martins panzer4 wirbelwind. 1/35 scale

[martin57]

HI all this will be my offering for this sig .
i chose this one just to mix up this sig abit .
and i like the look of it .
so here goes
first the kit , there are no extras on this one.















now a peace of history , there is not a lot , due to the fact it was not a great succses .

The Flakpanzer IV "Wirbelwind" (Whirlwind in English) was a German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun based on the Panzer IV tank. It was developed in 1944 as a successor to the earlier Möbelwagen self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.

In the first years of the war, the German military forces had less interest in developing self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, but as the Allies began to gain air superiority, the need for more mobile and better-armed self-propelled anti-aircraft guns increased. During the early summer of 1944, SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Wilhelm Krause with the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend came up with the concept of the Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind. He presented the concept to SS-Obersturmbannführer Max Wünsche, commanding officer of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment and it was approved by Hitler.

The Panzer IV's turret was removed and replaced with an open-top, nine-sided turret which housed a quadruple 2 cm Flakvierling 38 L/112.5. A closed-top design would have been preferable, but this was not possible due to the heavy smoke generated by the four anti-aircraft guns. The shape of the turret earned it the nickname Keksdose ("Biscuit Tin"). Production of the tank was carried out by Ostbau Werke in Sagan, Silesia. However, in combat the 2 cm shells were felt to be insufficiently effective against aircraft, and so a more powerful successor was produced which eventually replaced it. Known as the Flakpanzer IV Ostwind (East Wind), the successor was equipped with a single 3.7 cm Flak 43.


Side view of Wirbelwind at CFB Borden
The combination of armor and rapid fire from the four guns of the Wirbelwind also made it effective against ground targets.

Between 87 and 105 Wirbelwinds were produced during the war, but due to discrepancies between the recorded production numbers at Ostbau Werke and Wehrmacht service records, the exact number will probably never be known.

ok on with the buid , this is tamiya so it all went together well no problems .

starting with the hull , and front and back plates.









i will be leaving the can of until later so it can have the rust treatment .



wheels all made up .


and primed.



then moving on to the top deck , i will put everything on before painting and detail it later .
the inner mud guards i will be leaving out , from what pictures i have seen these were not on, maybe because thay get in the way of the rear towing hooks .





top deck all finished .



this is going together a treat hope the painting and weathering goes the same way .
next up sorting the parts for the guns





well thats it for now thanks for coming , be back soon.

[arilo76]

Great start, looking forward to see the paint stage.

[martin57]

ok welcome back .
after the gun was put together i primed the hull in the black.
along with the wheels.



wheels base coated useing my stencil .



then the main body was base coated in tamiya dark yellow leaving some shadowing .


next for the base coat was the gun and gun turret .



after all was dry and i painted the inside of the turret an of white.
and then dry fitted it all together .







well thats it for this part.
thanks for coming see you soon

[OliveDrab]

Very Nice! I've always wanted to build this kit and its looking great

[privatepete]

Looking good Martin, keep it up.
Pete

[martin57]

hi all well iam back to finish of this build.
after the base coat came the camo pattern, useing the tamiya paints , then painted the small stuff.
then some weathering on the inside of the turret .
then gave the whole thing a few coats of gloss, and we are ready for a u m p dark dirt wash.







then moved on to painting the crew , my figure painting needs work.



next up was the exust used rust pigments for this , and followed by some mud splashes.



crew are now in place , not easy to fit in when the gun is in place but we got there in the end .



and thats it done and all together .

thanks for coming . go check out the revel pictures

[Bissyboat]

Incredible work on that Wirbelwind!