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Hussar Productions
Chevrolet 30cwt Tires
1:35 Hussar Set #35051
Review by Terry Ashley

Introduction:
Tamiya Hussar Productions continue to release their replacement resin wheel sets as a steady rate with this set designed for the aging Tamiya kit of the LRDG 30cwt Chevrolet Truck (kit #35092) which some may have stashed away as it is currently not in the Tamiya sales list.

The kit itself is not at all bad for its vintage and will build into a very respectable model which I have done more years ago than I care to remember.

The biggest problem with the kit like many of the era as well as today was the vinyl tyres that tend to split after a time as those on my model had done and so I dragged it out from storage to see how these new resin tyres from Hussar would go.

The Set:
The new set has five tyres cast in light cream resin to give you the four vehicle tyres and the one spare and they are designed to simply replace the kit vinyl tyres and slip onto the kit rims in the same manner as the kit tyres.

The tyres have only very small casting pins and some thin resin film in the centre to be removed and this is the extent of the cleanup required but there were a couple of air holes to be filled but nothing excessive.

Resin tyres included in the set
Hussar Productions

The casting quality is very good resulting in cleanly defined tread pattern details and the sidewalls have the embossing "General" and tyre data "10.50 - 16" which is clearly legible along with the step on the inside to correspond to the step on the kit wheel rims.

There is one issue with the tread pattern unfortunately in that it is slightly too square at the shoulder and should be more rounded as the images below indicate, the Tamiya kit vinyl wheels also represent the rounded profile of the tread pattern nicely. There is not a lot you can do about this as sanding the shoulders to give the rounded profile will almost remove the tread pattern at the shoulder giving the impression of severely worm down tyres which is not often seen in photos of the LRDG Chevs.

Images of the tyre after cleanup and fitted to the Tamiya Chev kit wheels
on my model built back when Adam was still a boy.

Hussar Productions
Images of the actual wheels showing the rounded tread profile
Hussar Productions

The fit of the resin tyres to the Tamiya kit wheel rims is very good giving a very snug fit without any gaps or other problems so fitting the tyres is no problem at all even on my fully assembled kit where I just cut away the split vinyl tyres and slipped the resin tyres onto the rims.

Conclusion:
This set of replacement resin tyres for the old out of production Tamiya LRGD 30cwt Chev means you will have to have the kit already in your stash or find one on E-Bay with the resin casting being of good quality with just a couple of air holes to contend with.

The main issue as mentioned is the square shoulder tread profile which distracts somewhat from an otherwise nice set of replacement wheels to overcome the issues with vinyl tyres.

Recommended if you have the kit already with split tyres 7/10


Hussar Productions are available from and distributed by AirConnection Canada.
Airconnection Thanks to Michael of AirConnection Canada for the review set



Page created May 3, 2008