What's the Deal With the Classic 2-piece Model Wheel?

[Jordan White]

So looking on ebay for model wheels and tires got me thinking, why (at least for new kits) do the US companies continue to use 2 piece wheels? I know that Revell has started offering 1 piece wheels in some of their more recent kits, but I wonder why for the past couple decades the majority of kits used the 2-piece wheel design (front spoke half and rear mounting half)? I'm guessing it was originally due to tooling limitations, and perhaps how they liked attaching the wheels, but now that many non-US companies use 1-piece wheels, it seems like that would have become the standard. I hate when the wheel backs show through the spokes and show that there are no brakes, at least for disc brakes. I do appreciate the kits where they have 2-piece wheels that form into 1 wheel where you can still see through them. I guess maybe I got spoiled with the Japanese kits and aftermarket wheels where the wheels just slide into the tires and there's no frantic searching for wheel backs that fit both the tire ID, as well as the correct thickness (unless they can be shortened properly to fit).

[espo]

One thought in my mind would have to do with the cost of production. The inside or mounting side can be used for many different applications. The outer half of the wheel can be tailored to the specific kit. There are many different outer designs and sometimes this may include different width tires also and this would be an easy way to make the outer half fit the wider tire. Just a theory on my part. 

[Jordan White]

It's not a bad theory, and does make sense. I just feel that it wouldn't be much different in making a wheel face vs an entire wheel, since it would be the same (or a bit less rather) amount of plastic, and not any more effort to make it the width of the tire. If they use the same style of it sliding in like Tamiya or Aoshima, then all the tire interiors could be the same shape vs the stepped design they use with the 2-piece wheels. Sure you would have to use slightly more plastic if you want more than one set of wheels, but at least when you want to use those extra wheels in the future, you aren't hunting for more wheel backs in order to use them.

[Classicgas]

I actually don't like Revells new wheels and mounting style. Makes it harder to switch wheels and tires around.

[gtx6970]

Gotta remember, lot  of the tires back then were either 2 piece hard plastic. or molded in a hard rubber , both requiring a 2 piece wheel

[Jordan White]

Oh yeah, I know that back then they had limitations, I’m talking more about in more recent decades.

[Spex84]

I prefer the 2-part style with solid rubber tires, but that's because I like to build hot rods and '50s customs.  Most of those cars had drum brakes and brake backing plates which fill most of the wheel-back area anyway.

Maybe if I was building modern cars with low-profile tires and disc brakes I'd prefer one-piece...actually no, I'd like to have a "3/4 vs 1/4" system, where 3/4 of the wheel is attached to the front side, and then there's a rim that attaches to the backside. Fantastic for mixing, matching, deepening other wheels, and generally customizing stuff.

[espo]

The only wheels I seem to be fighting right now are the Revell wheels that are designed to go inside of their new hollow tires. Seems like you need a miniature tire iron to get the hollow tire around the two wheel parts.  

[slusher]

1 hour ago, Classicgas said:

I actually don't like Revells new wheels and mounting style. Makes it harder to switch wheels and tires around.

I don’t care for Revell’s new wheels. The wheels have a tendency to lean out also..

[peteski]

I believe  it is the ease of creating the mold.  Depending on how the wheel is designed, instead of a simple 2-piece mold used to mold each wheel half, 1-piece wheel might require a more complex slide mold.  Unless the 1-piece wheel design is greatly simplified.  What also might come into play is the depth of the mold. It might be more difficult to completely inject a deep 1-piece mold with plastic.

[gtx6970]

18 hours ago, Jordan White said:

Oh yeah, I know that back then they had limitations, I’m talking more about in more recent decades.

Probably more to do with don't fix it if its not broken mentality

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

On 2/26/2020 at 5:53 PM, Classicgas said:

I actually don't like Revells new wheels and mounting style. Makes it harder to switch wheels and tires around.

Exactly, I HATE it, too, as a rabid kitbasher.... -RRR

[Tom Geiger]

Yup, I like the two part wheels. On my recent Falcon stocker the rear tires I chose were too wide. No problem, I just added a piece of scrap plastic between the wheel halves to mate them

[Force]

On 2/26/2020 at 11:53 PM, Classicgas said:

I actually don't like Revells new wheels and mounting style. Makes it harder to switch wheels and tires around.

 

On 2/27/2020 at 1:15 AM, slusher said:

I don’t care for Revell’s new wheels. The wheels have a tendency to lean out also..

 

13 hours ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

Exactly, I HATE it, too, as a rabid kitbasher.... -RRR

I couldn't agree more, I hate those small metal pins they started to use about 15 years ago, you almost have to crack and destroy the suspension parts to get the wheels on there, I never use these pins and find my own better solution to the problem, one thing is that I allways glue my wheels on the models as I don't want them to roll...I mean my models are not toys, they are static replica models that's going to stay put on the shelf and not roll around.
I also think many of the wheels in later Revell kits look too small...they might be scaled right but they still look too small when you use them on the model, I read somewhere that if you scale down everything exactly on a model the result of some things may not look right and have to be slightly overscale to get the right look.
So for me they can return to what they had before and skip the system they use now as I think it's c*ap.
 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Force

[randyc]

Could likely have been because 'back in the day", kits were 3 in 1.   So you could swap wheels, backs, and tires around within the kit or across the lines of kits.  By selecting carefully, you could tailor your build to whatever tires and wheels you wanted.   I learned to live with teh results.  Paint he backs to look like what you needed.  And you ended up with lots of extras if you built a lot.  Much better than a single tire/wheel choice in a kit, then having to buy a whole other kit just for a set of wheels like we do today.   Back when, you might get 3 full sets of wheels and a couple sets of backs in a single kit.  

[Draggon]

8 hours ago, Force said:

I couldn't agree more, I hate those small metal pins they started to use about 15 years ago, you almost have to crack and destroy the suspension parts to get the wheels on there, I never use these pins and find my own better solution to the problem
 

I've been surprised that Revell at least, has not adopted the poly-caps that the Japanese kit makers use. They're slick, and makes changing wheels more than easy. MRC got close with their "Muscle Car Hop Up" sets, but the pins and sockets were all plastic. Here's a pic if your'e not familiar with them. 

[Bills72sj]

On 2/28/2020 at 1:34 PM, Draggon said:

I've been surprised that Revell at least, has not adopted the poly-caps that the Japanese kit makers use. They're slick, and makes changing wheels more than easy. MRC got close with their "Muscle Car Hop Up" sets, but the pins and sockets were all plastic. Here's a pic if your'e not familiar with them. 

I got a set of those in a wheel and tire lot from ebay. It has helped out a number of times with wheel swaps for my "day two" builds.