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Forums - Research / WW2 |
This WW2 forum is intended for asking and discussing reference or historical related issues pertaining to WW2 (1939-1945) subjects. |
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| Subject: | M8 wheels and tires - The Final Chapter? |  |
| Date: | Apr 27, 2002 |
| From: | Kurt Laughlin | |
I finally found a wartime tire and rim handbook with dimensions for military
tires.
According to the November 1943 update to the 1942 Yearbook of the Tire and
Rim Association's Military Supplement, the overall tire diameter limits for
the 9.00 - 20 Mud and Snow tire is 40.10 to 40.50 inches. This tire uses a
6.00CT divided rim. The OD of the rim proper is (20.000 +.250, -.015) + 2 x
(1.375 +.047, -.047) inches:
20.000 + .250 - .015
1.375 + .047 -.047
1.375 + .047 -.047
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22.750 + .344 - .109 or 22.641 to 23.094 inches in diameter.
In 1/35 then, the tire should be 1.146 - 1.157 OD and the rim should be
.647 - .660 OD.
The tires in Tamiya's M8 kit are 1.166 OD while the rims are .662 OD. So,
in fact, the kit tires are in error to the tune of .315 inches (8.0 mm) and
.070 inches (1.8 mm) on the real vehicle according to wartime standards.
The argument, as I recall it, was that Tamiya's tires were "obviously" too
large, which made the entire vehicle look misproportioned. That's just
ludicrous. I defy anyone to see an error of .009 in 1/35 on a piece of this
size - An error equivalent to a single human hair wrapped around the tire.
Look at the attached photo. It's amazing that the tank can even run with
the suspension set up like that, eh? What? You can't see anything wrong?
Are you blind?!? The wheel on the left is .500 larger than the one on the
right. The Tamiya wheels are only .315 too large and you can see the
problem there, right? Hell, the M8 has an error of 8 parts in 1000, but
this picture is 19 parts in 1000, proportionately over twice as large! Why
can't you see such an "obvious" error?!?
I think you get my point. Although the Tamiya parts may be minutely out of
spec, they aren't visibly bad and certainly not far enough out to destroy
the look of the vehicle. Their M8 may be misproportioned (Heaven knows I'm
not a kiss-ass for Tamiya), but the problem doesn't lie with the wheels and
tires.
Can we FINALLY put this to bed and start looking somewhere else for the
source of the problem?
KL |
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