REVIEW: FoV 1:32 Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind (80027)
Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 4:02 pm
For my second review, I have picked one of my favourite Forces of Valor 1:32 miniatures - the Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind #80027 (Normandy 1944). It is the first in its series, with the second Wirbelwind (#80227 Poland 1944) to be released in June at the earliest. It is painted in a three-tone camoflage scheme, with a base coat of dunkelgelb with dark brown & green stripes. It has the markings of a Wirbelwind serving in the 101st S.S. schwere Panzer Abteilung (heavy panzer battalion/detachment). Serving in Normandy in 1944, a Wirbelwind would have had a very busy yet short service life with the sky dark with Jabos like the British Typhoon and American Thunderbolt.
It is one of the original handful of Forces of Valor 1:32 I started out with a couple of short months ago. I managed to win three of the C&C Toy Emporium's auctions and received a Stug III Ausf G, Panzer IV Ausf F and this Wirbelwind for about $35 CDN each (including shipping), which I would call a steal!
Built upon a Panzer IV chassis (possibly an Ausf F), it carries a 20mm Flakvierling in an open-topped turret. It has all the expected stowage mounted on its fenders and inside the turret itself, and comes with two S.S. crewmen. One is seated in the weapon itself looking through the gun sight, the other is meant to be stood alongside the turret pointing upwards to what is probably bad news for the Germans in the area. What is great is that the trooper manning the gun actually has his hands fitted to the wheels that move the gun horizontally & vertically. The gun mount moves so that the guns can point nearly straight up. However, this makes the trooper manning the gun look silly because he's looking almost straight ahead. This means the whole thing only looks good if the guns are pointed into the direction that the other trooper is pointing in. As is the norm with Forces of Valor, the upper hull & turret are both of metal construction. The gun barrels, gun mounting, lower hull & running gear are of plastic construction.
Profile shot:
Looking down, you can see the details inside the turret and the open hatches up front for the radioman/bow gunner & driver:
The S.S. troopers look very good in the post that they were both made for. Details of the gun mount and shelf for spare magazines can also be seen. I had to use a bit of model glue to secure all 16 spare magazines in their shelves to the left & right of the gun. As always, Forces of Valor has included figures that have much better detail than those that they have released separately in the past:
Rear view. The muffler is a bit too red to look truly rusty and a nasty seam can be seen on the right half of it. The mudflaps have been battered and scratched up, and the unit symbol can be clearly see on the left. You can only see a bit of the mud treatment here:
Right side of the vehicle. You can clearly see the assorted tools and three spare track links. The crank starter for the engine is mounted next to the next on the front fender, but has been painted in place and is showing the original colour of the plastic underneath. There are other tools with the similar rushed paint job on the left side of the vehicle:
Turret without the gun installed. The wooden floor boards and ammo shelves can be clearly seen. I was rather pleased with the weld marks on the turret - it looks like the real thing!
The quad guns and figure. Two things about this gun mount: 1) the figure was an absolute pain in the arse to install. I had to use tweezers to spread his legs very delicately around the seat and it's a miracle that I didn't break any of the gun barrels or the sight mechanism. 2) the gun barrels are made of the lightest, most delicate plastic. Right after I took this picture, I dropped it and broke one of the gun barrels which has since been repaired with a lot of time and patience!
The bottom. As you can see, it received heavy mud treatment that looks all right. There are five screw holes keeping the upper & lower hull together, two screw holes for the mount and one big hole for the peg that keeps the turret prone when the whole thing is mounted on its base. Check out the suspension - again, it looks like the real deal.
Front view. Again, you can see the tactical symbol on the front right mudflap. The bow MG 34 can be seen, and it was much less deformed than the bow MGs that I've seen on most FoV Panzer IVs - especially the Ausf G that I have! It's bent downwards so much it looks like it needs a Viagra or two. Might fix that with some warm water in the future.
CONCLUSIONS
This is an altogether satisfactory release that I am glad I got my hands on. While I may be biased on account of the Wirbelwind being one of my favourite pieces of WW2 German armour, I recognize that it has some faults (delicate gun barrels, rushed paint job on some of the mounted tools, bright red muffler). However, the faults can be overlooked if you take into account how intricately detailed the gun mount is, how great the welds look on the hull and turret and how good the mud treatment was on the lower hull & running gear. The weathering isn't excessive and the camoflage looks fairly good.
It looks good sitting next to the SdKfz 7/1 Flakvierling, which uses pretty much the same gun mount (with gun shields and chairs for the loaders attached). It also looks good sitting next to any of the Panzer IVs, seeing as they come from the same family. If you're a fan of WW2 German anti-aircraft artillery, go out and buy one right now!
I, for one, will be putting it back on the shelf very carefully in a few minutes and I will never remove the gun mount ever again
It is one of the original handful of Forces of Valor 1:32 I started out with a couple of short months ago. I managed to win three of the C&C Toy Emporium's auctions and received a Stug III Ausf G, Panzer IV Ausf F and this Wirbelwind for about $35 CDN each (including shipping), which I would call a steal!
Built upon a Panzer IV chassis (possibly an Ausf F), it carries a 20mm Flakvierling in an open-topped turret. It has all the expected stowage mounted on its fenders and inside the turret itself, and comes with two S.S. crewmen. One is seated in the weapon itself looking through the gun sight, the other is meant to be stood alongside the turret pointing upwards to what is probably bad news for the Germans in the area. What is great is that the trooper manning the gun actually has his hands fitted to the wheels that move the gun horizontally & vertically. The gun mount moves so that the guns can point nearly straight up. However, this makes the trooper manning the gun look silly because he's looking almost straight ahead. This means the whole thing only looks good if the guns are pointed into the direction that the other trooper is pointing in. As is the norm with Forces of Valor, the upper hull & turret are both of metal construction. The gun barrels, gun mounting, lower hull & running gear are of plastic construction.
Profile shot:
Looking down, you can see the details inside the turret and the open hatches up front for the radioman/bow gunner & driver:
The S.S. troopers look very good in the post that they were both made for. Details of the gun mount and shelf for spare magazines can also be seen. I had to use a bit of model glue to secure all 16 spare magazines in their shelves to the left & right of the gun. As always, Forces of Valor has included figures that have much better detail than those that they have released separately in the past:
Rear view. The muffler is a bit too red to look truly rusty and a nasty seam can be seen on the right half of it. The mudflaps have been battered and scratched up, and the unit symbol can be clearly see on the left. You can only see a bit of the mud treatment here:
Right side of the vehicle. You can clearly see the assorted tools and three spare track links. The crank starter for the engine is mounted next to the next on the front fender, but has been painted in place and is showing the original colour of the plastic underneath. There are other tools with the similar rushed paint job on the left side of the vehicle:
Turret without the gun installed. The wooden floor boards and ammo shelves can be clearly seen. I was rather pleased with the weld marks on the turret - it looks like the real thing!
The quad guns and figure. Two things about this gun mount: 1) the figure was an absolute pain in the arse to install. I had to use tweezers to spread his legs very delicately around the seat and it's a miracle that I didn't break any of the gun barrels or the sight mechanism. 2) the gun barrels are made of the lightest, most delicate plastic. Right after I took this picture, I dropped it and broke one of the gun barrels which has since been repaired with a lot of time and patience!
The bottom. As you can see, it received heavy mud treatment that looks all right. There are five screw holes keeping the upper & lower hull together, two screw holes for the mount and one big hole for the peg that keeps the turret prone when the whole thing is mounted on its base. Check out the suspension - again, it looks like the real deal.
Front view. Again, you can see the tactical symbol on the front right mudflap. The bow MG 34 can be seen, and it was much less deformed than the bow MGs that I've seen on most FoV Panzer IVs - especially the Ausf G that I have! It's bent downwards so much it looks like it needs a Viagra or two. Might fix that with some warm water in the future.
CONCLUSIONS
This is an altogether satisfactory release that I am glad I got my hands on. While I may be biased on account of the Wirbelwind being one of my favourite pieces of WW2 German armour, I recognize that it has some faults (delicate gun barrels, rushed paint job on some of the mounted tools, bright red muffler). However, the faults can be overlooked if you take into account how intricately detailed the gun mount is, how great the welds look on the hull and turret and how good the mud treatment was on the lower hull & running gear. The weathering isn't excessive and the camoflage looks fairly good.
It looks good sitting next to the SdKfz 7/1 Flakvierling, which uses pretty much the same gun mount (with gun shields and chairs for the loaders attached). It also looks good sitting next to any of the Panzer IVs, seeing as they come from the same family. If you're a fan of WW2 German anti-aircraft artillery, go out and buy one right now!
I, for one, will be putting it back on the shelf very carefully in a few minutes and I will never remove the gun mount ever again
