COBI Flakpanzer IV Ostwind Set 2690

COBI's Flakpanzer IV Ostwind is a 1:28 model of the German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun on the Panzer IV chassis, built from 1,190 blocks, with one crew figure.

One gun instead of four

The Ostwind was the successor to the Wirbelwind, and at first sight a step backwards: where the Wirbelwind carried four 2 cm cannon, the Ostwind carried a single gun. But that gun was a 3.7 cm Flak 43, and by 1944 German crews had found that 2 cm shells were not powerful enough to bring down the heavily built Allied ground-attack aircraft reliably. The larger gun had more range and hit much harder, and it needed fewer men to serve it.

An order for 100 was placed in August 1944. How many were actually completed is not known exactly; the figures in the sources range from a handful to around 44, most of them converted from existing Panzer IVs at Ostbau in Sagan, Silesia, between December 1944 and March 1945.

In the COBI range

Set 2593 is the Wirbelwind at this 1:28 scale, and set 2548 the Wirbelwind at a smaller scale.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,190 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:28 · Age: 9+