¹⁄35

Def.Model have been busy and have announced the availability of several new sagged wheel sets. Meng’s Cougar 6x6 MRAP, AFV Club’s M38A1 Truck (aka Jeep), Trumpeter’s BTR-40 APC and GAZ-66, and Dragon’s Saladin all get Def.Model resin sagged wheels, including the spares, etch parts where appropriate and paint masks.

Def.Model introduced several wheel sets to their range at the end of May. The sets all replace the entire wheel and tyre unit from the original kit and include the spare wheel or wheels as necessary, two part self-adhesive paint masks, as well as some etched metal in the GAZ-66 set. In the UK, Inside the Armour are the exclusive stockists for Def.Models and it is their prices I’ve included after each item.

DW35074 Cougar US 6x6 MRAP Wheel Set – Sagged for 1/35 Meng kit. This set includes eight resin pieces, the six road wheels plus the two spares. Detail on the Michelin X tyre walls is very clear, and the bolt heads look to be a bit chunkier and with more definition than the original kit item. The Meng kit tyres are soft black plastic, so this resin set should be welcome to those with a dislike of that material. (£26)

DW35075 M38A1 US Army ¼ Utility Truck Wheel Set – Sagged for AFV Club and Skybow kits. Def.Model’s publicity shot shows that the tyres are slightly smaller than the AFV Club originals, whether that’s intended to be a correction, or just an alternative tyre size I cannot say. The spare wheel is included, and Def.Model’s photo shows that the moulding gate does not interrupt the tread pattern. Again, a paint mask is included. (£12)

DW35077 GAZ-66 Russian 4x4 Light Military Truck Wheel Set – Sagged for Trumpeter kit. This set has the four road wheels plus the spare, the masking sheet as well as a photo etched metal sheet to provide the fine ring detail for two of the wheel hubs (I think the front wheels, though some photos seem to show it on both…) Tyres include all appropriate moulded detail including direction arrow etc. Def.Model’s photo makes the point that this wheel is 3.1cm diameter, which appears to be considerably smaller than Trumpeter’s vinyl wheel – this time it’s not just the sag that makes the top of the tyre lower than the original. (£14)

DW35076 BTR-40 Russian Armoured Personnel Carrier Wheel Set – Sagged for Trumpeter kit. Four road wheels and a spare, plus the paint mask in this kit. The casting blocks are all individually lettered so that there’s no chance of mixing up the different front and rear hubs. (£14)

DW35079 Saladin British Armoured Car Mk.2 Wheel Set – Sagged for Dragon kit. This is the only one of these sets not to have a spare (you don’t need one), so just six resin parts here, plus the paint mask. Tyres appear to offer considerably different detail to the DS material tyres provided by Dragon both on the tread and the walls; I will leave it to any expert that cares to comment on whether this is in any sense a correction to the Dragon items or an alternative type of tyre that was used. Def.Model provide some guidance on trimming down the end of the axle mount in order to obtain a correct fit. (£18)