1:35 Mercedes L4500A road wheels set with spare (weighted) type 1 for Zvezda

The four-and-a-half-ton truck from Gaggenau

The Mercedes L4500A was one of the mainstays of German wartime transport. It was built from the end of the 1930s at the plant in Gaggenau, powered by a six-cylinder diesel engine, and the letter at the end of the designation meant all-wheel drive, exactly what turned an ordinary truck into a machine usable on the Eastern Front. The chassis also served as the basis for further conversions, from a half-track rebuild to a self-propelled mount for an anti-aircraft gun. That is why a modeler meets it in many roles and in the most varied scenes.

What the type 1 version contains

The set replaces the wheels of the vehicle and adds the spare that the truck carried on the frame behind the cab. The tread pattern corresponds to one of the period versions: the manufacturer offers four different ones and the modeler chooses according to the subject, or so that two vehicles in one convoy do not look like copies. The rear axle has dual wheels, so there are more wheels on the truck than you might expect.

The weighted tire

The castings are shaped as if a loaded truck stood on them: the rubber levels out where it meets the ground, the sidewall bulges slightly and the vehicle visually gains weight. Without that, a model looks as if it were floating.

Fitting

Cut the gates away and level the contact face. Before gluing, stand all the wheels on a flat board and check that the flattened parts lie in the same plane.

Trucks of this type appeared in finishes from a uniform dark gray through a sand shade to the three-color camouflage of the late period. The wheels remained the darkest place on the whole vehicle, which is worth using as an anchor when putting the shades together.