Tamiya

1/48 German Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind

Kit Number: 32544

In-Box Review by  Mark Aldrich, IPMS# 39295

MSRP: $33.00 The first thing you notice about this kit is the weight of the box. For a box this size, it is quite heavy. The box art is quite nice also. It has the Flakpanzer, crew, and commander searching for the ever present allied aircraft. The box sides show a finished vehicle, three sided drawings and the reason the box is heavy: "Die-cast chassis enhances realism". Open the box and you are treated to 290 tan styrene parts broken down onto six sprues, the die-cast chassis, 4 polytubes, 2 metal screws, a small decal sheet, and a five page fold out instruction manual. The plastic parts are crisply detailed and flash free. Those 290 parts are an impressive number. That is more parts than some of the 1/35 scale armor kits I have built. The majority of the injector pin marks are well hidden. The only ones that might present a problem are the six that are located in the bottom of the turret. However, that might be rectified by internal components or the placement of the crew in their positions. The die-cast hull is a thing of beauty. I don't understand the reason for this as I believe they could have easily done this in plastic as well. The track is the link and length variety. It comprises 28 pieces total that breaks down to 14 sections per side. The top run has a gentle sway molded into it. The decal sheet, though small, allows you to build one of two machines of an unknown division in France in February of 1945. The instruction manual is typical Tamiya and well done. The painting guide shows all for sides for easy application of the three tone camouflage scheme. All in all this appears to be another sweet kit in Tamiya's ever increasing line of 1/48 scale kits. However, with a $33.00 price tag, I think I will stick with my 1/35 kits. I would like to thank Tamiya and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this kit and thank Tamiya for running with this line for the modelers who enjoy this scale.

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