M41 Light Tank Wheels and Suspension

AFV Club

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Reviewed by Cookie Sewell

Many manufacturers are slowly coming to the understanding that releasing some sprues from kits is advantageous, as they upgrade other manufacturers' kit and also bring in more money from the same molds. Everyone wins in those deals, as modelers can upgrade older kits without buying a complete kit and trashing it and two companies (or more) make money on the deal.

AFV Club has been one of the better ones at this, as they have released their track sets separately from kits which allows modelers to put a decent set of "shoes" on obsolete Tamiya and Academy kits. This set, part of their forthcoming M41-based series of kits (which includes Hobby Fan resin kits such as the M52 105mm SP Howitzer) is a very nice set and will upgrade the Tamiya M41 kit in a flash. AFV Club slyly includes the adapter plugs and mounts in resin to cover the parts on the Tamiya hull which need to be replaced.

This kit is the first one to include idlers with the slots in them and the rims on the insides of the road wheels. The road wheels consist of three parts – a back section with detail, a front disk and the front rim. They look right when assembled and are quite nice. The kit – since it is designed to fit on a new-from-the-ground-up kit – includes return rollers, mounts, road wheel arms, shocks, and drivers. The drivers include the mud cleanout slots as well, due to clever molding.

Replacement is not a drop in. The modeler has to do a lot of cutting and trimming getting the old molded-on bits off the Tamiya hull so they can replace them with the AFV Club ones. The idler mounts have to be replaced as well, but the driver mounts simply cement over the slots for motorization axles in the Tamiya hull. These parts will also fit on the M42 hull, but it will take some care and experimentation to get them to fit as the drive line is essentially reversed from the M41's layout.

The most puzzling thing about this suspension is – why is this so good and well done when the one on the M10 series of kits was skimped on and glossed over? (Backs on the wheels and styrene springs as an option would have made it a top-choice Sherman upgrade for everyone else's kits!)
 

Cookie Sewell AMPS

Review Copyright © 2001 by Cookie Sewell
Page Created 27 March, 2002
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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