The set consists of 10 wheels in light cream resin for the 6 main truck wheels, 2 spares plus the 2 smaller trailer wheels and a small fret of 8 etched parts produced by ABER for the tyre inflation system fittings on the truck wheel rims. There are no instructions included with the set and they would have come in handy for the correct placement of the etched parts as they just don't go anywhere and fitting the resin wheels to the kits is not as straightforward as with other wheel sets unfortunately.
Resin wheels
Etched parts
The quality of the resin casting is superb with just some very small remnants of the casting blocks to be cleaned up from the tread with a few small air holes either side of the casting block and the small scar on the tread pattern can be hidden at ground contact with the remainder of the tread pattern being blemish free.
The detail on the main truck wheels and rims is very well done with well defined hubs, wheel nuts and rim contours as well the tyre valve stem along with excellent representations of the aggressive tread pattern which goes right around the shoulder onto the sidewall as it should but note that the wheels are handed in that the tread pattern is different for the left and right wheels.
The sidewall embossing includes the directional arrow as well as the manufacturers logo, the "Made in USSR" and the tyre specification data as well as fine rubber moulding lines for superb looking tyres and you should make sure you fit the wheels on the correct side of the model using the directional arrow as a guide as they would be on the real truck.
The detail on the separate trailer tyres also sees well defined tread pattern and simple tyre data on the sidewalls with just the resin film in the middle of the tyres to be easily removed with a #11 blade.
plus the additional etched parts for the tyre inflation system.
Missile trailer tyre and fitted to kit rim showing good fit.
The etched parts are cleanly defined with small bending lines where required but as mentioned these have to go in specific locations on the wheels and not just anywhere. On the rims there is small square fitting with the tyre valve stem one rim bolt away and after bending the etched part to shape following the direction of the engraved bending lines this is fitted between the central hub and over the valve stem on each wheel.
The fit is very snug between the hub and outer rim making for a good fit and a quick dab of thin super glue on the hub and rim will hold the part firmly in place. There should also be a small bolt head on the rim overlap if you want to add this for a final touch but the etched part does add excellent detail to the wheels.
also note the sidewall directional arrows indicating the tread pattern left and right
The fit to the Trumpeter kit hubs is not very straightforward and will required a little additional work which is a little unusual, and had me thinking was I fitting them to the right kits?
On the back of each resin wheel is a small raised pin but the kit wheel hub/brake drum also has a raised central section and the two don't really fit together easily. This central 'pin' on the kit hub has a hole down the middle and is designed to accept a small plastic pin trapped between the two kit wheel halves allowing the wheels to rotate if glued carefully.
To replicate this I drilled a small hole in the resin 'pin' and inserted a short length of rod to go into the same hole in the kit hubs which allows the wheels to attach more solidly than would be the case.
While adding the rod pin to the resin wheels be careful not to drill too far through the resin but you have the extended central hub on the outside so there shouldn't be any problems but take care in any case to drill just shallow holes enough to firmly seat the plastic rod pin.
Original wheel with small stub, the plastic rod pin added and the kit brake drum fitted. (left to right)
Once this pin was added to the wheels they fitting to the kit hubs without any further dramas but this fit issue is a little unusual seeing the resin wheels are designed for these kit?
The trailer tyres were straight replacements for the kit vinyl tyres and slip onto the kit hubs foe easier replacements.
Note: The main wheels here can also be used on later BTR-152 vehicles as they were based on the Zil-157 chassis and running gear.
Russian military truck wheels are renowned for their big aggressive tread patterns and these wheels captures that very well along with the etched parts for the tyre inflation systems results in excellent looking wheels that will add considerable to the Trumpeter kits appearance.
The only drawback is the additional work needed to fit the wheels as they don't just slip on as other resin wheels do but again the final appearance makes it all worthwhile.
Highly recommended 8.5/10
| ZiL-157 Variants/ SAM Sa-2 Guideline System in detail Special Museum Line No.9 Wings & Wheels Publications ISBN: 80-86416-36-4  |
Thanks
to Michael of AirConnection Canada
for the review set