quieto Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 I have the same kit of yours. I follow your post with great interest. I read that the copper wire in your hand is 0.4mm sized. In real world it would be almost 1 centimeter ... I am not familiar with car spoke's size, but it looks like quite big... isn't it? Is there someone that knows the thickness of Alfa's spokes? (I confess my unforgivable ignorance) You are doing a great job. I follow you Quieto 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted July 24, 2019 Author Share Posted July 24, 2019 3 hours ago, quieto said: I read that the copper wire in your hand is 0.4mm sized. In real world it would be almost 1 centimeter . Yes I get your maths, quieto. They're certainly bigger than bicycle spokes. For strength they were getting bigger. But probably not 10mm But already they look like steel bars rather than wire here on Farina's car. The new .4mm wire is brass to try and get more strength than the copper (electric cable). I need to see what it looks like when it's a mat. Have you started your build? 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quieto Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 Thank you, I bought it almost 1yr ago, but I immediately realized that the oob approach would not result into a beautiful model (also because I did not find the gauge's decals in the box 😮) Unfortunately I am quite novice and I am trying to exercise on old models before starting with modifications. The characteristics of this car that mostly hits me are the front grill and spoked wheels. The effort (and braveness) that you are put on these parts has great value! Quieto 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted August 1, 2019 Author Share Posted August 1, 2019 There's a Lockheed Group Build about to finish in a few days, and I'm making a last-minute effort to get another one past to finish line. Don't think I'll make it though.... But making spoked wheels is always worth a think and a pondering, and the I spotted this today and grabbed one. 24 x 0.2 =4.8mm which is half a cm in diameter for the spoke. In theory that should be about right. And silver plated.......! 😎 I'll weave one up soon and see what it looks like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarz-Brot Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 This wire is going to turn black over time due to oxidation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 (edited) On 02/08/2019 at 16:58, Schwarz-Brot said: This wire is going to turn black over time due to oxidation. Even if its glossed with laquer? Can't wait to see the wheels rob , I've got a matchbox Mercedes-Benz sskl part done that I'd like to resurrect before christmas, i was thinking pe for the wheels i remember there was a slot car company that did pe spokes i was going to give them a bash Edited August 18, 2019 by Hewy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted August 18, 2019 Author Share Posted August 18, 2019 I'd be interested to hear how you get on with that, @Hewy. I guess the Silver coating will darken like silver spoons and jewellery. There are dips etc you can use to clean your earrings....! The Alfa is on the back burner right now as I've got an Aero subject that's time sensitive. There's a Mk IX Spitfire that's embarked on a world tour and the appearance and finish is pretty stunning. Fully polished bare aluminium airframe And I'm hoping to get it done by the time they get back to Goodwood. They're in Canada already. But I will get back to this! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 2 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said: There's a Mk IX Spitfire that's embarked on a world tour and the appearance and finish is pretty stunning. It does look gorgeous, Will you be replicating the oil canning effect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted August 18, 2019 Author Share Posted August 18, 2019 Gonna give it my best shot with polished up Ali tape. It's a favourite method of mine but I've never done this level of polish before 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarz-Brot Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 3 hours ago, Hewy said: Even if its glossed with laquer? Can't wait to see the wheels rob , I've got a matchbox Mercedes-Benz sskl part done that I'd like to resurrect before christmas, i was thinking pe for the wheels i remember there was a slot car company that did pe spokes i was going to give them a bash Not sure, to be honest. I know cellulose lacquers are used to prevent silver from oxidation. So they might work here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 Well, as you will have guessed, I have been off doing other modelling stuff, and kinda lost the plot with the Alfa Romeo wheels. After a couple of poor results with the spoke situation, I put it to one side, and promptly got carried away with lots of other stuff! I expect you know how that happens..!! Anyway, I eventually started on another car kit.... The Mercedes 300SLR from this combo, And good fun it is too! It's got multi part spoked wheels and vinyl tyres which are not bad (depending on what you're used to, of course) And here's the thing..... They're absolutely spot on size wise for the Alfa! Slightly smaller dimensions for the front two, they match the old Merit /SMER kit parts size for size all round. . The Revell wheel build has 3 parts all with spokes and I think it's too much. It's too crowded with all 3 lots. What I've done here is omitted the middle part and just used the 2 outer parts of each wheel. Also the inner rims are a bit tight on the brake drums so far. But I think there's a solution here for me. I can either share the wheels with the Mercedes, or approach Revell spare parts dept to see if they can supply a set. It's an old tooling, but they reissued it quite recently as the combo gift box with the 300SLS so it could be worth a try, if I can work out how to contact them. 😊🙏😎 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 Seems I'm wrong about the recent reissue of the 300SLR kit. Scalemates has it most recent at 2012 so I guess there's no chance of the wheels and tyres being available. If anyone on here has done the 300SLR kit and used aftermarket spoked wheels, and now has a set of these kit wheels lying around in a spares box, I'd like to discuss a transaction...!! Anyhow, reverting back to the Alfa Romeo, I have the wheel centre wingnuts fitted with styrene pins that push fit into the Ali tube axles and stub axles that I fitted many moons ago. The new wheels are drilled and fitted with the larger diameter tubes that slide onto the axles, and the wingnut pins pushed in to retain them. The Mercedes will get the same tube axles fitted, and similar pins in the wingnuts, and with a bit of luck the set of wheels and tyres will be fully changeable between the cars. A little bit of tidying on these nuts and I'm about there with the Alfa 👍 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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