with this model out of the box.
Now I just need to paint the thing.
The Butterfingered Modelbuilder's Adventures 
Thanks again for sharing your building experiences.
I have now almost finished the interior and indeed: it looks great. Takes me a bit more time since I am adding some of the missing details there.
By now it is clear to me why AH issued a combined kit of the Ferdinand and its best friend in the field: the 18 ton crane. You should really leave at least the casemate and gun off, dangling from the crane’s chains and display the hull separately minus the floor plate.
Could the gunsight problem not be solved by leaving B24 unglued? That is how the real one functioned. I will use a simple Eduard pe panel instead. Maybe that wil do the trick.
Think you did the right thing in using the plastic barrel: apart from the fit issues the metal one to me looks more like a scaled down 75mm than an 88.
As for the outside there were two Ferdinands so to speak: the original Kursk version and the field upgrade created following lessons learned in battle. Quite a lot of hardware was moved to a different less vulnerable position. AH shows you a sort of mix in the instructions only indicating one option in using the J11 gutters.
Decals are also different. The ones in my kit differ from the ones shown in the instructions. One is Kursk two more seem to be ‘Nikopol’ vehicles (including all the field upgrades).
Good luck painting and weathering!
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Definitely now I know how the model “works” I could do a second and third one in “assembly” and perhaps as a wreck. The crane idea would be great but I do not think they would leave the ammo inside the vehicle, and the ammo racks only work if they are full. Unless you scratch build an empty one, of course. Now that I have more experience I would not glue the flap protecting the gunsight in place, either, so it could be raised… but I did and now I am stuck with it. The thing is the model is simplified for ease of assembly, and it takes away some options. It is just supposed you will be building it the exact way the instructions tell you to, and any deviation might cause some trouble down the line…
Thank you for the information on the changes – I will look into them. I may be building another one later (much, much later when my other “must build” kits are finished and it will be useful.
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