Italeri Flakpanzer Ostwind IV

Looking good Ryan.........  will be awaiting the follow up photos!

Good luck with it

Mostly,        thanks for sharing

Bill

Looking nice. I built this a couple of years ago for the 1,000 road wheels GB. made a couple of chagnes to match the photos of this vehicle, as the kit has a few errors, and was well chuffed with it. Its a nice kit all told. Look forward to seeing some paint on it.

I like Italeri kits, they don't get a lot of respect with today's new-age kits. 

Looks ambitious, but I'm sure you'll pull it off.

Looks like you had to do a lot of correcting on this. It must be as bad as the Academy kit.

tigerman - I really don't like Italeri kits. it seems to me that they lack a lot of detail in some parts and the pieces never fit that well. 

Iraquiwildman - Yes, there were a lot of corrections to be done. I have never built an Academy kit so I'm not sure if it as bad as an Academy kit, but it was bad.

Nice work on this one. Just a couple of comments about some of the parts you've added (you may already know this so apologies if that's the case!). The fire extinguisher is upside down, those two small little pins on the base were designed to go into locator holes on a DML kit. You've also got the jack mounted backwards, the crank handle should be positioned next to the hull and not extending out over the fender edge the way you have it. Since you mentioned you're taking this one to a show, those are things that will get dinged by judges.  

Dressing up older kits can often be a fun challenge, look forward to seeing this one with paint on!

Bill, would the headlights and other things that differ on the kit from the real vehicle also be a problem, or do they not look for historical accuracy.

Bish,

All depends on the type/level of show/contest, the knowledge of the judges, and what the competition is like. Sometimes the winner in a category is the one with the least errors/problems depending on what else is on the table competing with it (that's a general comment and should not be taken as a comment on this particular build!).

Thanks for telling me Bish. I have decided not to enter this in the show because there are other problems than the ones you have mentioned. I WILL finish this kit, but since I have decided that I will not show this piece ( at least not yet maybe next year after it is fixed) I am going to finish my B-29 with working props! That will be my main focus these next weeks. When I finish the flakpanzer I will post pics, but it may be a while. 

What have you found wrong with it. I was actually pleased with the build itself. there was just a few things that needed changing for it to match the photos of the real thing. But the main reason i was so worried was that the Dio i am doing for it is based on one of the photos.

But i was happy with the kit itself.

I found after a coat of paint that it needs a lot more filling in some areas.

I didn't have a problem with that. Don't recall useing any filler. Maybe i was lucky. Though i found the Zimm went over most areas that might have needed it. have you added Zimm to yours.

No I don't think I am going to add zimm to mine, unless that would be accurate. Did they all have zimm applied?

Ostwinds, like their cousins the Wirbelwinds, were built on reconditioned Pz IV G-H-J hulls and only had zim if the original hull had been zimmed when it was produced as a gun-tank. Therefore you have a choice as to zim or not to zim depending on the hull configuration (from a purely accuracy standpoint). Ostwinds were produced in much smaller numbers and as a result there are fewer photos of them vs. the Wirbelwinds.

Bill, this kit is of the prototype, which had Zimm. According to what i could find, namely Panzer tracts, all production Ostwinds were built on Ausf J hulls, 3 top roller and different exhaust. If you are interested in accuracy, theres a few other things as well. But depends how accurate you want to be.

Bish,

I don't dispute the info in PT as it's generally top-notch as a reference, but there are photos of at least 2 non-prototype Ostwinds in Nuts & Bolts #25 on G or H chassis that feature zim, so I don't think it's accurate to say that all Ostwinds were produced on J chassis. Only about 40 Ostwinds in total are estimated to have been produced and they were produced at the same facility (Ostbau Sagan) as the Wirbelwinds. While initially all the chassis sent to Ostbau Sagan were existing re-conditioned hulls and the assembly of the Ostwinds happened side-by-side with the Wirbelwinds, they also recieved newer J hulls for use on both types of Flakpanzer. Both efforts continued right up until April-May so it stands to reason that you would see Ostwinds on hulls with zim as well as non-zim just like the Wirbelwinds...but it does ultimately boil down to the chassis as to whether it should or should not have zim.

Thats the problem with referance material isn't. The more you have the more confuseing it gets. I have the Nut & Bolts 13, i didn't bother getting the 25 as i had already built a Kugel blitz by that point and didn't think 25 would have anything new. 13 just has pics of the prototype, with 1 of an un zimmed production wehicle.

As for PT, this is what it says about Ostwind production. I had to read it several times my self as at first i thought it was saying some were built on older hulls.

In addition to the rebuilt Pz IV chassis used at Ostbau, (i.e the prototype) at Stahlindustrie Ostwind turrets were to be mounted on newly produced Pz IV chassis.

Then it goes on to say production was to begin in Nov. Of course this implies un zimmed Ausf J hulls. But it confuses the matter by showing a table which shows Wirbelwind/Ostwind production by month on Re built chassis. I have noticed this a couple of times with PT with tables conflicting with text.

Think i better get that N&B 25.

Now why would I buy these books when you guys can just give me all the info I need! I think it would look better with zim my self, but it all depends on if I feel like going through that much work. Thanks for all of the input guys, it is really helpful.  I would like this to be as accurate as possible so if most of them had zim I should put it on.

ye i know what you mean. I am the same when it comes to things like US aircrfat. I have a couple of books, but wouldn't build up a huge selection. BUt i know if i have a problem, i can get help on here.

Actually, seems i jumped in feet first without checking properly and Bill was right. Theres another section in PT that say 22 Ostwind were built of rebuilt chassis between Dec 44 and March 45. And its very possable these could be pre Sept 43 hulls so would not have Zimm. In fact the only way to be 100% certain would be to measure the thinkiness of the turret. And thats going way to far even for me.

Only a very small number would have had Zimm, and as Bill has pic's of un zimmed versions on older hulls, go with that. There comes a point in checking referances where you just have to say enough and go with what you feel is right and looks good.

to what Bish said.

The Ostwinds are murkier due to their low production numbers and the production interruptions at the end of the war...the Ostbau Sagan facility had to be picked up and moved right at the start of 1945 and didn't resume production again until March, so there are a lot of possibilities out there when it comes to this particular vehicle. What is clear though is that the chassis you are working with on this kit is an earlier model that has a 95% chance of being fitted with zim IMHO from an accuracy standpoint. Up to you though in the final analysis on whether you want to put that much effort into an older kit or just leave it as-is.