Andy Renshaw shares a First Look of Dragon's Flakpanzer Wirbelwind in 1/35.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Andy, thanks for the review and the historical information on the vehicle. Good to have.

A very helpful review Andy! It's a shame about the mix-and-match choices that DML made in regards to the variant options but sounds like the kit is still an improvement over the ancient Tamiya offering.

Tristar's Panzer IV wheel set should fix all the problems and leave you with spares galore!

odd that you said that, as I just discovered that about 10 minutes ago! I had no idea they had such a set out....

now, does anybody have one they want to part with???

the rear deck parts to make it a G come in the kit (extra parts), so really the wheels is all you really need.

oh, dont get me wrong...it is a HUGE improvement over the old taymia...very much still worth it...and as Bill just pointed out, if you have a Tristar wheel set in your stash you can take care of the little issues....which i had one....

oh wait....the wheel set still doesnt give you the early sprocket....but it will give more "common" options with rubber return rollers and early style roadwheel hubs..

True it doesn't fix the sprocket issue. The set is more widely available now than when Tristar was facing difficulty. RZM carries it for example for $17 (plus shipping of course). http://www.rzm.com/models/ts014.cfm. Tristar identifies it as set #35014.

Surely an old Dragon kit would have spares or am I thinking of the wrong sprocket. Also the Italeri Stug IV and Panzer IV kits have early sprockets as alternates - but may not be detailed enough for some.

thanks for posting andy, this is on the wish list and i might retire my tamiya one.

"retire" is a pleasant word...more like trash it! give it to the kids to introduce them into the hobby (it still builds really easy), or use it as a paint test hulk...

enjoy!
Andy

Andy,

Thank you for the review...well done and quite informative.

A question regarding the zimmerit; because the hull is from Dragon's Pz.Kpfw. IV, Ausf. G (kit #6300), do you believe that it is safe to assume that ATAK's zim set for the 6300 will fit properly? Granted, there will be plenty of zim parts left over!!

Bill...thanks for the link to RZM for the Tristar wheel set. I've ordered a set (they give a 10% discount because it's a web order [$15.30 + shipping]). I also have a set of JB Model barrels for it that I picked up in my last order from them (can't have too many Flak barrels! ).

Thanks again guys.

Mike

I was wondering exactly the same on the zimmerit Mike.
The chassis parts in the kit are all labelled Pzkpfw IV ausf H so Ataks zim 35047 set should work a treat.
Can anyone tell me who stocks Atak in the UK, ive tried Lou Stener and he only has the sets to fit the Tamiya Pz4 H.
Regards Paul

Mike, first the kit is on the Ausf H (which is #6300). The entire lower hull, plus upper hull is from that kit. Basicly the only thing different in the Wirbelwind kit is the turret and few extra parts such as the spare barrel boxes. So any zimmert set for the new dragon Ausf H should work fine, with very little left over (you will cover all the same regions on the wirbelwind as you would with a Ausf H)

Ive got a Ausf G on the way to me...and im going to cut up some Cavaler zimmerit I traded for to do the zimmerit. Should make for a different looking wirbelwind than what is in the box. Ill have a full build review of this posted at IMPS USA (www.ipmsusa.org) in a month or so, and ill follow up here with a few pictures as well.

Gotta love these flakpanzers, and cant wait to get an Ostwind (that should be very good OOB as it was mostly based on the Ausf H )

thanks guys for your interest!
Andy

Paul,

Check your PMs...I sent you a possible on the zim.

Andy,

Thanks again. And yep, the Flak Panzers are pretty slick. An updated Ost and Mobel would be cool.

UPDATE: Though RZM shows the Tristar wheel set in stock, it AIN'T!!! Just got the "so sorry" email.

Mike

Thanks for the great review. Would be interesting to see how this compares o the Tamiya one.

I Already have that kit on my bench.
Nice kit so far,but hard to research,as there is not too much information about Wirbelwinds.
The assembly of the turret could be tricky and need to be filled. I´ll sand all the seams on the turret plates down and make new.
Well,since it´s the H version,you can use the Atak Zimmerit for the Late H version. But, the Pz IV (tank version) has an little auxiliary motor exhaust mounted on the rear just beside the engine exhaust. Probably they were missing on the Wirbelwinds,because the auxiliary motors were omitted. The Atak zimmerit set has a zimmerit gap on that place and there is no information,if the "Ostbau-Sagan" fabric,where Wirbelwinds were produced,did fill the gap with zimmerit after dismounting the auxiliary motor exhaust.
It´s hard to reproduce,if there was zimmerit on the rearplate beside the exhaust

Hard to follow for me are as well the marking options given.
There are 2 variants using turret numbers:
The "032" 1 PzDiv, LAH and "044" u.i/unit eastern front.
The only known researchable Wirbelwind using a turret number was the "031",wearing a rough-and-ready applied wintercamoflage over the standart 3 tone camouflage. Turretnumbers were absolutely rare on Wirbelwinds,as it was an late war produced machine,most of them just weared 3 crosses.

Cheers

Ted, there really is no comparison... the taymia one is also based on the old tooling Ausf H hull (with motor holes)..unless taymia reissued it with the newer tool hull from thier newer Ausf H/ J kits (same hull in the 3.7 Mobelwagen). Even if it is, its no where as detailed.
Also the turret on the taymia kit is not the correct shape, and overall the entire kit is 1980 technology compared to the 2009 technology of the Dragon kit.

But, if you want a weekend build and could care less about the details, then the taymia kit is still the way to go.
andy

just as an update to any interested, I obtained a Ausf G kit and built the wirbwind stuff on it, adding zimmerit using some acryilic paste mixed with some baby powder to thicken it a little. Worked very well. Ill have some pictures posted soon.

as with any Dragon panzer IV kits, this isnt no weekend, or for that matter, week long build! Should have paint on it this weekend! (along with that Tasca Sherman III early that is collecting dust)
Andy