CMK have released a series of resin wheels for Commonwealth transport vehicles in their BLITZ Line of armour accessories with sets designed for both the applicable Italeri and Tamiya kits.
The sets listed so far in the series are:
B35 001 Chevrolet 15cwt 4x2 "Canada" wheels 9x16 Cross Country (Dunlop) for Italeri
B35 002 Chevrolet 15cwt 4x2 "Canada" wheels 9x16 General Purpose (Dunlop) for Italeri
B35 003 Chevrolet 15cwt 4x2 "Canada" wheels 9x16 Cross Country (Firestone) for Italeri
B35 004 Quad Chevrolet 4x4 wheels 10.5x20 Cross Country (Dunlop) for Italeri
B35 005 Quad Chevrolet 4x4 wheels 10.5x20 General Purpose (Dunlop) for Italeri
B35 006 Quad Ford 4x4 wheels 10.5x20 Cross Country (Dunlop) for Tamyia
B35 007 Quad Ford 4x4 wheels 10.5x20 General Purpose (Dunlop) for Tamyia
B35 008 Quad Chevrolet 4x4 wheels 10.5x20 Cross Country (Firestone) for Italeri
B35 009 Quad Ford 4x4 wheels 10.5x20 Cross Country (Firestone) for Tamiya
We will look here at two of the sets to give an overview of those available;
B35 004 Quad Chevrolet 4x4 - wheels 10.5x20 Cross Country (Dunlop) for Italeri
And
B35 007 Quad Ford 4x4 – wheels 10.5x20 General Purpose (Dunlop) for Tamyia
This set consists of just 4 wheels cast in light cream resin with just the casting blocks to be removed before use and are designed for the Italeri Quad Chev 4x4 (kit #240).
This casting block attachment extends about 1/3 the way around the tread but is thin and is on the centre of the tread pattern making it quite easy to remove without compromising the tread pattern.There were a few small air holes exposed after the excess resin block was removed and a few of the tread indentations around the middle of the casting block had some excess resin that was very easy to remove with a #11 blade.
Detail on the wheels rim is very cleanly done with the central wheel hub included with the casting but note there are different pattern hubs for the front and rear wheels as indicated in the small instruction sheet included with the set.
The back of the wheels have the small locating hole to fit the wheels directly to the Italeri kit axles but note the instruction sheet has illustrations with the Tamiya pattern wheels but this shouldn’t be a big deal.
The Dunlop Cross Country tread pattern is also cleanly done apart from the minor cleanup mentioned above but there is no sidewall embossing on the wheels presumably to avoid any of those annoying copyright issues we see all to often with kits these day. The only variation from the manual images is every second chevron extends further down the sidewall but I am not sure if this was a feature of all wheels of this type?Overall a nicely cast and detailed set of resin wheels which are quick and easy to fit to the appropriate Italeri Quad 4x4 kit if you can find one or have one in the stash as I don’t think they are currently available?
Note that these wheels are larger and a different type than used on the recently re-released Chevrolet 15cwt Truck (kit #6233).This set is similar to the set B35004 but designed for the Tamiya Quad Gun Tractor (kit #35045) and has the Dunlop General Purpose tread pattern which is slightly different from the Cross Country tread although it looks the same at first glance.
This set consists of 8 parts in light cream resin and has the 4 wheels with separate hub caps and separate drum brake mounting plates on the rear wheels with just the casting blocks to be removed before use.
This casting block attachment extends about 1/3 the way around the tread but is thin and is on the centre of the tread pattern making it quite easy to remove without compromising the tread pattern.
There were a few small air holes exposed after the excess resin block was removed and a few of the tread indentations around the middle of the casting block had some excess resin that was very easy to remove with a #11 blade.
Detail on the wheels rim is again very cleanly done with the central wheel hub separate as mentioned and there are different pattern hubs for the front and rear wheels as indicated in the small instruction sheet included with the set.
The back of the wheels have the small locating lugs which again is different for the front and back wheels with additional mounting plates (brake drums) for the rear wheels. These are directly to fit the Tamiya kit axles without any alterations required on the kit or wheels.
The General Purpose tread pattern is also cleanly done apart from the minor cleanup mentioned above but there is no sidewall embossing on the wheels presumably to avoid any of those annoying copyright issues we see all to often with kits these day.Overall another nicely cast and detailed set of resin wheels which are quick and easy to fit to the Tamiya Quad 4x4 kits.
As I don't have the Firestone tread pattern wheels at present for review I have included here the manual images of the Cross Country and General Purpose Firestone wheels which given the good representations of the Dunlop tread on the review wheels should provide the same level of detail.
Overall these are excellent sets of resin wheels for the Chev and Ford Quad 4x4 vehicles offereing a good choice of tread patterns in the various sets. The cleanup required is minimal and with sets designed specifically the Italeri and Tamiya kits allows you to get the appropriate set for you kit.
The sets include both the Dunlop and Firestone wheels in the two most common tread patterns that should allow some nice variations on the kits final appearances
Highly recommended 7.5/10
Thanks to CMK for the review sets.