German Pz.IV Wheel Set
Tristar Kit No. 35014
1:35 Scale
First Look Review by Terry Ashley

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The set consists of a whopping 518 parts moulded in a light tan plastic and provides detailed wheel and suspension components for every version of the Panzer IV from the Ausf.A to the J as well as the steel rimmed road wheels used on the Jagdpanzer and Brummbar. Included on the sprues are the final drive housings for the soon to be released Panzer IV D but all other parts relate the wheels and suspension.

The standard of moulding is excellent with crisp well defined details and only a very few pin marks evident which makes the initial cleanup very easy. You should take careful note of the different parts and it may be better not to remove the parts from the sprues until needed to avoid mixing up the parts and versions.

A breakdown of the components sees the following;

• 3 different road wheel designs with separate hub caps for Ausf.A-D, E-F, G-H and late H-J, plus the steel rimmed type.
  The road wheels feature excellent rib detail on the wheels with the small weld beads around the outer rim as well as separate rubber tyre sections which have the “Continental” and size data embossing included. The separate hub caps allow the different wheel combinations to be assembled for whatever version they are being used on. The steel rimmed wheels are made up of six parts each to get good detail definition on the final wheel.
  
  
  
  
• 2 styles of bogie mounting brackets for Ausf.A-J and late J. with 2 types of suspension damper and end caps on the suspension units.
  The different bogie types have the revised number of retaining bolts with the late J bogie having two less bolts on the top.
  
• 3 types of bogie mount caps. You have to look very closely to see the differences here and careful checking of your references will determine which style is appropriate for the model you are building?
  
• 5 differtent style return rollers with the initial rubber roller and 4 variations of the steel return roller.
  The rubber roller includes the “Continental” embossing with the subtle differences in the steel rollers captured well.
  
• Fully workable suspension bogies.

Assembly of the bogie units is very quick and straightforward with the spring unit being glued into the main axle mount and the appropriate end cap added for whichever version you are building.

The main axle mount and spring is then slipped over the larger locating pin on the bogie mounting and the smaller inner axle mounting slipped over the smaller locating pin. The outer smaller axle mount is then glued with a small dab of glue to the inner axle mount and the round bogie cap is attached and it's all done.

The assembled bogie unit articulates very well and will allow the model to be shown on rough ground very easily.

The suspension mounting brackets are designed to be used on either the Dragon or Tamiya Panzer IV and derivative kits with the instructions referring to these as "D" Company and "T" Company. There are locating pins on the back of each bogie unit for both kits and you simply cut off the pin not required depending on the target kit.

But watch the instructions as they show the pins to be cut off reversed with the pins to be removed for the Tamiya kit are actually for the Dragon kits and visa vera.

The instructions consist of exploded view drawings on the back of the box but some of the parts numbers are incorrectly shown and a small amended sheet is included in the box with the right numbers so take note of this.

Conclusion:
This is a superb wheel/suspension set for the Panzer IV family that will allow you to detail any version. The inclusion of the separate rubber tyre sections is a real bonus and will make painting the wheels very simple. The attention to detail is excellent with even the smallest variation being catered for and of course the working bogies are a final bonus.

Highly recommended to improve any Panzer IV kit currently available and the full PZ.IV D kit will be something with this level of detail carried through to the full kit.

See the review of the full Panzer IV Ausf.D kit #35015
See the review of the full Panzer IV Ausf.C kit #35017

Page created 8 June 2005