This page once highlighted what I perceived to be a major flaw in the road wheels which Tamiya provide in their 'new generation' panzer III and Stug III kits. Thanks to Tom Cockle I am now able to report that wheels like Tamiya's did actually exist. Tom sent a couple of photos he took at  the Tank Museum, Bovington, England that clearly show where Tamiya's designers got their pattern from.  The wheels concerned belong to a Stug III ausf G. What remains unclear is how common this type of wheel was. I have yet to conclusively identify this type of wheel in any of the 'in-action' photographs from books in my posession.  It would be nice to identify whether the wheel was peculiar to one assembler and if it was ever used on Panzer III's. It was certainly not a common pattern judging from what I have seen.

I have included  parts of some images from Andreas Larka's IPMS Fi-1877 Page  which give a reasonably clear indication as to what the most commonly seen  road wheels looked like.  It is fairly obvious that there was a degree of variation in the style of wheels produced for the Panzer III and Stug III. The wheels shown are typical of late panzer III's and mid to late Stug III G's. Earlier marks exhibited other subtle variations which I have not shown here. If I can find suitable pictures I will update this page.

Below these is a scan of the Tamiya wheel.  I have also added some scans of Dragon wheels for comparison.

There are also faults common to all Panzer III and Stug III kit wheels. Firstly the inner face of each wheel should have a flat disc that extends almost to the outer edge of the tires. Aber do a PE set for those wishing to add this detail. The other main problem is that the smaller holes represent the tips of tubes that run from the outer wheel to the inner wheel. More ambitious modellers may wish to add these from plastic rod. 

Photo 1. It is clear from the photo below that the main wheel disc pressing wraps under the wheel rim and is secured by a number of small welds around the join. There is a very small visible gap in between each weld. The gap is barely perceptible from some angles.

Photo 2. This wheel clearly shows a gap but nothing like the trench that Tamiya provides.

Photo 3. This photo is interesting in that it shows that minor variations were common. Note the rightmost wheel seems to have a very small gap between the main disc and the rim.

Photo 4. Another shot showing wheels where the rim appears to sit fairly flush on the main disc.

Photo 5.  Copyright Tom Cockle. A roadwheel from Bovington's Stug III G. The resemblance to Tamiya's wheel is clear. Click on image to see a larger view 

Photo 6.  Copyright Tom Cockle. A second roadwheel from Bovington's Stug III G.  Click on image to see a larger view 

The  photo below of Tamiya's wheel is very close to those shown above. Perhaps the 'trench' is a little exagerated and Tamiya's weld beads are a little rougher but other than that they are a good match. 

The picture below is the Gunze designed road wheel issued with Dragon's Stug III G, Stug III F/8 , Pz III ausf J, M/N and K kits. This wheel is less defined in the area where the main disc meets the rim. This can be enhanced with a little careful scribing and scraping to more closely match the wheels above.  

The picture below is the road wheel issued with Dragon's Stug III B,C/D and F,  Pz III ausf H, and Pzbeob kits. This wheel is of a different pattern to the other types and is more typical of the earlier kit types it comes issued with.  Dragon also do another style of wheel which is issued with their Stug III ausf A, and Panzer III ausf E & G. the wheels are of a different design to the types featured on this page. They were narrower than the later types and were used with the 36cm track.