Replacement Wheels for Airfix 1/35 Cromwell

[PDH]

I have just received the very first production versions of some replacement wheels for the Airfix 1/35thCromwell from Marc at Sovereign2000.

 

I am very impressed with them, they look like plastic though they are actually resin.

 

Please see the photos below - I’ve shown in one photo (l to r) the Tamiya, Airfix, SKP and Sovereign2000 versions as a comparison and mounted the Sovereign2000 versions on a Tamiya Cromwell hull to give an idea of what a complete run looks like.

 

I have not done any clean up on the Airfix/SKP/S2000 wheels and pinched the Tamiya one off a kit!!

 

Available very shortly on the Sovereign2000 website and one added advantage you get 12 sets of wheels as they can also be used on the SKP Challenger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by PDH
Photo Links

[Bullbasket]

1 hour ago, PDH said:

I have just received the very first production versions of some replacement wheels for the Airfix 1/35thCromwell from Marc at Sovereign2000.

 

Thanks for sharing this. They do look good, and I'm glad to see that they have cast the hubs separately. That way you can mount them on the side of the turret as spares.

 

John.

[Mike]

Very nice

 

Right... what are we going to freak out about next?

[Bullbasket]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

Very nice

 

Right... what are we going to freak out about next?

Errr! How about, Tamifix to issue a Mk.lX Spitfire, with three blade prop, three spoke wheels and three port exhaust. That should be acceptable. No one would notice..

 

John.

[Phil Gollin]

.

 

I didn't know that tanks could have "flat tyres" !

 

😃

 

Seriously they improve matters immensely.

 

.

[Foxbat]

Might have a set of them. I've got previous, having got a set of resin wheels from Italy for my AFV Club Centurion. Yep, it's not just Airfix that gets wheels wrong  

 

Andy

[Cerberus]

On 31/03/2021 at 14:07, Bullbasket said:

Thanks for sharing this. They do look good, and I'm glad to see that they have cast the hubs separately. That way you can mount them on the side of the turret as spares.

 

 You can lop out the whole inner hub section and then drill out the bolt/nut mounting holes and then hang them on turrets like this 

 

 

 Matt

[Bullbasket]

8 hours ago, Cerberus said:

You can lop out the whole inner hub section and then drill out the bolt/nut mounting holes and then hang them on turrets like this

Idiot! Not you Matt, me! I didn't even take into account the whole of the hub which is moulded/cast with the wheel, nor the nuts. I suppose the up side to Airfix's mistake, is that you've only six nuts to remove, instead of eight.

 

John.

[PDH]

These are now available from the Sovereign website - http://www.sovereign2000.uk.com/index.php
Product Details are - S2KA025 Cromwell/Challenger road wheels w/ new tyres (for Tamiya, SKP and Airfix kits) R.R.P. £15.00

And these are the 'official' product photos (bit prettier than mine)!!

 

 

 

 

P

 

 

[Selwyn]

On 4/2/2021 at 12:48 PM, PDH said:

These are now available from the Sovereign website - http://www.sovereign2000.uk.com/index.php
Product Details are - S2KA025 Cromwell/Challenger road wheels w/ new tyres (for Tamiya, SKP and Airfix kits) R.R.P. £15.00

And these are the 'official' product photos (bit prettier than mine)!!

 

 

 

 

P

 

 

Cant help but think the soverign hobbies website would do far better business if they bothered to put the scale that  all their stuff is modelled in!

 

Selwyn

[IanC]

This quest for bolt perfection brings the total price of the model up to 45 quid...

 

I've been guilty of buying resin replacement bits in the past, so I won't knock those for whom it matters but on this occasion I think I'd put the dosh towards another kit. It's almost enough for a whole Airfix Beaufort. Less resin replacement parts. 😄

[Bullbasket]

12 hours ago, IanC said:

This quest for bolt perfection brings the total price of the model up to 45 quid...

 

I've been guilty of buying resin replacement bits in the past, so I won't knock those for whom it matters but on this occasion I think I'd put the dosh towards another kit. It's almost enough for a whole Airfix Beaufort. Less resin replacement parts. 😄

Quite often, I (and I suspect many others), pay out, say £30 for a kit. The next thing is £10-15 is spent on an etched brass set. The gun barrel isn't good enough, so there's another £3-5. Quite often, the kit will contain inadequate rubber band tracks, which adds another possible £20. Decal sheets will probably set you back another £5-10, and finally, resin, in the form of stowage can set you back anything from £5-15. So all in all, this £30 kit has turned into a build costing in the region of almost £100, and that's not even accounting for the fact that you don't have the correct paints. 

So inadequate, or incorrect wheels, are only the tip of the iceberg.

 

John.

[bigfoot]

These look great, going to pick up a set for my SKP challenger.

[IanC]

1 hour ago, Bullbasket said:

Quite often, I (and I suspect many others), pay out, say £30 for a kit. The next thing is £10-15 is spent on an etched brass set. The gun barrel isn't good enough, so there's another £3-5. Quite often, the kit will contain inadequate rubber band tracks, which adds another possible £20. Decal sheets will probably set you back another £5-10, and finally, resin, in the form of stowage can set you back anything from £5-15. So all in all, this £30 kit has turned into a build costing in the region of almost £100, and that's not even accounting for the fact that you don't have the correct paints. 

So inadequate, or incorrect wheels, are only the tip of the iceberg.

 

John.

 

Very true John. And good point about the stowage. While I'm going to be happy building mine more or less out of the box, to complete the typical British armour look it'll need some extra kit, bedrolls, ammo bins and jerricans. Plus at least one bod in the turret!  

[nheather]

2 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Quite often, I (and I suspect many others), pay out, say £30 for a kit. The next thing is £10-15 is spent on an etched brass set. The gun barrel isn't good enough, so there's another £3-5. Quite often, the kit will contain inadequate rubber band tracks, which adds another possible £20. Decal sheets will probably set you back another £5-10, and finally, resin, in the form of stowage can set you back anything from £5-15. So all in all, this £30 kit has turned into a build costing in the region of almost £100, and that's not even accounting for the fact that you don't have the correct paints. 

So inadequate, or incorrect wheels, are only the tip of the iceberg.

 

John.

I agree with this.  But most of the ‘blame’ I put down to myself - or I should say my poor ability - I just don’t feel my skills are good enough to send 2x the kit price on after market.

 

If I was a skilled modeller, and there was a model that I really wanted, and it was going to be a showpiece then I would be happy to pay for the extras, but even then I wouldn’t start out with the poorest kit unless it was Hobson’s Choice.  Even then it would also fepend on how many kits I made - if I had a large stash and I knocked out a kit ever week or two I wouldn’t give it that treatment, but if I bought kits as I built them ‘buy one kit, build one kit’ I may be more inclined to add after market.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel