M1025 Weighted Tires and Wheels
and
M151 Tires and Wheels

Trakz
(A Division of the VLS Corporation)

Reviewed by Brett Green

Trakz has released two sets of replacement road wheels for 1/35 scale M1025 Hummer and M151 Mutt kits:

TX 0085 - M1025 Weighted Tires and Wheels

Tamiya's new 1/35 scale M1025 Hummer armament carrier kit has rubber tyres. Many modellers do not like rubber tyres as they can be tricky to clean up and paint, and have been known to degrade over time.

Trakz has provided an option to these modellers with a new set of replacement tyres and wheels for Tamiya's 1/35 scale M1025. Each wheel is crisply cast as a single part in pale yellow resin. "GoodYear lettering is raised on the tyre sidewalls too.

Every wheel is numbered, which is helpful because each wheel is unique. The tyre tread is "handed", left and right; and the front and rear hub arrangements are different.

The tyres are subtly weighted, which also should add a little individual character to your Humvee kit. Resin axles are cast inside the deep wheels - a nice touch.

Recommended.

TX 0086 - M151 Tires and Wheels

This is a simpler set with four identical resin wheels.

The design supplied by Trax is what is called "NATO Tread". The small grooves in each lug on the tires are to help its roadability on rain slicked European roads. These are not the same as the standard non-directional tread as used elsewhere by the military.

Also, it would be more usual to see five M151 tyres, as this type requires a spare (the Hummer does not, in theory, because it has a flat-running capability).

Detail is crisp and the lack of any seam will be appreciated by most modellers.

The tyres are not weighted.

Recommended for anyone depicting a NATO-treaded Mutt.

Thanks to Merlin Samuelson for additional information.

Thanks to VLS for the review samples

These and other VLS products may be viewed at the VLS Website

Review Copyright © 2003 by Brett Green
Page Created 21 September, 2003
Last updated 19 April, 2005

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