Gloster Gladiator Wheels for Airfix Kit - 1:72 Pavla

[Paul A H]

Gloster Gladiator Wheels for Airfix Kit

1:72 Pavla

Airfix's new Gladiator has been widely hailed as the best example of the type available in 1:72 scale, and rightly so. It features rich detail and ease of assembly in classic Airfix style. Now Pavla has released a set of resin wheels to replace the plastic kit items. Whilst I didn't notice too much wrong with the kit wheels, these resin replacements feature pin-sharp detail and the quality of casting is excellent. The resin pouring stubs are small and so should not take long to clean up. Recommended.

Review samples courtesy of

[Anders_Isaksson]

Pardon my ignorance but is this set really designed for the new tool Airfix Gladiator kits?

I ask because I don't see how the Pavla wheels can be mounted on the Airfix gearlegs as the backside of the wheels lack the proper keyed cutout.

Looks like some work will be required to make these wheels fit properly.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Anders_Isaksson

[Ed Russell]

I would guess they are for the old Airfix kit. I decided I didn't need them for the new one.

[Shane]

Gloster Gladiator Wheels for Airfix Kit

1:72 Pavla

Airfix's new Gladiator has been widely hailed as the best example of the type available in 1:72 scale, and rightly so. It features rich detail and ease of assembly in classic Airfix style. Now Pavla has released a set of resin wheels to replace the plastic kit items. Whilst I didn't notice too much wrong with the kit wheels, these resin replacements feature pin-sharp detail and the quality of casting is excellent. The resin pouring stubs are small and so should not take long to clean up. Recommended.

Cleanup easy, use not so easy. The Airfix wheels are designed to mimic the internal springing of the Gladiator hub, with an offset slot so that they can be fitted in unloaded (in flight) or loaded (on the ground) positions. These will require either a slot excavating without flipping up the sharp detail, or the axle stubs removing and replaced in a way that will either be awkward to engineer, or leave the wheels positioned half way, neither fish nor fowl.

No all resin upgrades are an improvement.

Shane

[Anders_Isaksson]

Cleanup easy, use not so easy. The Airfix wheels are designed to mimic the internal springing of the Gladiator hub, with an offset slot so that they can be fitted in unloaded (in flight) or loaded (on the ground) positions. These will require either a slot excavating without flipping up the sharp detail, or the axle stubs removing and replaced in a way that will either be awkward to engineer, or leave the wheels positioned half way, neither fish nor fowl.

No all resin upgrades are an improvement.

Shane

Thanks for that info, Shane.

I was planning to use the unloaded wheels on my Gladiator as I didn't really like the look of the loaded/on the ground wheels. (A minor detail indeed but they remind me of older True Details resin wheels.)

But as you describe the differences between the loaded/unloaded kit wheels I might have to stick with the loaded wheels and perhaps try to reshape the lower part of the tyre instead. Should be rather easy to fix.

[Ed Russell]

No(t) all resin upgrades are an improvement.

In fact these are indeed an improvement on the kit they are designed for, but superfluous on the new Airfix kit.

[stevehnz]

fwiw, I think they're a better shape than the wheel/tyres on the new tool Airfix kit. To me, the ones in the kit are too square across the tread, giving a bit of a truck tyre look about them. I'll be trying to round mine of a bit. Its a pity they didn't do the offset mounting for them as I think its an important feature of the Gladiatoe & any plane with dowty sprung hubs but as pointed out above, its hard to see why you'd bother with them for the new Airfix kit.

Steve.

[CarLos]

In fact these are indeed an improvement on the kit they are designed for, but superfluous on the new Airfix kit.

If they were designed for the old Airfix kit may be they should release also a pair of half fuselages and a wing set.