P-61 Wheel Set
for HobbyBoss kit

True Details, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

True Details'  1/32 scale P-61 Wheels are available online from Squadron.com

HobbyBoss’ big 1/32 P-61B Black Widow was released early in 2013 and has been generally well received.  I haven’t seen the kit myself, but reviewers have commented favourably on its quality of moulding and level of detail.  One feature that has been criticised is the kit’s rubber tyres.  These have a hard-to-remove centreline seam, are difficult to convincingly weather, and may potentially degrade over time.  HobbyBoss supplies plastic hubs to insert into the centre of its tyres, but photos suggest these are simplified compared to the real thing.

Fortunately, True Details offers a set of replacement wheels that addresses all of these issues.

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Cleanly moulded in light grey resin, the set comprises 14 parts that completely replace their HobbyBoss equivalents:  two mainwheels, one nosewheel, six hubs and five hub spacers (in case you’re wondering, only one spacer is required for the nosewheel).  Casting quality is excellent, with no warpage, pinholes or other imperfections present.  All parts are attached to their casting blocks via rebates, which should make clean up reasonably straightforward – although you will still need a razor saw and a steady hand.  This is particularly so for the mainwheels, which because of their size means there is still some solid resin to cut through.  On the hubs, all of the slots are flashed over with a thin film of resin and will need a little extra work to tidy up.  Once this has been done, and the hubs are positioned on their tyres, the slots will create a sense of depth that appears to have been missing on the HobbyBoss originals.

The resin parts look good in terms of detail and accuracy.  The 16-slot mainwheel hubs closely match wartime photos of the real thing; the outboard hubs include delicately cast hose connectors, which the instructions tell you how to correctly position when you are attaching the hubs to the tyres.  The six-slot nosewheel hubs also look accurate – although many contemporary photos show flat discs to have been fitted over the hubs on many P-61 nosewheels, so check your references for the aircraft you are modelling.  True Details seems to have captured the diamond tread pattern on all three tyres, along with the ‘Good Year’ logo on both sides of the mainwheels.  All three tyres have been subtly flattened and bulged to depict the weight of an aircraft pressing down on them.

The one page, black and white instruction sheet is simple and effective, using photographs of the resin parts to clearly indicate what needs to be done in terms of assembly and positioning.

This set is an almost essential replacement for the rubber tyres in HobbyBoss’ 1/32 P-61 kit, given the limitations of rubber as a modeling medium and the high quality of the True Details parts.  Carefully cleaned up and with appropriate painting and weathering, these replacement wheels will greatly enhance the appearance of your big Black Widow model.

Reference

Warren Thompson, ‘P-61 Black Widow Units of World War 2’ (Osprey, 1998)

Thanks to Squadron for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2014 by Brad Fallen
Page Created 25 June, 2014
Last updated 25 June, 2014

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