introduction

Soft-skin modelers were treated to a new vehicle kit last year with the release of the Zvezda L4500A kit, making many of us extremely happy, especially those who build German subjects. Since its release I haven't heard too many complaints about accuracy or fit problems, but there certainly have been complaints about the appearance of the tires in the kit.

Plus Models of the Czech Republic have recently released a set of replacement wheels for this kit, at what I perceive to be a rather affordable price of $15.00 US dollars.

review

When compared directly to the kits wheels, it's easy to see that the tread pattern is excellent, and well defined. I found the pour plugs quite easy to remove, by simply scoring with the back edge of a #11 Exacto blade on each side then simply snapping the pour plug off.

As you can see this method will still leave a little of the resin filling the center tread partly around the tire. I cleaned this area up with firstly a light sanding, then careful scoring with the blade edge of a #11 blade. After scoring I carefully deepened the score line with my handy dandy razor blade type razor saw, then did a little widening of that with careful scraping with the tip of the #11 blade. Total time was about 10 minutes to clean up one tire tread. This could possibly be simplified even more with using a little wider, more normal type of razor saw. I would recommend when installing your new wheels you plan on putting this area toward the base/groundwork.

Also included in the set are nicely molded backing parts that appear to be drop-in replacements for the kits mountings.

conclusion

My only nit-pick with the set is that the lug nuts on the deeply set rear wheels really aren't as well defined as they are on the original kit wheels, but these can be replaced if you like with either some proper sized hex rod or Tichy or Grantline hex nuts.

I've included some photos of the kits wheels for a fast and easy comparison. A review of the Zvezda L4500A can be found Here on Armorama.