1:35 Sd.Kfz. 251 - Late Rim Wheels Common Off-Road (Continental / for Border Models Kits)

The late rim as a trace of simplified production

From 1943 savings were made on the Sd.Kfz. 251 wherever they could be. Flat welded assemblies replaced curved sheets, pressed shapes grew fewer and the disk of the front wheel changed too: it received a simpler profile without laborious transitions. At first glance it is an inconspicuous detail, but in photographs of machines from the last two years of the war it distinguishes a late vehicle from an early one at once.

It is just this later form of the disk that the castings bring, and that in combination with the off-road tread that predominated on German vehicles. The set is prepared so as to sit into the kits of the Border Models company without alterations to the fork and the axle. Besides the more accurate geometry of the rim, the main benefit is that the edges of the grooves need no touching up after molding.

The machine became the most numerous in the Ausf. D version precisely because it could be produced faster: an angular body of flat sheets saved pressing tools and time. Over ten thousand vehicles of this form left the lines, so on the modeling table the late chassis is a considerably more frequent choice than the early one.

Recommended procedure

First the part is released from the gate, best of all by a cut with a saw; nippers will sooner break the hard material off than cut it. The remainder of the gate is leveled with a file and the surface is polished over with fine sandpaper. A bath in lukewarm water with a drop of dish detergent follows, and thorough drying. Only then does the primer come in turn, which holds much better on clean resin.

The wheel is set into the model with super glue; with a larger contact area epoxy proves itself.