Jay Galbierz sends us news of Tank Workshop''s latest release; a corrected set of wheels for Trumpeters MAZ-537G intermediate w/ MAZ/ChMZAP Semi-trailer.




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Thanks!

that is great news, th Panzershop resin ones are too flat, these look correct. I hope someone will make a nice PE set for the kit as well

Just ordered a complete set and a tractor set since these wheels looks the same on the SCUD!!!
products as i like to see available!!

They *are* the same. Maybe Jay at Tank Workshop can confirm. Story as I've pieced it together is that a Belgian company called Dreamweaver used to make a really nice set of wheels for the SCUD TEL from Dragon in resin that were very hard to get hold of because the guy stopped making them. It's my understanding that Jacques Duquette at SAM acquired the masters from Dreamweaver, and arranged for them to end up in in the hands of a company that could handle the sort of volume that might be required. Tank Workshop's that sort of company.

Jay, Jacques, care to comment?

Sorta Close Al,

Neither I nor SAAM ever got the molds...it was another small figure company in Mankato MN. But I knew the proprietors very well until they sold out a few years ago.

Anyhow, they got the molds, I found out, and encouraged them to either make the whole run available or else to sell them to someone who would. Looks like TW is the final owner? However, these look to be newly mastered from CAD fiels, or so it is said. I think they are new masters.

SCUD tires can be these OR like the ones that Trumpeter will be releasing with their new MAZ based kits.

Regardless, they look a LOT better than the ones in the Trumpeter box, if the tread pattern bothers you.

I am puting my money where my wouth is and ordering some right now, I will do a review when they arrive. $45 is a bit steep... I know, I know...

Hi Guys,
These wheels are brand new. These wheels were developed using (CAD) for Tank Workshop. We used available information to develop these wheels. Then we had the masters done by Print-a-Part and, the rest of the molds and production masters done by yours truly. We were never contacted by Dreamweaver about their molds or masters. In fact I didn't even know there were any other MAZ wheels out there.....except for Panzer Shops. So I hope this clears up the speculation about these wheels. If anyone has any questions or comments don't hesitate to contact me.

Jay Galbierz

Dreamweaver was a Belgian company that made replacement wheels for Dragon's SCUD-B kit. They were pretty good wheels, a little pricey but better than the DML pieces. Dreamweaver went OOB back in 2003 or so? Anyhow, their molds were bought up by The Lost Battalion out of Mankato, MN. They went to a MMSI (Military Miniatures Society of Illinois) show as a vendor and I spoke with the owners and encouraged them to get the wheels back out on the market. Eventually, they sold off the Dreamweaver line to another company in Nebraska or Kansas or...? I have not yet seen the wheel sets resurface. History class over.

Anyhow, Jay, the wheels look very nice on teh computer screen. I look forward to reviewing them and maybe getting them on my MAZ before next weeks MMSI show.

So you guys used print-a-part...what did you think of that? I would assume that there is still a fair amount of clean-up involved as well as smoothing out the parts. Do you have plans for any new wheel sets? BTR-70/80 upsized wheels would be really nice.

Jay mentioned something in passing that caught my interesting - the production of the masters by Print-A-Part. Jay, do you reckon we're going to see more resin parts done like this in future?

It's a very elegant way of working - do it all in CAD/CAM, send the STL file to somebody with a 3D printer, get the master back, start producing parts. I'd also imagine figure makers could go for this in a big way - there used to be a clean path from e-fronitier's Poser to STL, and once your data is in STL...

Actually, if 3D printers ever become affordable - I doubt they'll ever be cheap enough for individual ownership we could start to see resin parts where the ease of mastering makes the break-even point (in terms of units sold) much lower, even if the actual parts cost a bit more. To say nothing of mastering bigger stuff.

Al

Addendumdum: On seeing Jacques follow-up, I'm also curious as to how clean the results are - the path from Poser to STL sent the results through a printing bureau that would either produce sculptures from Posed figures, which looked very clean and including undercuts that just can't be done using conventional techniques, and also rather attractive clear perspex blocks with the "sculpture" created using micro bubbles in the perspex. Both nice for tropiies - it's possible that they cleaned up the sculptures, but I don't see how they *could* clean up the "anti-sculptures".

Hi Guys,
To answer your question about the masters from Print-a-Part. The masters were well done with very minimal clean up. I have read about the layered look that the part has from the layers of resin being printed.These had them but they were so fine just a basic clean up with a scotch bright pad eliminated most of them. These really couldn't be seen without the help of a magnifying glass. As far as using print-a-part for future masters......heck yeah!! My belief is that CAD will greatly enhance what us small guys can do and with the ability to rapidly develop the master will open a whole new book on what can be done. It's getting harder and harder to find guys to make masters. I think it will be a lot easier to find armor modelers with CAD experience.....or they find me....but this is just my 2 cents. Take care.

Jay

Dear Jay
I have ordered my set and await them eagerly, and was very impressed with the speed that you dispatched my order!
Any chance of doing a set of tractor wheels with the other common tread pattern? Hope so because then I could buy a set of those too!
Best Wishes
Tim Roberts
UK

Just received my sets, the quality ROCKS , great product that worth the price.

I haven't any link with TWS and i paid mine but when so great product are on the market it must be said.

They are a vast improvement over the kit wheels....and nicley cast,too!
however, the problem with the height/space between the kit and the wheels iseems a bit too tight to me..
not a problem with the Tankworkshop wheels..Trumpeter made the distance between the cab and wheels a bit too narrow.
I'm trying to figure out the proper spacing,which will make it sit a bit more realistically..the new wheels look great but a bit too close to the cab.

Nick

I am really happy with my set!!

Just got done submitting my review of the wheels. Hopefully it will be up soon.