1/18 Duesenberg wire wheels

[BSteinIPMS]

Great amount of information and talent here-the wheels are fantastic and the alclad finish is perfect-real chrome is too shiny on these models-they now look like real steel.[almost are!]

I noticed you use many suppliers-do you know where I can buy scale chain and sprockets for my Historic racers? 1/16- and 1/8 scale cars? I know it must be out there.

I look foreward to seeing more of this build.

Frank,

Skip has one good source for the resin chain but says it's discontinued. Micro-Mark carries the same item along with different sizes of sprockets here:

http://www.micromark.com/miniature-drive-chain-price-per-foot,9716.html

Micro-Mark also sells ladder chain from Tamiya, but it may not be scale for your purposes:

http://www.micromark.com/tamiya-ladder-chain-and-sprocket-set,10780.html

Top Studio makes photoetch link-by-bloody-link chain that is just beautiful when assembled. Very tedious. Requires extreme patience. Therefore, anyone with children could easily assemble these kits:

http://www.hiroboy.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5595&osCsid=f88f29ed16d55bc2a6d8f1081080c77d

Last, Model Factory Hiro makes a similar product:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10064748

I think if you google "Tamiya photo etch chain" or any variation of this you'll find others.

Cheers!

--Bob

[BSteinIPMS]

Jeez, Bob! You had to go and build a car and embarass all of us car builders! Thanks a bunch!

Andrew.....Andrew.....Andrew.......you must be mistaken. I'm an amateur whereas you're the Master of Time, Space, and Automotive Dimension. I genuflect before your greatness! I am not worthy. I grovel at your feet.

See you at the NNL North Model Car Show 18 May? I think I'll bring my Duesenberg engine. It's all I have.

Cheers!

--Bob

[Mike Kucaba]

Now I remember! You are the one that I used to drool over in FSM with the radial engine article. . Very nice work on the whole car .

[Modelmartin]

Andrew.....Andrew.....Andrew.......you must be mistaken. I'm an amateur whereas you're the Master of Time, Space, and Automotive Dimension. I genuflect before your greatness! I am not worthy. I grovel at your feet.

See you at the NNL North Model Car Show 18 May? I think I'll bring my Duesenberg engine. It's all I have.

Cheers!

--Bob

You must be mistaking me some other Andrew. I am a hacker.

[Ira]

Looks Great!

Very Realistic...

[AzTom]

Awesome! Having built all the Hubley kits, I really appreciate this being shared.

[LWBNomad]

I'm happy to report that mere mortals can do this, too! This is my first wheel, in progress. A little hacked up with false starts - broken drills, not enough thought into the drilling sequence, etc., but the back halves of the wheels, which this is one of, can hide a multitude of sins, to a point. It does get easier. But, egad, this will take some time.

[Ford V8]

I have seen her work with aircraft kits in the FSM and was amazed at the details. To my surprise, upon entering this post, I have just discovered that the person who is posting here (a beautiful car by the way), is the same person who made those beautiful airplanes. Your buildings have always been an inspiration to me and, no doubt, I'll continue watching this assembly too.

Congratulations, Mr Bob

Jefferson

[BSteinIPMS]

I'm happy to report that mere mortals can do this, too! This is my first wheel, in progress. A little hacked up with false starts - broken drills, not enough thought into the drilling sequence, etc., but the back halves of the wheels, which this is one of, can hide a multitude of sins, to a point. It does get easier. But, egad, this will take some time.

It's looking just great, Stan! Very precise and regular! Not easy to do, but I admire your stick-to-it-evness. A tool which made it go much faster for me and made the whole project palatable was an old Dremel hobby tool, one of the single-speed models which needed to be plugged into Dremel's speed controller (a purpose-made rheostat) which slowed the drill bits down to where they would not melt the plastic. By not having to manually turn and twist a pin vise (vice, if you're Canadian...grin), you break far fewer drill bits since you can hold things much steadier. And since we're talking British here (and Canadian) I'll just say Good Show, Eh?

[BSteinIPMS]

I have seen her work with aircraft kits in the FSM and was amazed at the details. To my surprise, upon entering this post, I have just discovered that the person who is posting here (a beautiful car by the way), is the same person who made those beautiful airplanes. Your buildings have always been an inspiration to me and, no doubt, I'll continue watching this assembly too.

Congratulations, Mr Bob

Jefferson

Thanks for the kind words, Jefferson; much appreciated! You are either very old or have a very good memory to recall all those old FineScale Modeler articles.

[LWBNomad]

...A tool which made it go much faster for me and made the whole project palatable was an old Dremel hobby tool, one of the single-speed models which needed to be plugged into Dremel's speed controller (a purpose-made rheostat) which slowed the drill bits down to where they would not melt the plastic. By not having to manually turn and twist a pin vise (vice, if you're Canadian...grin), you break far fewer drill bits since you can hold things much steadier. And since we're talking British here (and Canadian) I'll just say Good Show, Eh?

I have such a combination, but I've been unable to find a fine enough chuck to hold those tiny #78 drill bits. I'll keep looking. Actually, I've ordered carbide bits that have a ⅛ shank, that will solve the issue - when they get here. I also found that #77 bits are considerably stronger while only being .002" larger and the larger holes, which I've drilled in the outer rim only, with spokes inserted can be filled by CA glue.

[BSteinIPMS]

I have such a combination, but I've been unable to find a fine enough chuck to hold those tiny #78 drill bits. I'll keep looking. Actually, I've ordered carbide bits that have a ⅛ shank, that will solve the issue - when they get here. I also found that #77 bits are considerably stronger while only being .002" larger and the larger holes, which I've drilled in the outer rim only, with spokes inserted can be filled by CA glue.

Stan,

If you like you can send me your mailing address via a PM and I'll send you a set of four collets ( the smallest of which will grasp a #80 drill = .013") and an adjustable chuck. These are extras ( I think I have five sets) that I've accumulated over the years which are cluttering up my workbench.

[LWBNomad]

Thank you, Bob! PM has been sent, I think.

[LWBNomad]

Here is my first wheel half, completely spoked. And I am stoked! The elation at fitting the last couple of spokes would not be believed until one experiences it.

[TomN]

Stan

Congradulations on your first completed wheel, it looks great!

I've actually heard that a pet pedicure tool makes a good drill motor, they are cheap, will have to check one out someday.

I just bought the Packard Roadster, wish I could join you guys, but it will have to wait awhile.

Tom

[LWBNomad]

I've been fretting about how to drill the rest of these wheels so that they don't take two weeks each. I picked up a Dremel drill press but my old Dremel 270 - which rotates nice and slow plugged into the foot pedal rheostat - won't fit. I then bought a new Dremel 100 to fit the drill press. But it doesn't work plugged into the foot pedal rheostat. Looks to me like the old Dremels are better than the new ones. So I looked again at my floor-standing Delta 14" drill press. The pulleys can be rigged for 460 RPM. The .016" carbide bits I ordered arrived yesterday, they have ⅛" shanks and the big drill press chuck will take them, no problem. Then all one has to worry about is lateral runout, as the carbide won't take any lateral loading. I set up a jig and tried it. Very hard to modulate the feed and I broke two bits on the first wheel half, but the problem was that I couldn't see the action and fed too quickly, breaking the bits. No problem with lateral runout. Then I ditched my safety glasses and put on my magnifying visor so I could get in really close and see the action, and be much more delicate managing the feed. The second wheel went fine. This is working!

The first two photos show the jig positioned to drill holes in the rim for "trailing" spokes; once the trailing spoke holes are done, the jig will be re-positioned to drill the "leading" spoke holes. The trailing and leading spoke holes need to be on separate planes; this was an error I made in my first hand-made wheel and I had to re-drill half of the holes I'd done.

The last photo shows a wheel half with the trailing spoke holes completed.

Edited April 14, 2014 by LWBNomad

[Belugawrx]

Very Ingenious Mr. Munn

Great work

Cheers

[TomN]

Bravo Stan!!!... very clever.

So you're drilling the holes before removing the spokes, nice idea.

Hope to see more soon!

Tom

[BSteinIPMS]

Boy, I love it when a good plan comes together! Great work, Stan! I think your drill jig is rather ingenious, besides being more efficacious than my method of drilling the spokes out one-by-one by hand. Took forever!

Cheers!

--Bob

Edited April 9, 2014 by BSteinIPMS

[LWBNomad]

Thanks for the compliments! I drilled more holes last night. With practice getting the feed rate right so as to avoid breaking the drill bit, it took just 14 minutes to do 26 holes on my last wheel rim. So I've done all the trailing spoke holes on all five remaining wheels; now I'll move the jig to do the leading spoke holes. I'll still use a pin-vice and a high-speed steel bit to drill the holes in the hubs, but I'll mark pilot holes with the tip of a scriber to make sure the bit can't wander and the holes are properly placed. Having the rim holes drilled makes it easier to cut out the plastic spokes a few at a time and get the positions for the wire spoke replacements correct. However, I don't see any way around hand-work for drilling the hub holes. It's still going to be several weeks before I have a set of wires as nice as Bob's.

I have three of these Hubley Duesenberg kits; I want to build at least two of them. This will keep me off the streets for a while...

Edited April 14, 2014 by LWBNomad

[Eric Macleod]

I built both the Phaeton and the Town Car years ago. Yours has to be the best model I have ever seen of a J Duesey Gabriel/Hubley kit. Well done so far.

[LWBNomad]

Here's an inner wheel half with both sets of holes for leading and trailing spokes. The plane of leading spoke holes are just slightly offset from the plane of trailing spoke holes so that they'll all go quietly to the hub without clashing. Because the carbide bits break if you feed them against a surface at an acute angle, the rim was pre-drilled with a small carbide router bit. I'm prepping more than one set of wheels this way (my personal form of madness).

[sjordan2]

Okay, Bob. Waiting for more detail on the rest of the car!

[AzTom]

I'm ready for more.

[Randytheroadrunner]

You can buy a chuck that fits into one of those cordless screwdrivers that rotate very slow. That's what I drill all my HO Scale grab iron holes with. Cost about 9 bucks.

Edited April 25, 2014 by Randytheroadrunner