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I'm painting up a couple of Sd.Kfz. 251/1D halftracks at the moment and am having trouble finding a definitive answer to the construction of the tracked road wheels - were the wheels within the tracks rubber edged or steel edged? I've seen pictures of what appears to be both, and have seen both modelled, but I wonder if it is one or the other and just a case of me not knowing the difference between the large range of halftracks produced through the war. If it was a volatile thing, I'm most interested in halftracks produced in summer 1944.

Thanks for any help or hints!

I couldn't find a definitive answer either but from the looks of it I'd say go with rubber edged road wheels. In fact, I can't find a single pic showing a halftrack with the steel edged ones :(.

On the Sd.kfz's 251's wikipedia page they have a picture of a 251/d captured during the warsaw uprising (1944), it has rubber edged road wheels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sd.Kfz._251

Here's a restored 2nd SS one, again, rubber edged road wheels

If memory serves I think you can have both. Towards the end of the war the Germans suffered huge shortages in rubber and their artificial rubber production never really worked, so the later you go, you start to see road wheels without it.

I've seen Tigers and Panthers with all steel wheels but cant remember ever seeing a 251 one with them.

I will check my Feist 251 'bible' tomorrow and report back.

Thanks for the help all, rubber wheels it is for me then I think!

Culver & Feist make no mention of all steel wheels for the 251 in their Shutzenpanzer book. All their pics show rubber rimmed wheels.

Looking at it, Im not sure the tracks would have withstood an all steel wheel.

OK, apparently the Germans experimented with a steel padded track to save on rubber, but it didn't work out.

Check this site out:

http://www.lerenfort.fsnet.co.uk/page38N.htm

There really is a web site for everything! lol

hah great stuff I've painted rubber onto the wheel rims now and it also looks a lot better as a result, adding a lot more definition to the otherwise monotonous tracks. Thanks again for your help everyone.

Rubber road wheels would be the correct choice.