Great news Jim,
I was waiting for a Bergepanzer IV for ages...
The Ostwind seems like another DML vs Trumpeter battle, for years we just had the Tamyia version and by some odd twist of modeling history... 2 at the same time .
Great to see the detailed interior, I might get the Trumpeter version just for that, the metal gun barrel for the Flak would be a nice addition I guess.
It seems that Trumpeter is going along with various PIV variants ! Good !

Great news Jim,
I was waiting for a Bergepanzer IV for ages...
The Ostwind seems like another DML vs Trumpeter battle, for years we just had the Tamyia version and by some odd twist of modeling history... 2 at the same time .
Great to see the detailed interior, I might get the Trumpeter version just for that, the metal gun barrel for the Flak would be a nice addition I guess.
It seems that Trumpeter is going along with various PIV variants ! Good !

Anyone knows how these kits will be priced?

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Great news Jim,
I was waiting for a Bergepanzer IV for ages...
The Ostwind seems like another DML vs Trumpeter battle, for years we just had the Tamyia version and by some odd twist of modeling history... 2 at the same time .
Great to see the detailed interior, I might get the Trumpeter version just for that, the metal gun barrel for the Flak would be a nice addition I guess.
It seems that Trumpeter is going along with various PIV variants ! Good !

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Actually while Tamiya offered the Wirbelwind and two versions of the Mobelwagen, the only Ostwind kits to date have been the old Monogram kit in 1/32nd thirty years ago and the more recent Italeri offering in 1/35th. From the test shots, it looks as though Trumpeter, like Italeri before them, has not repositioned the radio operator's hatch forwards, even with the driver's hatch (it needed more clearance due to the larger turret ring, so the workshops cut out the opening in front of the hatch with a torch, and then welded the cutout back in place behind it).
The hull machine gun mount on the Bergepanzer looks a bit anemic, though this seems a minor quibble. On the plus side, the inclusion of full hull interiors raises the bar a bit for Dragon (though no doubt this will also affect the price point).

Flakpanzers have never held a big interest for me but I kinda like this one.

Couple of questions :

How does the shell ejection work ? I've seen footage of the 3.7cm firing and the shells seem to fair fly out so are they just intended to hit the side and drop down below ? In other words if I did one in action would there be empty casings on the floor. Or is it meant to have some kind of brass catcher ?

If working with searchlights would these tow their own searchlight ( something like the AFV 60cm unless anyone knows of a bigger one ) or would they operate with one mounted on another vehicle like Blitz or the SWS UHU, or towed by another vehicle ( or of course all of the above ).

As for using search lights, the box art looks a bit speculative.

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Flakpanzers have never held a big interest for me but I kinda like this one.

Couple of questions :

How does the shell ejection work ? I've seen footage of the 3.7cm firing and the shells seem to fair fly out so are they just intended to hit the side and drop down below ? In other words if I did one in action would there be empty casings on the floor. Or is it meant to have some kind of brass catcher ?

If working with searchlights would these tow their own searchlight ( something like the AFV 60cm unless anyone knows of a bigger one ) or would they operate with one mounted on another vehicle like Blitz or the SWS UHU, or towed by another vehicle ( or of course all of the above ).

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A small basket next to the ejector catches the shells.

As for using search lights, the box art looks a bit speculative. These guns were meant for close support protection for Armour, and were mostly used to defend against fighter(bomber) attacks, during daylight. The search lights were used at night, against the large waves of heavy bombers, with the 88mm FlaK 36/37.