1:35 Sd.Kfz 222 late road wheels set with spare (weighted) type 3 (for Hobby Boss)

A scout who had to rely on his wheels

The crews of light armored cars had few certainties in their trade. The armor of the Sd.Kfz 222 stopped splinters and rifle rounds, nothing more, and the only real defense was speed. The car weighed around four and a half tons, on a road it managed eighty kilometers an hour, and its crew came back with a report before it could be closed in on. That whole advantage rested on four tires.

The replacement wheels in this package are modeled in the late rendering and with the pattern the maker lists as third in order. The rubber is worked in the weighted state, so it has a flat face at the bottom and slightly raised walls. The finished model then rests on the base across the full width of the footprint and gains the weight that perfectly round parts from a mold can never supply.

According to the name the package also holds a spare. On the subject it was carried outside the bed and was as a rule dirtied differently from the wheels the car ran on, which is a rewarding chance to give a model a lived-in look. The mounting of the parts matches the Hobby Boss kit.

For the best result it is worth trying the fit dry before painting and turning all the flat faces the same way. The car in a photograph then does not look as though one wheel were skidding sideways.

The German army built the Sd.Kfz 222 on a uniform chassis intended for heavy off-road passenger cars. All four wheels were both driven and steered, which made the car a nimble machine off the road as well, and at the same time it meant that wear showed evenly on every tire.