1:16 M8 Greyhound spare wheel

The spare on the hull of an American armored car

A separate spare wheel intended for a 1:16 model of the M8 reconnaissance car. On the real machine the spare wheel was carried outside the armor, so on a finished model it is permanently in sight and the viewer studies it close up. That is exactly why in the large scales it pays to swap it for a part with a more sharply rendered disc and tread.

The vehicle the wheel rode on

The M8 type was standardized in 1942 and reached combat units a year later. The open turret with a 37 mm gun and a machine gun gave the crew enough firepower for fighting reconnaissance, but not for an encounter with tanks, and doctrine therefore called for avoiding direct combat and reporting. Without the turret it gave rise to the multipurpose M20, popular as a command and liaison machine. After the war both types went on serving in France, in North Africa and in Latin America, where a number of them stayed at the head of columns as late as the 1990s.

Painting and fitting it into the whole

It is a good idea to weather the spare differently from the wheels on the axles. It does not roll, so it lacks fresh scuffs from gravel, but dust from the road settles on it and rain falls on it from above. A light touch of faded rubber together with a fine pigment around the rim will reliably set it apart from the rest of the tires.

A suitable addition for

• models of the M8 and the derived M20 in the large scale
• scenes where the vehicle is shot from the rear or from the side
• builders who fine-tune the small equipment on the armor
• those interested in American reconnaissance equipment of the Second World War

The package serves as a replacement for a single part, and you should not look for the vehicle kit or paints in it.