1:35 Olifant Corrected Road Wheels - 12 Wheels & QW Mask (for Hobby Boss Kits)

The African journey of one British tank

When the Republic of South Africa became stuck in international isolation, it had to build its armored fist out of what it had at hand. It took worn-out British tanks, gave them a new engine, a transmission and a more resistant turret, and the Olifant came into being. The later rendering already had little in common with the original: a reworked running gear with longer travel, new optical instruments and armor improved according to the experience of the fighting in the south of Africa, where driving was done on dusty plains and over long distances. Six wheels on each side remained all the same, as did the overall silhouette, thanks to which you will mistake the Olifant at first glance for its European ancestor.

Box contents

Twelve wheels will suffice for the whole vehicle, and together with them a QW masking template is in the set. The mounting is prepared for Hobby Boss kits in 1:35, so the shafts do not have to be altered.

Advice on painting

The dusty South African setting favors pronounced work with pigments, except that settled dust looks credible only when there is a sharp transition between the disk and the tire beneath it. Spray the tire through the template first, therefore, let it dry, and only then reach for the weathering and the deposits on the underside of the hull.

Where the set comes in useful

A model of the Olifant tends to be built in a dusty rendering and on a diorama with low vegetation, where the chassis is visible in its entirety. It is just there that the difference between production and corrected wheels shows the most. It will do good service in a display case too, where the viewer watches the vehicle from the side and the running gear forms the lower third of the whole outline.