Hello,

Does anyone know what the correct thread pattern is on the balloon tires used by the DAK kubelwagen?

Most models I've seen have the thread pattern that Tamiya and Dragon use on their DAK kubel, but I've yet to come across a clear photo of the actual tire with this pattern.
http://vincesgallery.smugmug.com/photos/134567597-L.jpg

The closest I've seen is this:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qPXuIjEtiuc/UI6pD8GlT0I/AAAAAAAAFKg/o-z7agzCOUQ/s1600/kubelwagen1.jpg

But I've come across this photo:
http://www.cybermodeler.com/armor/kubel/images/kruse_kubel_14.jpg


Which shows otherwise.

Scratching my head now ~

sonny

I guess you could take the easy way and just sand them smooth (no pun intended ):





You can notice the "grooves" are almost invisible on the spare tires...

HTH

H.P.

Hi Henri-Pierre,

Thanks for the photos. You're right, they're mostly worn out and dont show any thread pattern.
What's interesting is that in your second photo, one of the front and the rear tyre shows the thread pattern similar to Tamiya, Dragon patterns.

Cool!

Here's another restored Kubelwagen with Continental "slick tires". I can't vouch for their accuracy though.. :

http://www.ww2vw.com/index2.php?str=gallery&shwid=50&shwup=26&pic=0&resultpage=1

H.P.

Just to muddy the water a bit more, here's another variant of balloon tires :







According to the caption of the last picture, they were called Tropenreifen, made by the Kronprinz company...But I've also seen the "Kronprinz" brand associated with the variant found in Tamiya and Dragon kits

H.P.

Hmm, this one is a great set of photos and really seem to match the WW2 photos quite well. I'm more and more leaning towards the slick understated thread pattern.

BTW - I'm making some masters for 1/72 scale kubel balloon tires. Thats what the research is for.

Thanks so much!

Thanks for this great thread- I've just started Tamiya's 1/48 Kubel to go with my Me509 build and all these great pics will help a lot. The thread is over in Aeroscale if you're interested.

Thanks for the tread. It's a detail but a significant detail.

I have a future build with a DAK kubewagen.

Can't help but notice the pun!
I'm gonna check out your build on aero scale chukw!

The tire manufacturer name (Continental) is clearly visible in this hi-res period picture (from this Kubelwagen album on Flickr ) :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deckarudo/8438511373/sizes/o/

It seems that the US star has been painted over a RAF roundel...



H.P.

DEF Model has just released 3 types of DAK wheels with different balloon tyres.