Hussar Productions KV Road Wheels
by Adam Wilder
During the month of December I posted some images of an assembled unpainted
Russian KV-1 M40 Tank on the Constructive Comments forum. It was brought
to my attention by a few viewers that the road-wheels on the classic Tamiya
kits are inaccurate. Upon doing some research I also agreed with their
inquiries.
It was recommended that I replace the road-wheels supplied in the Tamiya
kit with some aftermarket resin wheels by Hussar Productions. Michel Szapowalow
of Airconnection was one of the viewers whom informed me of the antiquated
Tamiya road-wheels. He was then kind enough to donate to me the four resin
KV road-wheel sets available from Hussar Productions. I am happy with
the quality of each set. Upon finishing the KV-1 M40 article for AFV Modeller,
I decided to also write this short review about the four Hussar Productions
resin KV wheel sets for Missing-Lynx.
As I mentioned, Hussar Productions provides four different sets of KV
road-wheels. Set 35001 is the type seen on the later KV tanks such as
KV-1s, KV-85 and SU-152. Sets 35002, 35003 and 35004 are the types seen
on the earlier KV tanks. Set 35003 was used on my KV-1 M40. Each set has
a letter-sized sheet containing two black and white photos of the wheel
types they represent (Photo 4). The four sets I have are all well molded
with minimal flash. Removing the unwanted resin blocks and cleaning the
outer diameter of the wheels is also uncomplicated.
The packages of the Hussar KV road-wheel sets state that they can be
used on both the Tamiya and Eastern Express models. This is why I found
it odd that a bit of re-engineering is needed to properly attach the wheels
to both of the Tamiya and Eastern Express models. The re-work needed to
attach the wheels although odd, is actually quite easy.
Assembling onto the Eastern Express Kits
Let’s start with what we need to do to make the Hussar Productions
KV wheels fit onto the Eastern Express kits. I found it easiest to cut
away the outer narrowest part of the torsion bars where the wheels connect
as shown in photo 5. There will be a remaining area that is 3/16”
in diameter as shown in photo 6.
I then took a 3/16” drill bit and bore out the rear of the inner
resin wheel as shown in photo 7. There is a hole in the rear of the inner
wheel that will work as a pilot for the larger diameter drill bit simplifying
this task. Drilling out the rear of the wheel will allow it to fit snug
around the modified torsion bar in line with the drive and idler wheels
on the assembled model.
Assembling onto the Tamiya Kits
Assembling the Hussar Productions KV wheels onto the Tamiya’s kit
is similar. Again, you will need to cut away the outer narrowest part
of the molded on torsion bar as shown. As before, you will also need to
drill out the rear of the resin wheel to fit it snug onto the modified
torsion bar.
Conclusion
The Hussar Productions KV replacement road-wheels really helps modelers
to capture the appearance of these famous Russian tanks. In my opinion
they are more accurate than the wheels provided with both the Eastern
Express and Tamiya kits. Again, I find it odd that I had to re-engineer
the rear of the Hussar Productions wheels and kit torsion bars for proper
assembly. I would like to thank Michael Szapowalow at AirConnection at
www.airconnection.on.ca for
donating the Hussar Productions road wheels for my article and this review.
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