Inside the Box

Legend Productions’ M60 Tank Road Wheel Set is a simple, 42-piece, resin compliment to allow the modeler options for replacing road wheels on any Israeli Defense Force Maga’ch 6b Gal, 6b Gal Batash, 7a and 7c; or US M60 or M48 Main Battle Tanks.

Tightly packed inside its shipping container, this Legend Productions Set is decently cast in cream-colored resin. Representing the steel wheels equipping US M60 and M48 MBT’s, the renderings are sharp, with fine undercutting around the inside of the Road Wheel. The two Road Wheel halves fit snugly together and there was no sign of serious warping, but some minor air bubbles were on the parts in my review sample. The fourteen Bolt Hubs are cast separately, though not in as sharp detail register as the Wheels themselves – but acceptable as presented. All the Road Wheels are cast with generous, but relatively thin, resin casting plugs that shouldn’t cause a problem in removal and cleaning up for use on your model miniature. The modeler will encounter a small amount of flash to remove from the centers of the outer Road Wheels, and some more dedicated removal of excess resin from the inner Road Wheels prior to slipping them over the Suspension Arm axles on the model kit – a basic construction task within the abilities of anyone familiar with putting together resin parts. When removing the resin pour plugs from the Road Wheels, I trimmed them away and cleaned up the rubber portion of the Wheel with a drum sander in my Dremel tool. This aided in both quickly cleaning up the part and kept it round.

In my review example, one of the inner Road Wheels’ casting was off – needing to be sanded true before use. I received 13 inner Road Wheels and 15 outer Road Wheels – where I believe the Set intends to provide the modeler with 14 inner and outer Road Wheel combinations.

Reasons for the Ratings

Packaging – All kit contents were zip-lock bagged and sit tightly inside the cardboard shipping container. There was no room for the contents to jostle around and get damaged during shipment.

Instruction Sheets – None offered, but none needed as the modeler can easily figure out how to assemble and attach the parts to their miniature during assembly. The photo on the shipping box is sufficient to illustrate how the parts come together.

Quality of Parts – The quality of the parts overall is good. In addition to the mismatched number of inner and outer Road Wheels and other observations I mention above, a couple of the outer Road Wheel castings are missing a bolt head calling for replacement. The main value of this Set isn’t found in a dramatic improvement in detail quality over the plastic kit parts, as much as providing the modeler an option to mix Road Wheel types (steel and aluminum) on their M60/M48 or IDF miniatures as is seen in some in-service photo documentation.

The profile of the rubber Road Wheel is slightly narrower in this Set as compared to the aluminum Road Wheels provided in the ESCI/ERTL (Italeri) model kits. The outer diameter matches up well, so the narrower tread difference shouldn’t be too apparent in the finished miniature. When assembled, the space between the Road Wheels for the Guide Horns of the tracks to pass through is slightly larger in this Set as compared to the ESCI/ERTL (Italeri) model kit parts. This is a good thing when retrofitting AFV Club individual track links to your model miniature however.

Flash removal is minor and I counted only three air bubbles on the inside hubs of the inner Road Wheels – in locations not highly visible in the end assembly. In comparing the Legend Productions Road Wheels to parts from Academy M48, ESCI/ERTL (Italeri) M60, and Tamiya M48 and M60 parts, I find the details cast into the Legend parts softer overall and the bolts inside the Road Wheels smaller than on the plastic parts in all except the Tamiya M60 aluminum Road Wheels. All of the Road Wheels compare favorably with each other in respect to outside diameter, except for the Academy M48 with the poly-vinyl rubber ring that goes on the Road Wheel. Their wheel is slightly wider in outside diameter due to the thickness of the rubber ring. The Legend Productions Road Wheels look good with both the ESCI/ERTL (Italeri) and Tamiya M60 aluminum Wheels - which is likely the goal of using this set for most modelers.

Conclusions

This is a recommended Set for modelers building these AFV subjects, and provides enough parts to completely change out the Road Wheels and Idler Wheels in your project. When mixing types, you will have enough left over for spares - though you will want to sand away the bolt detail inside the hubs. Though my review sample had some issues to be dealt with before incorporating them into a modeling project, I don’t believe all sets share the same problems. Modelers of all skill levels can incorporate this product into their projects with good result. These replacement parts fit to Academy M60 series model kits, and are designed with the poly-cap system in mind. With some careful cleanup and slightly smaller opening of the holes for the axles, the modeler can fix these to ESCI/ERTL (Italeri) M60 series model kits as well.

Special thanks go out to Ian Hanratty of Friendship Models for providing this review sample to Armorama.