1:32 Spitfire 4 spoke wheels set (3 types of tires)

Hubs with four spokes and three samples of tire

The landing gear of the Spitfire folded from the fuselage outward into the wing, which gave the fighter an elegant silhouette but also an uncomfortably narrow track of around seventeen hundred millimeters. A pilot converting to the type had to learn it: on being set down on grass or under heavy braking the machine easily swung around its vertical axis. That is precisely why the main wheels were changed several times during the war, and various shapes of hub and tread met side by side in the squadrons.

Box contents

The bag carries a pair of main wheels for the large scale format, with the hub having four spokes. Tires in three renditions are enclosed with them, so that the builder can choose the one that suits his photographic reference. The casting is solid, with no seams from a parting line and with the lettering around the circumference drawn out.

When to obtain it

This is not the starting point of a build but its finishing step. The plastic kit of the fighter is obtained first, which makes up the main part of the work, and the replacement wheels come up at the moment the landing gear is dealt with and the modeler finds that the factory parts have flat lumps or a wrong shape of hub.

• Before gluing, cut the casting gate off with a fine saw or a cutting disc
• Sand the mating surface so that the wheel sits on the leg with no play
• Wash the casting in lukewarm soapy water because of the mold release residue
• The flattening of the tire under the weight of the machine is painted with a shadow, not sanded

The result is a detail that a visitor to a display case will not name, but will immediately sense that the model stands on the ground believably.