WWII German BMW R75
Motorcycle Wheels

DSPIAE

Reviewed by John Miller

I first became aware of 1/35 scale motorcycle kits when I reviewed the Thunder Models 1/35 Indian Scout 741B U.S. Military Motorcycle.

A 1/35 scale motorcycle kit makes for a small model for sure but, I’ve seen these kits on show display tables and in the right hands, they are impressive when built.

With that in mind, I quickly picked up the the Great Wall BMW R75 Motorcycle with sidecar (kit# L3510). This is a nice kit that may be on the fiddly side but incorporates an amazing level of detail. That said, the wheels/tires supplied are adequate but just that…

Enter UMM-USA with an amazing set of hand-made replacement wheels that have turned aluminum hubs, 3-D resin tires and amazingly thin copper-wire spokes.

Beautiful!

These wheels are appropriate for any 1/35 scale R75 kit. Fitting these wheels will take some work but it’s nothing beyond someone with a little experience and patience. I couldn’t wait for the build and had to see what these wheels/tires looked like after painting and I wasn’t let down.

Background

The BMW R75 is a WWII-era motorcycle and sidecar combination produced by the German company BMW. The BMW R75 stands out with its integral two-wheel drive design utilizing drive shafts to both its rear wheel and the third, side-car wheel. This design included a locking differential as well as a transfer case offering both road and off-road gear ratios, through which all forward and reverse gears worked. This made the R75 highly maneuverable and capable of negotiating most surfaces. A few other motorcycle manufactures, like FN and Norton, offered optional drive to sidecars.

Text edited from Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_R75

The wheels come wire-tied onto a piece of foam that fits inside a sturdy clear plastic box with a snap-on lid. Keep in mind, these wheels are hand-made and even the packing reflects this.

Once removed from the foam backing, the amazing detail of these parts becomes evident. Most impressive are the thin, copper spokes, which look very in-scale for a 1/35 scale wheel.

The crisp machining of the aluminum hubs and rims is also quite an eye-catcher.

The wheels (hubs, spokes, and rims) are easily removed from the resin tires by applying light pressure to the rim but, only to the rim, not the hub or spokes.

Pressure applied to the hub could break or bend the delicate copper-wire spokes. 

Painting

Once removed from their tires, the wheels were just screaming for some paint. A quick search of BMW R75 images on the Google machine produced multiple pics of R75’s painted in a tri-color scheme of DunkelGelb, Dunkelgrün and Rotbraun. Perfect!

The wheels were first shot Mission Black Primer followed by Mission Dunkelgelb, Rotbraun and Dunkelgrün.
With the wheels painted, I turned my attention to the nicely cast tires and tried something I don’t usually do; painting with a hairy stick—not my strong suit. Mission Tire Black was diluted ~15% with Mission White and then mixed with a few drops of Clear Primer. This was brushed on and allowed to dry for 2 hrs.

Using acrylics makes it easy to go straight to enamel panel washes and such with little fear of the wash adversely affecting the paint. To that end, I applied some Black Tamiya Panel Liner to the treads of each tire and after a few minutes drying time, removed the excess with a Kimwipe tissue moistened with Mona Lisa Odorless Thinner. The high points on the tread were highlighted with a slightly moistened, Dirty White AK Weathering Pencil.

After a few hours to dry, the wheels were carefully re-inserted into the tires using light pressure and working my way around the wheel until it was properly seated. Done!

These UMM wheels are truly little pieces of modeling art that come alive under a coat of paint and a little weathering. Care needs to be taken if you decide to remove the wheels from the tires but with a little patience, this not a difficult job. Now that the wheels are done, I guess I’ll have to finish the rest of the motorcycle:) More to come….

These wheels are available from UMM-USA as set of two or a set of four, if you’re interested in doing the motorcycle-side car version.

Keep your airbrush wet!

John

Set of 2 - Click Here

https://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/product_info.php?products_id=11868&osCsid=3e19a4530c45a667eb0791fd087eed51

Set of 4 - Click Here

https://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/product_info.php?products_id=11867&osCsid=3e19a4530c45a667eb0791fd087eed51

For more on this review visit ModelPaintSolutions.com.

https://modelpaintsol.com/reviews/umm-usa-1-35-wwii-german-bmw-r75-motorcycle-wheels

Text and images copyright ©2025 by John Miller/Model Paint Solutions.

Text by and Images by John Miller
Page Created 21 March, 2025
Last updated 21 March, 2025

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