Hi

I am about to embark on a Italeri's Flafpanzer Ostwind which will be my first italeri kit. Having looked over the instructions, I noted that the plans for the sprues have numerous greyed out areas which, according to the instruction refer to parts that are not used.
Could someone please explain what these parts are doing there if they are not for use? Are they extras/spares?

TIA

David

Every time a new kit is released.... not all sprues are new molds. The Ostwinds drive & hull etc belong to the panzer family and they just use those already made sprues and then a few new ones. Then there are parts not needed for this particular model on the older sprues. Its possible to not mold these but its just as cheap to "leave as is" and modellers generally appreciate little extras.
Other times, like in Tamiyas M4 early, they have both sets of wheels ... spoked and pressed. One set may not be used, but the modeller has a choice. And also a spare set of wheels or can even mix them up for that extra look.
When a totally new kit is released, and there are unused extras its a sign that these parts will be used for a later planned similar model.
At the end of the day ... any extras you get you should save ... you never know when they might come in handy ... if nothing else its really cool (?) to say you added part X from your spare box.... all the good modellers do that #:-)

Hi David,

Italeri use the same sprue set for different models. But different models have some common parts and some differing parts. The Ostwind kit has the main parts of the PzkfwIV kit, the gun parts from the Flak43 kit and then an extra sprue for the Ostwind armor parts.

This is not an uncommon practice, Dragon/Dml and Tamiya also do this.

Kris

You can do a good model also whitout use all the parts. If you want a lot of external object can be make by your self, there are more realistic

A good example of this is the Academy M3 Stuarts. Both kits have a .50 cal, but neither variant ever mounted one. Can we expect a turretless scout car down the line, rendering Verlinden's conversion obsolete?