o3d miniatures

Kubelwagen Sand Tyres

This set contains five resin wheels to give a Kübelwagen kit desert "boots" as most Kübel kits come only with normal tyres (one exception being the S-Model DAK Kübelwagen).
At the same time it will allow the modeler to correct the size of the Academy, Hasegawa and Italeri kit wheels as both the Academy and Hasegawa wheels are underscale, while the Italeri wheels are rather rough, slightly overscale and hollow on the inside.

These wheels represent a very common type of wheel for Kübelwagens in the North African theatre of operations. Indeed, the majority of Kübels seen in the desert sand were equipped with these high flotation tyres, which were unavailable to Braille scale modelers until this release and the very recent S-Model DAK Kübelwagen and a set released by MK72.

It is difficult to measure tyre diameters as tyre profile, wear and inflation all had an impact. Therefore I measured the wheel rim.
Kübelwagen rims were 16" (40.64cm) diameter, or 5.64mm in 1/72.

• MK72 wheels scale out exactly at 5.64mm. Tyre diameter is 9.4mm.
• The S-Model DAK Kübelwagen wheels have a rim of 5.04mm and a tyre diameter of 9.4mm.
• These Orange 3D balloon tyres have a rim of 4.56mm and a tyre diameter of 9.4mm.

Casting is near perfect, with no pin holes or other blemishes. Detail on the hubs is very crisp. The tyre thread is almost non existent (and even less so than on the MK72 wheels and definitely less than that on the S-Model DAK Kübelwagen), but to be honest, the real tyre thread on these balloon tyres was also very indistinct and these tyre quickly became "flats" due to abrasion in the desert. The way the wheels are attached to the casting blocks avoids the loss of too much detail as the small "flange" only covers the centre of the tyre.

From top to bottom: S-Model, o3D, MK72.

Review sample provided by Sonny Sy of Orange o3D Miniatures.

Article Last Updated: 10 January 2015