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

A third pattern for the display case

German armored cars ran on tires from several suppliers and in field conditions it was entirely usual for one car to carry rubber from two different works on its axles. A kit cannot capture that, because a mold will always offer a single shape of tread. The set marked type 3 makes it possible to bring that variety back and build a car that does not look as though it had just come off the line.

The wheels match the later production period of the vehicle and have the bottom squeezed into a flat footprint, as befits a machine standing on its own axles. The difference against the bare parts from the box tends to be greatest when seen from the side, where the slight bulge of the wall above the ground shows, and from behind, where the flat face meets the base across its full width.

Cars of this type served mainly with reconnaissance units, which moved far ahead of the main forces and whose equipment was worn accordingly. The set plays to that: a tread with a bolder profile holds dried mud and dust and takes dry pigments easily. The seating of the parts follows the forms of the Tamiya kit, and the spare wheel mentioned in the name belongs on the bracket on the side of the bed.

When painting it pays to avoid pure black. Rubber in period photographs comes out rather in gray-brown tones, because dust from field tracks covered it quickly. A lighter base with darker shading in the grooves of the pattern matches that better and brings out the depth of profile, which this tread shape has pronounced.