13" Steel Wheels

[Andrew McD]

This is a repeat of a question I asked in the 2024 Sebring thread.  I got a couple of useful answers there but thought I would pose the question to a broader audience.  I am in search of some 13" steel wheels and tires for the 1/24 scale Lotus Cortina I'm working on.  It's a resin kit and the wheels are wrong for the Jim Clark Cortina I'm trying to replicate.  Any advice on a source of wheel/tire would be appreciated.  I'm trying to avoid having to do some major surgery (lathe work) to swap out wheel centers which I fear with my lack of lathe experience may end up as  a pile of chips on the floor!

Andrew

Edited November 3, 2023 by Andrew McD
spelling

[Anglia105E]

27 minutes ago, Andrew McD said:

This is a repeat of a question I asked in the 2024 Sebring thread.  I got a couple of useful answers there but thought I would pose the question to a broader audience.  I am in search of some 13" steel wheels and tires for the 1/24 scale Lotus Cortina I'm working on.  It's a resin kit and the wheels are wrong for the Jim Clark Cortina I'm trying to replicate.  Any advice on a source of wheel/tire would be appreciated.  I'm trying to avoid having to do some major surgery (lathe work) to swap out wheel centers which I fear with my lack of lathe experience may end up as  a pile of chips on the floor!

Andrew

Hi Andrew . . . How about the 1:24 Tamiya Lotus Super 7 Series II kit ?  This would be a typical donor kit for a 1:24 Ford Anglia 105E resin body build.

The 13" steel wheels would fit nicely onto the Anglia and the Lotus Cortina . . . I am currently building my second Anglia 105E in 1:24 scale, and this one has a 3D resin printed body.

David

[Matt Bacon]

Would these be any good?

https://motobitz.uk/accessories.html

John Whitmore's Lotus Cortinas ran on these back in the day...

best,

M.

[bill-e-boy]

The Tamiya Lotus wheels and tires are nice representatives of the wheels you want. 13" and skinny with good detail

[Phildaupho]

7 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:

Would these be any good?

https://motobitz.uk/accessories.html

John Whitmore's Lotus Cortinas ran on these back in the day...

best,

M.

These Motobiltz wheels and tires look like a great solution. In terms of 13" vinyl tires -the AMT Tiger has skinny and wide. Here are the Mini-Exotic wheels with narrow tires.

[Andrew McD]

22 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:

Would these be any good?

https://motobitz.uk/accessories.html

John Whitmore's Lotus Cortinas ran on these back in the day...

best,

M.

Matt,

This looks like what I've been searching for!  I've sent an inquiry to Motobitz and awaiting a reply.

Thank you!

Andrew

[Andrew McD]

14 hours ago, Phildaupho said:

These Motobiltz wheels and tires look like a great solution. In terms of 13" vinyl tires -the AMT Tiger has skinny and wide. Here are the Mini-Exotic wheels with narrow tires.

Phil,

Great looking wheel and tire combination.....just what I'm looking for.  Did a quick search for the AMT Tiger but those available online are absurdly expensive.  I've sent an inquiry to Motobitz and hopefully will get a set of wheels from them but I'll keep looking for some fat vinyl tires that might look like race tires from 1964.  Thanks for your feedback!

Andrew

[Andrew McD]

23 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

Hi Andrew . . . How about the 1:24 Tamiya Lotus Super 7 Series II kit ?  This would be a typical donor kit for a 1:24 Ford Anglia 105E resin body build.

The 13" steel wheels would fit nicely onto the Anglia and the Lotus Cortina . . . I am currently building my second Anglia 105E in 1:24 scale, and this one has a 3D resin printed body.

David

David,

I have the Tamiya Super 7 and measured the wheels as being a scale 14".  I'll have to check my measurement again, perhaps I made a mistake.  They are a very nice wheel.

Thanks for the feedback,

Andrew

Edited November 4, 2023 by Andrew McD

[Anglia105E]

2 hours ago, Andrew McD said:

David,

I have the Tamiya Super 7 and measured the wheels as being a scale 14".  I'll have to check my measurement again, perhaps I made a mistake.  They are a very nice wheel.

Thanks for the feedback,

Andrew

Andrew . . .

I have just checked the precise dimensions of my Anglia body shell, also the wheelbase and the wheel diameter. The Tamiya Lotus Super 7 wheels have a diameter of 14.5 mm, which is exactly 0.75 mm too large, because the 1:24 scale measurement should be 13.75 mm

By taking 14.5 mm and multiplying by 24, this gives 348 mm . . . which is 13.70 inches for the full size road wheel.

So to summarise: 13 inch wheel = 330 mm and divide by 24 = 13.75 mm

For me personally, I can live with the 0.75 mm being slightly too large for the Tamiya wheels on my Anglia build . . .

I managed to pick up a Lotus Super 7 donor kit for £15 and I noticed the set of wheels and tyres from Motobitz are also £15 . . .

David

[peteski]

Just to let you know, the rim's outside diameter (what is visible on a model) for any automobile wheel is almost exactly 1.5" larger than the stated rim (or tire) diameter. So on a model a 13" rim would be 14.5" / 24 = 0.604" diameter.  You can do the metric conversion.

Edited November 5, 2023 by peteski

[Bugatti Fan]

Andrew,  is your Lotus Cortina kit the mark one made by Rod and Ian Knott from the Motor Museum in Miniature, or the one made in South Africa a number of years ago? Don't know the South African manufacturer's name unfortunately. Would like your opinion of your kit.

I bought a Mk 2 Lotus Cortina body shell last year at IPMS UK SMW Telford, and would guess that the wheels Matt Bacon suggested would be good for that too, as I will be making a model of a car I once owned. Would need some hub caps to go with them. Now I have a Motobitz ref no for the wheels I can visit their stand at Telford this year and order a set and some hubcaps too.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Bugatti Fan

[Anglia105E]

10 hours ago, peteski said:

Just to let you know, the rim's outside diameter (what is visible on a model) for any automobile wheel is almost exactly 1.5" larger than the stated rim (or tire) diameter. So on a model a 13" rim would be 14.5" / 24 = 0.604" diameter.  You can do the metric conversion.

Thank you Peter, and this means that TAMIYA have actually got the wheel diameter for the Lotus Super 7 perfectly to scale, which is precisely what I would expect from them.

David

[Andrew McD]

On 11/5/2023 at 3:27 AM, Bugatti Fan said:

Andrew,  is your Lotus Cortina kit the mark one made by Rod and Ian Knott from the Motor Museum in Miniature, or the one made in South Africa a number of years ago? Don't know the South African manufacturer's name unfortunately. Would like your opinion of your kit.

I bought a Mk 2 Lotus Cortina body shell last year at IPMS UK SMW Telford, and would guess that the wheels Matt Bacon suggested would be good for that too, as I will be making a model of a car I once owned. Would need some hub caps to go with them. Now I have a Motobitz ref no for the wheels I can visit their stand at Telford this year and order a set and some hubcaps too.

Hi Noel,

Yes I am attempting the Motor Museum in Miniature Lotus Cortina.  This is my first resin cast kit so it's something completely new for me.  The kit is a curbside so no engine.  I think it's the nature of resin kits to require lots of clean up and prep work but the detail seems pretty good.  While I've not done any measurements to confirm that all the proportions are correct I don't see any obvious flaws in the body shell. I posted some pictures of the kit bits on the "Sebring 12 Hours 1964 proposed group build thread" on page 16.

Hopefully this link will get you to that page:   http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/174307-sebring-12-hours-1964-proposed-group-build-thread/page/16/

I have ordered a set of the Motobitz wheels that I think are appropriate for my build.

I would be interested in seeing your build progress should you be inclined to post any pics.

Andrew

[Bugatti Fan]

Hi Andrew

I checked out that link.  Rod and Ian's Lotus Cortina kit looks pretty good shape wise. Funnily enough I have bought that Esci/ Italeri Escort Rally car as a bits donor for my mark 2.

My Mk 2 is a long way off even being started yet as I have a couple of other big projects on the go at present. Will be visiting Motobitz stand at Telford to order a set of wheels to store with it for now.

Noel