1:16 Sd.Kfz 234 spare wheel type 2

A spare wheel, the type 2 rendition, 1:16 scale

A small part with an unexpectedly large effect on the final impression. The spare wheel in the second of the renditions in the range is aimed at modelers who build German eight-wheelers in the large scales and want the vehicle to carry what the kit left out. What is interesting is that the spare looks different from the wheels under the vehicle: it was never loaded, so it keeps a circular outline. This very contrast gives the chassis its credibility.

Infantry support of 7.5 cm caliber

One of the versions of this family carried a short infantry weapon of seven and a half centimeters caliber in an open superstructure without a rotating turret. It was no anti-tank gun: the task was immediate fire support, breaking up a machine gun nest or smoking an area so that a reconnaissance patrol could pull back. The vehicle thus combined the speed of a wheeled chassis with a punch that an eight-wheeler with a small caliber would never have fired.

Working with the part

Before gluing, rid the mounting area of irregularities, so that the wheel sits down without a gap. With a spare it pays to suggest a different age from the wheels on the axle: less scuffing, more dust settled in the upper part of the pattern, perhaps a stain from a tarpaulin or from tar.

It comes in handy when

• you are building a large model of a German eight-wheeler
• you want to tell the spare apart from the weighted wheels
• you are adding small equipment to the hull
• you are preparing a diorama with equipment set down

You see to the finish and the mounting with your own means.