The set has eight wheels cast in a light cream resin with virtually no cleanup required other than a fairly sizable casting scar where the moulds join on most of the wheels as well as a few air holes around the same area. Eliminating this scar will also remove some of the tread pattern detail when smoothed out but you can position this at the ground contact to hide this small blemish.
Overall the moulding quality is good other than the scar as mentioned and a few little air holes in a few rim bolts and the wheels are cast without the circular steps leaving you to add the kit parts as required.
The wheels though are basically resin reproductions of the AFV Club kit wheels with all the detail on the rims, hubs as well as the wheel side walls and tread pattern the same as with the kit wheels. As the “rubber” kit wheels leave a small gap at certain areas around the rim this is reproduced in the resin wheels but these small gaps could easily be filled with cyanoacrylate or even paint.
On the inside of the rims is the remains of the pin marks from the kit wheels which you don’t see after fitting and so are not an issue but there is not the locating stub from the kit rims used to attach the kit wheels and this means when fitting the resin wheels to the kit brake drums you will have make sure these are located centrally inside the resin hub.
There is one other minor issue in that not all the wheels are the same diameter as it seems the rubber wheels may have distorted a little during the mould making process, this is not a lot but is means you may have to make some adjustments to ensure the eight wheels of your Stryker all touch the ground. One thing to remember about resin sets is the standard can vary between sets so this size issue may not be on all sets.
To use these wheels of the Trumpeter kit will require a fair bit of adjustment as the Trumpeter wheels are designed very differently at the back of the hub and you will have to modify either the resin wheels or the kit wheels to get them to fit, in either case it’s not an easy job so it may be better to just use these for the AFV Club kit as intended.
Conclusion:
As mentioned these wheels are basically resin reproductions of the AFV Club kit wheels but with the casting scar lip to be smoothed away and they have the same level of details as the kit wheels meaning the only real advantage is if you really don’t like “rubber” wheels and must have resin replacements. This will make the painting process easier but just be careful you end up with your Stryker having all eight feet touching the ground.
Note casting scar on most wheels to be removed (right image)
See the Stryker Subjects listing page for other sets available for the Stryker.
References:| Stryker
in detail Part 1 Present Vehicle Line No.17 Wings & Wheels Publications. ISBN: 80-86416-61-5  |
AMPS Boresight Stryker ICV/RV Special May/June 2007  |
| STRYKER Interim Armored Vehicle Concord Mini Color Series #7515 by Carl Schulze & Ralph Zwilling ISBN 962-361-141-2  |
Tankograd Militar Fahrzeug 2/2007 Pages 45-53 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiments "Second Dragoons" Germany 2006  |
| Stryker Combat Vehicles Osprey New Vanguard 121 Gordon L Rottman ISBN: 9781841769301  |
Thanks to Jose from Tiger Werke for the review set.