1:72 Standard-Flakpanzer E-50/37 Flakvierling “Ostwind IV” (Sd.Kfz. 191/6), 1946

[Dizzyfugu]

...and the last one for the moment, another German behemoth SPAAG, totally fictional, though. 

The kit and its assembly:
This  SPAAG results from the combination of elements that were not supposed to be mated. The basis was the (literally) massive turret, a fantasy resin conversion set from ModelTrans/Silesian Models for ModelCollect's 1:72 E-100 kit, to turn it into a massive SPAAGs with four guns – apparently 55 mm "Gerät 58" weapons (BTW, the barrels are exact copies of the guns from the Trumpeter E-75 SPAAG kit).


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


However, I had doubt about "wasting" a huge and valuable E-100 chassis on an armored SPAAG, and so I added a personal twist to make the resulting vehicle more credible. First the armament was reduced from 55 mm guns to just 37 mm. This was done with a critical look at the potential ammunition load, which is bulky and heavy, and it has to be stored somewhere. 37 mm rounds take up considerably less space than 55 mm rounds, and four guns on automatic fire certainly "process" a lot of ammunition in a short time, so that I thought that a bigger supply was more valuable than a few seconds with bigger guns.
Another factor was the OOB barrels: molded in resin, they came with some small bubbles around the muzzles and two of them were slightly bent. Nothing that could not have been mended, but then I decided to order four 1:72 37 mm metal gun barrels as replacements (from Akkura in Poland), and I think that this was a good move, even though the SPAAG looks less spectacular with them.

Looking for a different chassis I matched the huge resin turret with an E-50/75 hull from a Trumpeter kit, and it worked (just so) in length and width. While the turret looks top-heavy, it would not be as heavily armored as a battle tank turret, and the heavy magazines could be placed low in the hull with belt feeds to the guns as a compensation. However, turret, weapons and a full ammunition supply would still be a heavy affair!

To adapt the ModelTrans turret to the E-50/75 hull I just had to scratch a suitable adapter and find a proper position that would leave the driver/radio operator hatches free. The Trumpeter E-50/75 chassis itself was basically built OOB, and it is a very straightforward kit. A personal tuning measure became different road wheels, though. They were transplanted from a Hasegawa Tiger I, have the same diameter as the E-50/75's standard wheels, and they fit well onto the attachment points on the hull. Their plain and simple design subtly changes the SPAAGs overall look. Additionally, some details on the turret like an extra periscope, an armored blower fairing and scratched, free-standing lugs were added. The tube-shaped container for replacement barrels was part of the ModelTrans conversion set.

To my surprise, this must have been an early boxing of this kit, with slightly different molds and parts than more recent boxings. The tracks were different, too: they were molded in softer, black material instead of the more recent tracks in a relative stiff, sandy yellow stuff. This made assembly and painting of these vital parts easier.


Painting and markings:
This time I did not go for a scheme in "Hinterhalt" colors, but rather adapted a typical German three-tone scheme to my personal late WWII colors that I have already used on other fictional German vehicles: Dunkelgelb (RAL 7028), Helloliv (RAL 7003, very similar to RLM 02), and Schwarzgrau (RAL 7021).

The paint scheme was built up like a typical tank would have been camouflaged: an all-over factory finish in Dunkelgelb (Tamiya TS-3 from the rattle can), with the other two tones added on top of that in the field with whatever tools at hand. Revell 45 and Humbrol 67 were consequently applied with a flat, dry brush, in a rather simple and one-dimensional pattern. Breaking the rule to leave the wheels free from any camouflage pattern, I gave them this time various mottles in the two contrast tones.


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


After basic painting I was skeptical about the outcome, because there was only little contrast between the light shades. However, after the model had received an overall washing with a mix of black ink and sone brown acrylic artist paint, this somehow improved and I stuck to it.
The steel rims were painted with Revell 91 (Iron). The black vinyl track was treated with dark grey and red brown acrylic paint, plus some dry-brushing with medium grey.
Decals are minimal, with small Balkenkreuz markings on the hull and a tactical code on the turret flanks, all in simple white.

The decals were protected with a thin coat of varnish and then the hull was dry-brushed with khaki drab (Humbrol 72) and light grey (Revell 75). Watercolors were used to add some rust stains and dust residues around the lower hull and recessed all around the SPAAG. And after a final coat with matt acrylic varnish some grey-brown mineral pigments were dusted into the track and the running gear.


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


More hopefully coming soon. 

[Wardukw]

Ok Thomas ..this is very different and ya know ugly as hell but im liking this big time..ya know me ..i like the weird and wonderful.
I agree with the change of barrel sizes..37mm work better with your choice of chassis..the 55mm would work beautifully with the E100 hull dew to ro the increase in size..its a balance thing.
Ascetics are very important to me..things have to balance and this now does..lovely 😁
The painting is coming along very nicely..the finished model is gonna lòok very cool matey 

Phill

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, the thing has been finished in the meantime - and it looks (to me) like a pumped-up Shilka w/o radar dish!

[Dizzyfugu]

1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Some background:
The "Entwicklung" tank series (= "development"), more commonly known as the E-Series, was a late-World War II attempt by Germany to produce a standardized series of tank designs. There were to be six standard designs in different weight classes, from which several specialized variants were to be developed. This intended to reverse the trend of extremely complex tank designs that had resulted in poor production rates and mechanical unreliability.

The E-series designs were simpler, cheaper to produce and more efficient than their predecessors; however, their design offered only modest improvements in armor and firepower over the designs they were intended to replace, such as the Jagdpanzer 38(t), Panther Ausf. G or Tiger II. However, the resulting high degree of standardization of German armored vehicles would also have made logistics and maintenance easier. Indeed, nearly all E-series vehicles — up through and including the E-75 — were intended to use what were essentially the Tiger II's 80 cm (31½ in) diameter, steel-rimmed road wheels for their suspension, meant to overlap each other (as on the later production Tiger I-E and Panther designs that also used them), even though in a highly simplified fashion. For instance, while the E-50/75's running gear resembled outwardly the Tiger II's, the latter's torsion bar suspension, which necessitated a complex hull with many openings, was replaced by very compact conical spring coil packages that each held a pair of interleaved road wheels – with the benefit that all suspension elements remained outside of the hull. This considerably simplified production and saved time as well as scarce material.

Focus of initial chassis and combat vehicle development was the E-50/75 Standardpanzer, designed by Adler. These were two mostly identical vehicles and only differed in armor thickness, overall weight and running gear design to cope with the different weights. While the E-50 was the standardized replacement for the medium PzKpfw. V "Panther" and the last operational PzKpfw. VI "Tiger", with an operational weight of around 50 tons, the E-75 was intended to become the standard heavy tank in the 70 ton class, as a replacement for the Tiger II battle tank and the Jagdtiger SPG. They were to share many components, including the same Maybach HL 234 engine with up to 900 hp output and the drivetrain, as well as running gear elements and almost all peripheral equipment. Both E-50 and E-75 were built on the same production lines for ease of manufacture.


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


This universal tank chassis would, beyond the primary use for battle tanks, also become the basis for a wide range of specialized support vehicles like self-propelled artillery, assault guns, tank hunters and anti-aircraft weapon carriers, which would gradually replace and standardize the great variety of former support vehicles, dramatically optimizing maintenance and logistics.
The E-50/75 SPAAG sub-family itself was quite diversified and comprised a wide range of vehicles that mainly carried different turrets with the respective weaponry as well as air space surveillance, targeting and command equipment. The range of armament included not only guns of various calibers for short, medium and long range in armored and mostly fully enclosed turrets. There were furthermore armored launch ramps for anti-aircraft missiles, including the guided "Rheintochter", "Wasserfall" or "Enzian" SAMs as well as batteries with unguided "Taifun" anti-aircraft missiles.

The most important vehicle among this new family was the Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/55mm, even though its development was delayed and protracted. In May 1943, Oberleutnant Dipl. Ing von Glatter-Götz, responding to the orders of Inspectorate 6, initiated the development of a new series of Flakpanzers based on already existing chassis. The Panzer I and II were outdated or used for other purposes. The Panzer III tank chassis was earmarked for the production of the StuG III and thus not available. The Panzer IV and the Panzer V Panther were considered next. The Panzer IV tank chassis was already in use for several German modifications, so it was decided to use it for the Flakpanzer program, eventually leading to the light "Kugelblitz" SPAAG. The Panzer V Panther was considered in case even the Panzer IV chassis proved to be inadequate for the task, as an interim chassis for new turrets until the new tank generation, the "Einheitspanzer" or "E-Serie", had become available. This would only happen in late 1945, though.

In the meantime several SPAAG proposals were made on the Panther basis with anti-aircraft weapons like the 37 mm Flak 37 and the newly developed Flak M 42, the Luftwaffe's 30 mm MK 103 machine cannon, a new medium 55 mm autocannon and the heavy 88 mm Flak 41 and 43 guns. All were to be mounted in a fully closed turret on a medium to heavy tank chassis, which were later to be carried by the universal E-50/75 chassis. One of these vehicle development lines was the "Ostwind" family of SPAAGs, which inherited their name through their use of a 37 mm gun as primary weapon. The Ostwind I with a single Flak 37 in an open turret was based on the Panzer IV chassis as an alternative to the Wirbelwind SPAAG with a 20mm Flakvierling (with four MG 151/20 aircraft guns). While it had better range and firepower than the Wirbelwind, the Ostwind lacked weight of fire and was only a stopgap solution.
The Ostwind II was only marginally better. It was based on the bigger Panzer V Panther and introduced a second Flak 37, what greatly improved effectiveness against fast and low-flying targets. But the weapons were still carried in an open-topped turret that offered only little protection for the drew against enemy fire and climatic effects, and the vehicle was only a stopgap solution while next-generation SPAAGs were under development.
This new era arrived with the Ostwind III, which was actually a single armament version for the newly developed and fully enclosed "Coelian" turret, also known as "Flakpanzer 341" before it entered service. This new turret was a great improvement and had been tailored for the Panther chassis, but it was also compatible with the new E-50 chassis. This vehicle was armed with the new Gerät 341 (a.k.a. Flak 341), a twin-37 mm autocannon that combined two modern Flak M 42 guns in a mutual mount. Through the delayed E-50/75 production, however, the Ostwind III became another stopgap solution, and when E-50 hulls became available in sufficient numbers the compact Coelian turret was eventually supplanted by the more spacious Rheinmetall Einheits-Flakturm that could carry the whole range of German late 1944 anti-aircraft guns, including the important 88 mm Flak.


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The last Ostwind family member that entered production and service before the end of the war, the Ostwind IV, arrived very late, in early 1946. It was based on another universal turret development, this time designed and produced by Adler, which followed the general outlines of the earlier Rheinmetall turret. It was, however, considerably larger and heavier, intended to carry heavy anti-aircraft weapons like the newly developed 105 mm Flak 45 gun as well as the heavy 128 mm Flak 40, both in a fully enclosed, armored turret that could withstand frontal fire from medium tanks and hits from RPGs with a frontal armor of 80 mm (3.2 in). The Adler turret was even spacious enough to carry a quadruple 55 mm autocannon mount, together with the heavy weapon's ammunition supply and its crew.
Due to its size and bulk the new turret necessitated a ring mount with a bigger diameter than before, so that the Adler turret could only be carried by the new E-50/75 and the large E-100 chassis. Since these were in high demand for production of battle tanks, SPAAG production numbers on these bases remained low and the vehicles came too late to make any significant impact.

The Ostwind IV filled a specific role in the Germany army's aerial defense. Due its weight and bulk, the Ostwind IV was not intended to become part of the Fla-Züge units that protected the battle tank groups. It was rather earmarked for short- to mid-range defense of vital locations, supplementing medium- and long-range weapons as a last line of defense. To ensure a high first-hit probability (and assuming that potential targets had escaped the first aerial defense line) the Ostwind IV was armed with a pair of Flak 341 autocannons in a stacked twin mount, what effectively meant that if was armed with four 37 mm guns. In service, this arrangement was unofficially called the "Flakvierling 341", even though this was technically not correct.

The Flak 341's base, the 37 mm Flak M 42, had been developed from the 37 mm SK C / 30 anti-aircraft gun, a light field gun that only fired single shots. To increase the rate of fire, the ammunition feed was changed to clips with 6-shot magazines, which enabled a rate of ~160 rounds / minute. V0 was 872 m/sec, maximum horizontal range 6.600 m and the maximum effective altitude was 4.900 m. Due to bottlenecks in the war economy, however, production numbers of the Flak M 42 initially remained low, and it was not before 1944 that significant numbers reached the German Flakabteilungen. The Flak M 42 was produced in a single mount that weighed 1,350 kg, primarily as a mobile field weapon or mounted on unarmored vehicles, and in a double mount for the installation on ships or in armored vehicles, weighing 1,750 kg.


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The latter twin weapon eventually evolved into the 37 mm Flak 341. Longer barrels increased range and muzzle velocity, and for the use in an SPAAG the weapon received a belt feed so that the weapon could fire continuously and one of the field guns' two loaders could be omitted. This modification also enabled the engineers to fully separate the weapon from the crew in a turret, so that noise and fumes exposure was greatly reduced. In the Ostwind IV, the Flak 341 pair had a combined continuous rate of fire of more than 600 rounds / min. (short bursts of up to 1.000 rounds / min. were possible), resulting in a weight of fire of 400 kg (880 lb) /min. and more.
A total supply of 1.000 rounds was carried in the SPAAGs four separate magazines, typically HE rounds with a self-destruction timer. The ammunition belts could not be switched, but it was, however, possible to access the guns from the crew compartment and insert single rounds of other types into the breeches. Each SPAAGs typically carried a small extra stock of 37 mm armor-piercing rounds for self-defense, even though the small caliber did not offer a convincing anti-tank performance, esp. against battle tanks. At 1.000m, an armored steel plate angle 30 degrees from the horizontal with a thickness of 24 mm could be penetrated, or a similar vertical plate of 48 mm. This was hardly a match for the omnipresent Allied T-34 or M4 Sherman tanks, but the Ostwind IV was hardly expected to meet them in a direct confrontation.

Target acquisition and fire control was facilitated through the combination of a visual coincidence range finder and an integrated analogue targeting computer, a more compact variant of the Kommandogerät (KDO) 40. This device was operated by a dedicated crew member who assisted both gunner and commander in the turret's rear section. Fixed target reading was done with the help of a rangefinder with an optical bar with a span of 240 cm (95 in), with an acquisition range on targets from 2,000 to 12,000 m. Aerial courses could be recorded at all levels of flight and at a slant range between 2,500 and 11,000 m.

The KDO 40 replaced the traditional gun scope. Due to the weapon's weight and bulk, all weapon orientation was carried out by means of hydraulic motors via a control column that were slaved to the Kommandogerät, so that aiming and firing was semi-automatized. The gunner used the Telemeter as an optical scope to find and pinpoint the target, and the device translated this, together with additional information like range, temperature or wind shear, into electrical input for the guns' electro-hydraulic controls that automatically corrected the weapon's orientation and triggered them with an appropriate lead at an ideal moment. This automatized process made especially the acquisition of new targets easier and sped the whole re-targeting process up.

Since an SPAAG would not need the massive frontal armor of a battle tank, the hull from the lighter E-50 was used, but instead of the E-50 MBT's running gear with six steel wheels per side, the Ostwind IV used the heavier E-75's running gear with eight wheels per side, a stiffened suspension and wider tracks, effectively creating a hybrid E-50/75 chassis. This measure was taken to better distribute the vehicle's overall weight of more than 70 tons and stabilize it while moving and firing. In this form the new vehicle received the official designation Sd.Kfz. 191/6, even though "Ostwind IV" was more common.

Due to the dire war situation, the Ostwind IV's production rate was low, only about thirty SPAAGs were finished before the end of hostilities. The first vehicles reached the frontline units in May 1946, and they were mostly assigned to Flakregimenter (anti-aircraft gun units) in central Germany, where they were not only deployed for aerial point defense, they were also used with devastating effects against lightly armored ground targets.


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Specifications:
    Crew: Six (commander, gunner, Telemeter operator, loader, driver, radio operator)
    Weight: 72.6 tonnes (80 short tons)
    Length: 7.27 m (23 ft 10 ¾ in)
    Width: 3.88 m (12 ft 9 in)
    Height 3.92 m (12 ft 11½ in)
    Ground clearance: 495 to 510 mm (1 ft 7.5 in to 1 ft 8.1 in)
    Suspension: Conical spring
    Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)

Armor:
    30 – 80 mm (1.2 – 3.2 in)

Performance:
    Speed
      - Maximum, road: 44 km/h (27.3 mph)
      - Sustained, road: 38 km/h (24 mph)
      - Cross country: 15 to 20 km/h (9.3 to 12.4 mph)
     Operational range: 160 km (99 miles)
     Power/weight: 12,4 PS/tonne (11 hp/ton)

Engine:
    V-12 Maybach HL 234 gasoline engine with 900 PS (885 hp/650 kW)

Transmission:
    ZF AK 7-200 with 7 forward 1 reverse gears

Armament:
    4× 3,7 cm (1.5 in) Flak 341 L/77 with 250 RPG




1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50/37 mm Flakvierling "Ostwind IV" (Sd.Kfz. 191/6); vehicle ,124' of the 12. Flakdivision, Flakregiment 90, Deutsches Heer; Leipzig (Saxonia, Germany), summer 1946 (What-if/modified Modeltrans turret on Trumpeter chassis) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The (fictional) Ostwind IV looks a bit odd, like a bloated ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" SPAAG w/o radar set, with a huge turret on a barely adequate chassis and armed with relatively small guns. But it's worth to remember that this SPAAG is about rate and weight of fire at close range, and considering the theoretical performance of this weapon combo, this would have been a serious threat for low-flying aircraft. The effect on unarmored ground targets must also have been devastating. And, after all, it's whifworld.
The modified wheels are a nice (but subtle) detail that set this E-75 hull apart from its standard brethren, and the livery concept turned out better than initially expected. I feel inclined to procure another conversion resin turret, and use it as intended on an E-100 chassis together with four 55 mm guns. Should look impressive.