Replacement Spoked wheels in 1/12th scale?

[Doug]

Hi all,

Does anybody know of a company or individual who supply aftermarket spoked (wire) wheels for Tamiya 1/12 Motorcycles. I am trying to produce a couple of retro Honda and Moto Guzzi bikes and would like to finish them with spoked wheels rather than the kit's cast alloy jobbies?

TIA

Doug S.

[D1fuN0]

Short answer... no

There are a couple of BM'ers that have the knowledge about relacing wheels, im sure they'll post there ideas for you, other than that, the only other thing i can suggest is swapping/modifying wheels with other bike kits.

Steve

[krow113]

You are kinda on your own .I suggest research into the wheel you wish to lace. Factory manuals with lacing procedures are a really good idea.I used Harley factory manuals to lace the wheels on my Bobber '47 display:

Those were made by using kit rims to master resin sets , and a cast hub as well.

For this 1/8 Top Fuel Harley Hillclimber I used wheels from a Heller Yammy Trials bike kit:

They are ongoing as I make jigs and do layout:

I'll use the kit Yammy kit wheels, I added an inverted 'C' channel of plastic to stiffen and make the rims look more Harley-like.

Motorcycle models can win ribbons ,but wont progress to the trophy round with kit spokes,an observation I have made.

I did do an article on how to construct and lace the Bobber wheels I may send it to you if you are interested.

Good luck!

[Doug]

This is very much what I feared. \the problem, in as much as it is a problem, is that both of the retro bikes I want to build are from my head not based on a particular actual machine so I suppose it doesn't really matter spoke pattern wise. Well I shall give it a go and see what I can come up with after all I have a few spare rims to work with!

Lovely work on the Bobber Krow, can only hope mine turn out even half as good as yours.

Thanks once again.

if anyone out there has scratch-built spoked wheels and would be willing to give me some pointers I would love to hear from you.

Doug S.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Doug

[D1fuN0]

Hiya Doug.

One thing I have seen, is transplanting rims.

Where you remove the spokes, hub etc from one rim and transplant them to another. Obviously, im assuming, works only if the rim is a little bigger than the one youre using.

Theres still a good few of the Tamiya bikes that have spokes that you could use in this way.

Understand the 'pictures in your head' thing, I have a couple that I want to build, a 900ss and V10 for starters, and a version of the Bimota Tesi thats just porn to look at...

Steve

[keefr22]

There used to be an excellent tutorial on making 1/24th wire wheels, which I wanted to find recently as I want to have a go at a Smer Talbot Lago racing car. Unfortunately I couldn't find that particular article, but I did find the following two which I think are quite good;

http://www.themotormuseuminminiature.co.uk/re-spoking-wire-wheels.php

http://www.easybuiltmodels.com/spoked.htm

I also found these about real bike wheels (albeit the second is for bicycles) that I found useful in having clear pictures & drawings of spoke patterns;

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-wheels/spoke-wheels/

http://www.patricktaylor.com/building-a-bicycle-wheel

HTH

keef

[krow113]

This is very much what I feared. \the problem, in as much as it is a problem, is that both of the retro bikes I want to build are from my head not based on a particular actual machine so I suppose it doesn't really matter spoke pattern wise. Well I shall give it a go and see what I can come up with after all I have a few spare rims to work with!

Doug the spoke pattern is the most important part of the whole procedure. The Harley pattern and spoking procedure is simple and easy to get and follow. Also if you can find Gerald Wingroves books there is a precision procedure for wheel fab and lacing. PM me and I will send you my article,it is comparable to the others offered here and is done with easily available tools and supplies.

[stevecombeboy]

This looks like what I'm going to have to do on my Triumph 3HW - scary or what!!

Thanks, Keef, for putting up the links.

Steve

[krow113]

This looks like what I'm going to have to do on my Triumph 3HW - scary or what!!

Thanks, Keef, for putting up the links.

Steve

Google your project ,there are pix of a set for that model. Not as scary as you might think. The Bobber shown went up against that Triumph model in an IPMS show , the kit spokes and chain on the Triumph did it in. Both are issues you might want to look at.

Anyone wanting my lacing article can pm me, I am interested in opinions on the article ,and whether or not it is a usable item for modellers.

Edited April 16, 2013 by krow113

[heloman1]

I'm half (!) way through a build of the Protar BMW sidecar combo and am replacing the wheels using SS pool brush bristles. The SS wire isn't too shiny, so looks scale. The art is to have a logical sequence and build a jig to hold bath the rim and hub. Don't chop all the wheels, start with one and use the other as a guide. Drill small holes in the rim and hub at the root and nipple., a small dia bolt for the hub will hold everything tight.

If you can't find SS wire fine trace fishing wire should be a good alternative. Some comes with a brown shellack coating which is easily stripped off by pulling the trace wire through wet and dry paper.

I'll take some fresh pics this am and post so you can see how I went about it.

Colin

[heloman1]

I took some pics of the work so far on the rims from the BMW comb and The Manx Norton

First pic shows the Manx Norton wheel with a few spokes replaced, the ideas was to remove a couple then replace those and then move around the wheel. This may negate the use of a jig!

The second image shows the partially worked rime against the kit part untouched.

Next up is the BMW combo rims, here I chopeed out all of the spokes drilled the rim and hub and then did the lacing. The end of each spoke was bent at 90 degrees not attempt has been made to represent the nipple. Albion Alloy fine tube could be just the right product.

As mentioned above it's not too difficult if you plan the work and don't rush into it.

Colin

[xffw45343tg]

If you can get your mitts on a copy of The Complete Car Modeller by Gerald WIngrove, there is a complete tutorial on the subject. I've linked to book 1 but there's also a book 2 with equally stunning content.

Kirk

[Natter]

Krow113's article is a very useful read for anyone wanting to lace their own wheels. Although I haven't attempted lacing yet the article is clear, informative and supported by step-by-step photographs which are sharp and enhance the article. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to attempt lacing wire wheels on their motorcycle models.

[krow113]

Thanks for the plug Natty.

Colin your wheels are fantastic, always good to show different methods to achieve the same results.I have the Protar BMW sidecar kit as well , the wheels definitly need the respoke treatment , which you show to good effect. The nipples are the rub ,though, I have a lot of different rods , wires , tubing (Albion) etc. The trouble is cutting the small dia tubing to exact length ,I have jigs and tools ,much like helo's, but have yet to come up with a way to cut multiple tiny lengths of s/s or nickel/ silver tubing. On the Bobber I solved the 'nipple problem' rather easily with repeated applications of white glue, building up the shape by applying dots of glue over a 2 week period. By the way, the wheels after re-spoking in wire, and glued up, are amazingly strong!

Colin your one at a time respoke is a good beginner method, the problem (for me) lies in the fact that it is hard to make the rim join/seam look good with all the spokes in the way, one of the main reasons to do this is to get the rim join/ seam to disappear. Also tubing can be cut to cover the hub seam:

G.W.'s books are excellent as he shows incredible discipline in his tool/jig making. Also some Pocher kits came with jigs for wire wheels, if you know a Pocher builder ask to see them.

Thread slightly hijacked , but to a good end!

[D1fuN0]

Oh HELLO.... duh!

I have a Pocher Bugatti.... (slaps forehead)...

After all the information thats been passed around, i think im going to have a go at this. Ive got a Norton and Triumph and Cagiva Explorer that would benefit from

having new wheels. Gonna try this on my Norton first i think...

Thanks

Steve