1:35 Sd.Kfz 222 late road wheels flat tires type 3 (4pcs + spare for Hobby Boss)

Three designs, one decision

The range of accessory wheels for the light armored car Sd.Kfz 222 is split by tire pattern into three numbers. This is the last of them and for a modeler it means a choice made before the glue: which photograph he will build the machine from. The differences are small, but it is they that separate a model built by eye from a model built to one particular subject.

The wheel shows more than you expect

The chassis of the German standard off-road car carried wheels uncovered by fenders across their full width, so the tire makes up a prominent part of the silhouette from below and from the side. That is just why it shows soonest whether the builder took care. A casting with a flat tire offers something that cannot be made from the original part: an uneven deformation which looks different every time, depending on how you turn the wheel.

The seating procedure

First trace the axle spacing from the frame of the kit onto paper and try standing all the wheels dry. Only once the plane sits right should you separate them from the casting blocks and sand the contact patches. The wheel with the empty tire belongs where it will show best, that is as a rule on the front axle from the side the viewer looks from. The spare was carried at the rear of the car and can be fitted so that it shows the wall of the tire and the pattern at once.

What else to prepare

The set does not complete the axles, the shock absorbers or the car itself. Count on obtaining the kit and the paints separately. A thin saw and a strip of sandpaper also come in handy, otherwise the contact patches will not level into one plane and the vehicle will rock on its base.