Forgive me if this is common knowledge but the text says the tires are made of 'DS' with a logo and the same initials. What does 'DS' mean and what is it? In the photos it appears to look like resin tires. Cheers, Charles

Hi Charles As I understand it, this DS stands for Dragon Styrene, a grade of plastic that Dragon has used, mainly for tracks on some of their recent releases. Alan

Thanks for the explanation Alan. So it is styrene and not vinyl. Cheers, Charles

One is a spare to go in the compartment underneath the load bed. Chris "toadman" Hughes Toadman's Tank Pictures

On it being styrene or vinyl in its true classification I don't know to be honest. I've no direct experience of it. I think it has flexibility like vinyl, and some limited "memory" to it, as I believe when items like track are packed they are surrounded by packing to prevent squashing and mishaping, but you are able to glue it with normal modelling glue. I wonder why they didn't go for their usual method of multi layer sandwich to create the tyres/wheels. Maybe it's cost and this stuff can hold detail well like plastic but get over the restrictions of "normal plastic" mouldings. Also it does cancel out the other option, vinyl, like the dreaded Italeri tyres of old, or any for that matter, susceptible to cracking and brittleness with age, and attack from some of the more aggressive solvents in certain paints or washes modellers use unless properly sealed with a primer etc. Alan

IMO, one of the best innovations in the last few years has been DS (Dragon Styrene). Compared to vinyl it's in a different dimension. I'm delighted to see they're using this for the wheels, it MAY seem 'gimmicky' to some, but in reality, it holds detail well, can be glued using normal cement and and holds any kind of enamel undercoat well. It's worked well with M4 tracks (nice and flexible) and when they've used it on figure-heads it really is excelllent. So, using it for tires, is the next logical step.

For those of us who don't read the pictures do help and this looks like a very nice kit. Can't wait to get the DML and Trumpeter kits side by side for making a purchase decision. The use of DS for the tires is IMO a good use for this material. However I still don't like it for tracks, especially for track runs that sag. Thankfully they used the Magic Tracks for this kit. And now we wait for the blessed arrival at the LHS. P.S. Nit Pick Why didn't DML use black DS instead of sand color?

Well for all of Blogger boys lampooning of the Trumpeter competition regarding accuracy and price I noted with surprise that DML's trailerless example is $20 AUD dearer than the Trumpeter example in the same shop. I'm certain the DML one is a lot more accurate but if price is your thing then thats a big difference -25% increase over the Trumpeter one. Al

Jim, would you advise against acrylics?