The Lockheed C-130 is a versatile aircraft. In production since 1954, the C-130J is the latest in a long line of models. The landing gear was designed for rough field operations, with large, low pressure main landing gear tires and a pair of low-pressure nose wheel tires. The original brake design was for a single disk (like in a modern car) and has been upgraded to a multi-disk unit. The brakes look the same once mounted onto the gear’s axle.

The kit comes with 10 pieces molded in grey resin, and is meant for the 1/48 Testors/Italeri C-130 kit. There are many fine details with the castings. A nice touch is the “Goodyear” emblems and the valve stems and groove lines molded into the tires to represent the spaces between the treads. The only disappointment I found was with the brakes – I wish the back of the main landing gear tires was “hollow” so that the brake details would sit inside, just like on the real aircraft.

Cutting the parts from the sprues is easy, and a good tip is to cut the sprues so that each part is on its own sprue piece. This also makes painting the rims easier. For my kit, I painted the rims gloss white. During my 25+ year career working C-130s I saw several different colors for the rims: gloss white, flat black, and gunship grey (FS 36118).

You will need to trim back the axles on the kit’s landing gears to accommodate the shallower axle mounting holes. When you mount the brakes onto the main gear tires, the larger, hollow tube-like holes in the brake’s edge (see picture) must be aligned straight up and down. For greater realism, the main landing gear must be modified at the bottoms of both struts.

Overall, I found this set to be an excellent representation of the tires of the C-130 fleet. Having changed many a tire, along with brakes, I can honestly say that this set is very close to the actual aircraft. I would recommend this set for anyone building a 1/48 C-130.

Many thanks to Brengun for providing the kit for review..