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

The light armored car Sd.Kfz 222 in the late rendering

The Sd.Kfz 222 was among the most widespread German reconnaissance armored cars of the Second World War. On the chassis of a heavy off-road car stood an angular body and on top an open turret with a 2 cm quick-firing cannon and a machine gun; the crew numbered three men. Machines of the later production series differed from the first examples in details of the running gear and in the tires used, and it is just such a car that is the subject of this set.

A flat tire as the teller of the scene

An empty tire gives away at first glance that the car is going nowhere. It suits a wreck on the verge, a machine laid up after a hit and a scene where the crew wrestles with changing a wheel. The casting has a widened footprint where it meets the ground, the wall of the tire is rippled and the rim sits lower than it would on an inflated wheel. A shape like that is hard to work up from the original parts of a kit and shows up well in a photograph of the finished model.

The scope of the set and preparing the parts

The package covers all four wheels of the car and adds a spare, five parts in all with the same type 3 pattern. The most delicate operation is separating them from the casting block: it is better to cut along the grain with a thin saw than with nippers, so the wall of the tire does not crack. The contact patch is then leveled with a few passes over fine sandpaper laid on glass, which stands the wheel straight and leaves the footprint across the full width of the tread. Seating on the axle stub and painting follow; a thin layer of pigment rubbed in with a dry brush is all it takes to set matte rubber apart from the metal rim.