1:16 M8 Greyhound road wheels (weighted)

Wheels with a sagged tire for the M8 Greyhound in 1:16 scale

An add-on set of wheels for a large model of the American M8 light armored car. The word weighted in the name describes the main merit of the parts: both the tread and the sidewall of the tire are shaped the way they look under the full weight of a standing vehicle, with a flattened contact patch and a slightly bulged sidewall. In 1:16 this difference is visible at first glance even from a meter away.

An American scout on six wheels

The M8 light armored car was created at Ford as a fast reconnaissance vehicle with drive to all six wheels and an open turret with a 37 mm gun. The British gave it the name Greyhound and it caught on under that name elsewhere too. It served with reconnaissance units in Italy, in Normandy and during the advance across France into Germany. On a made-up road it was fast, but in muddy ground it was let down by poor mobility and a thin floor, so crews lined the floor of the fighting compartment with sandbags against mines. After 1945 it stayed in the armament of dozens of armies for many more decades.

How to fit the wheels

Before gluing, try the parts dry and turn them so that the flattened patch rests on the base across its full width; on a standing vehicle that shows most of all. It pays to paint the tires separately from the discs, in dark gray rather than pure black, and after drying to run a dry brush of dust over them to match the setting you place the model in.

Who the set suits

• builders of large M8 models in 1:16 scale
• makers of dioramas where the vehicle stands on soft ground
• modelers bothered by a perfectly round production wheel
• collectors of Allied equipment from 1943 to 1945

This is an accessory for an already built or part-built model; the package contains neither the vehicle itself nor paints.