SimonT - 1/72 M966 Hummer w/TOW

[Jim R]

Hi Simon
It is looking like it is supposed to after all the work. As always impressive stuff.
Jim

[SimonT]

Morning Jim and thanks - starting to get there

The wheels and tyres are rather poor - may have to try scratching a new set. Wheel diameter is too big by about 1-1.5mm at scale which is 72-108mm full size. The tyres may be oversize as well

[SimonT]

Well, I spent pretty much all bank holiday Monday trying to make a wheel and tyre for this thing - not the best results


I did manage to add the lifting hoops that poke through the bonnet


and the coils to the chassis and chassis to body tub


and some cushions to the bare seats


after a few failed attempts I finally managed to build this new wheel into the end of some aluminium tubing of the correct diameter

This was the best I could do - not the greatest but all other attempts were really bad


this was the starting point for the tyre - a couple of sections of tubing glued together

That was the easy bit - I then spent ages shaping it and trying to come up with some way of adding the tread blocks

Added little diamonds of micro strip but trying to get them consistent and looking good was impossible

Just couldn't get them looking convincing so decided to pinch the best of the tread sections from the kit wheels


sanded their width and then pared them down so that they would fit over the new tyre section I had constructed


covered the result in filler


and with the new wheel in place

Unfortunately now everything is sanded back they just look rubbish as the treads were never properly defined on the kit - tried cutting them in but that failed so back to the drawing board

This has ground to a halt unless I can come up with a better method

[Guest]

:surprised:. ------------:flushed: --------------- --------------- :crying:

[Jim R]

Hi Simon
I know it goes against the grain but are aftermarket wheels available? All credit to you for the efforts so far.
Jim

[SimonT]

There are some, rather expensive I feel, after market wheels available Jim

I may have another attempt at the weekend

[Jim R]

Hi Simon
I am probably thinking rubbish 'cause I couldn't dream of scratching at your level but could you imprint the tread into a strip of Milliput or similar and then wrap it round the wheel. I imagine cutting tread onto a circle is very difficult. The tread pattern is a repeat so maybe it could be done rather like a tool can be used to imprint brickwork.
Anyway just a thought :rolling:
I'm sure you will sort it.
Jim

[Steve Jones]

Its a shame the wheels are causing you a problem. The rest of the build has been outstanding. Do you have a lathe that you could make wooden wheels with??

[papa 695]

Some great work going into this Simon

[scottie3158]

Simon,
Looking excellent mate. I admire your tenacity when it comes to turning a pigs ear in to a silk purse.

[SimonT]

Jim - I had already tried putting a roll of Duro around the edge and cutting in the pattern but it didn't end well. I suspect that trying to imprint it in to a flat version would be almost impossible to get the length correct. It would need to correspond exactly to the circumference at the point of mounting. Any variation in thickness of the putty caused by pulling it about ever so slightly would change the length and hence the resulting circumference once formed into a circle

Steve - just stick some cart wheels on it?? :smiling: I do have a small Unimat metalline lathe (but no bench to mount it on) and could in theory turn a tyre shape in aluminium or brass but it isn't the round bit causing the problem, it's the thirty tread blocks spaced at 12deg apart

Ian - ta

Scottie - stupidity not tenacity :tongue-out3:



Pulled the crappy tread off the tyre that was in the previous post so now back to my plastic blank

I've previously made tyres in 35th and 15th but the increased size of those scales helped considerably

Cutting the small scale tread blocks consistently is the main problem so.......


....... I knocked up a tread block cutting jig for my next attempt


the square rod pushes through the guides into the recess on the left

knife blade then pushes into the slot as shown to make the cut

whether this will work remains to be seen - have to wait for the glue to dry

the idea is sound but the slight flexibility of plastic could easily result in uneven cuts

it would have been better made in metal with nice sliding guides and adjustable cutting angles etc but I do not have the materials or facilities for doing that

watch this space for the next exciting instalment.........

[Lee Drennen]

Nice scratch as always Simon your beating this thing into submission

[SimonT]

Cheers Lee - getting there slowly

[Jim R]

Morning Simon
A well thought out plan. Fingers crossed that the jig will work.
Jim

[SimonT]

Thanks Jim