Review
The lafflyV15T from Fc*Model*Trend comes in a small clear plastic box with a card insert telling you what it is, the plastic box has a tab which opens from the back.
First impressions were good the box is functional and sturdy the tires look how they should, tire pattern looks great, now let’s open the box and see what we really have here.
As with any resin and or other products that come attached to a block you must take care when cutting this off, not just the obvious knife or razor saw slipping and cutting into your hand, arm etc, however, it is the particles that while cutting that are released into the air that could course you harm if breathed in. I have always cut any small bits of resin in a bowl of water and wearing a facemask giving a much less chance of any issues.
Now for the good part, so I have these four Laffly V15T tires out of the box in front of me and with my better specs on wow! The tyre tread pattern is near exact as to the one’s on the original Laffly V15T in various museums and private collections literally all the photos apart from one which had more of a low-profile road tyre.
The weighted part of the tire is very lifelike and will add that bit extra to a diorama scene, the spread of the weight is spot on. When it comes to cutting these weighted tires from there 3-D printed pegs I thought it I was going to find a disaster the first wheel that I extracted had an odd peg that ran from the bottom of the weighted effect vertically running about one centimetre up the tyre, when I tried to remove it I stopped what I was going to do carefully cut it off using a Dspiae single sided cutters and used a Tamiya short razor saw I was cutting this very slowly when it came of it left a hole which I thought at the time was going to be the same for the other three tires. I am pleased to say that this was not the case and it all came away very cleanly
So, let’s take a comparison with the hubs to make sure they fit and look at the rubber tires that come with ICM’s Laffly V15T kit. The ICM rubber tires I have no problem with I have a few ICM kits and normally most come with the rubber tires they sit proud once mounted on the hub and again the fit is really flush.
So, to the hub, to say the hub is a tight fit with the weighted wheel is an understatement but with a bit of manipulation and strength they do fit, once in place do look right, flush fitting and the detail of the hub stood out well in the pictures.
Conclusion
The first impressions were great, and actually having the kit to build and use them with it had me thinking that a diorama is in the making here. One of the things that really did impress me was the fact that FC*Model*Trend had done their home work when it comes to the tyre patten as I already mentioned searching the internet and finding over six pictures from different sources showed that the pattern was realistic and as near as you get to the real pattern. So, what are you getting one thing for certain is value for money? For 10 Euros around about £8.40 in pounds I do really think it is very good value for money, also if you go to their website, I am sure you will be amazed at all the products they do with full scale coverage from full kits to headlights, figures, it is very difficult to look and not buy. Who of you remember the Matchbox 1/76 scale mini dioramas in a box, showing my age I grew up with them and is probably the reason I am so passionate about dioramas. 3-D printing is having such an impact now on all forms of modelling, research and each year the progress in the printing does not stop this can only be good for not just us modellers but everyone. So apart from the first tyre with a pin going up the centre of the tire that left a hole that needs to be filled (on my one) the other three were perfect, if weighted tires are your thing, then look no further excellent value for money and once you on FC*MODEL*TRENDS website I am almost 99% certain you will be buying more items
With the hubs in place
The comparassion between the weighted tyre and the original ICM rubber tyre
Showing the tread pattern between the weighted and ICM rubber tyre that comes with the ICM kit
Showing the hole that happened only with the first tyre