1:35 Mercedes L4500A road wheels set with spare (weighted) type 2 for Zvezda

Why bother with the design at all

Trucks did not come off the line uniformly shod. Tires were made up from whatever was at hand, production was split among several works and each had its own tread design. When a modeler builds a column in which every vehicle has absolutely identical wheels, it shows at first glance and the scene goes flat. This set is the second of the four renderings with which the brand makes it possible to create a difference between vehicles.

Load as a part of the shape

Rubber under a load does not stay round. The road levels it into a flat spot where it touches, the wall of the tire pushes outward and the sidewall ripples slightly. The casting carries this state straight from the mold, so the risky warming and squeezing of plastic parts from the box falls away. The result is a vehicle that sits on its base instead of touching it at a point.

The real subject

The set belongs with the heavy truck built at the works in Baden from 1939, one of the most widespread machines of its class in German hands. The version with drive to both axles reached the units in the east, and toward the end of the war its chassis served for less usual conversions as well. A spare wheel is part of the package too, which the vehicle carried folded down on the frame.

Building recommendation

Try the seating dry, and only then glue. The flattened parts have to point downward and all into the same plane, otherwise the vehicle will look crooked.

Anyone building a scene with several vehicles will appreciate that the castings can be swapped between sets as well. On one machine every axle then runs on a different tire design, a state which toward the end of the war was the rule rather than the exception.