1:35 VW Kubelwagen road wheels mix tires (weighted)

Mixed tires for the Type 82 light car

A set of wheels for the VW Kubelwagen field car, size 1:35. According to the name it is a mixed selection of tires with a weighted, deflected contact patch, that is a machine whose tires evidently do not come from one delivery.

Why the vehicle had wheels from various sources

Supply during the war ran on whatever happened to be at hand. Tires were scrounged from wrecked machines, from captured vehicles and from civilian stocks, and the tread pattern on one vehicle commonly differed from wheel to wheel. The Type 82 field car took that well, because it was light and its rear axle had a limited-slip effect. In North Africa, moreover, wider sand tires were fitted, so period photographs show one and the same type of vehicle in surprisingly varied combinations. For the modeler that is good news: uniform tires are not an obligation but a choice.

Working with different tread patterns

The set makes sense on vehicles with a longer front-line history, not on a machine just taken over. Mix the rubber shades noticeably differently than you would on a uniform set: one wheel older and faded, another darker and greasy. Part of the trace of wear is also the scuffed paint on the rims, which new tires lack, and mud dried onto only some of the wheels.

Suitable for builds where

• the vehicle should look worn
• a column or a workshop yard is being built
• you want to play up different rubber shades
• you are looking for an alternative to a uniform set

Paints, glue and the plastic model are not enclosed.