"Wide Five" wheels, correctly molded: The latest addition to the Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland catalog....

[tim boyd]

This is Norm Veber's latest addition to his product catalog. It is a set of fully molded wide five wheels from the AMT 1936 Ford Trophy Series kit.

But wait a second....there's more to the story here.

When originally introduced in 1961, the AMT kit included the factory stock "wide five" wheels, correctly molded to include the small, half round holes arrayed around the outer edge of the wheel rim. However, given the limits of tooling and molding technology, most of the wheels in the actual kits had holes that were inconsistent...some correct, some half-filled, and some not filled at all. Look at any of the first round (usually molded in gray) AMT 1936 kits and you'll see. At some point early on, AMT gave up and retooled the wheels to totally eliminate those holes. That's what you'll see in the vast majority of 1936 Ford kits from AMT.

However, the "Wide Five" wheels have become very popular these days with the "traditional hot rod" movement in 1/1 scale, thus leading to a need for accurately molded 1/25th scale equivalents.

Fortunately, I was able to find one fully and correctly molded wheel in one of the vintage kits from the collection of the late Chuck Helppie.

Norm has taken that wheel, refined it for his master, and is now offering a set of four as product #P-196, at $6.25 per set plus shipping. The label says "thanks Tim", but ii should really say "thanks Norm!". See a closeup of the wheels in the next image.

Here is a closeup of Norm's latest product, the set of four 1935-39 Ford factory stock "Wide Five" wheels. Note the correctly formed half moon vents along the outer edge of all four of the wheels. I would guestimate that about 98% of the AMT 1936 Ford kits out there have either a partly or completely incorrectly molded set, or the later "smoothed over" (and no longer factory correct) wheels.

This is your chance to get a complete set of correct, real thing in 1/25th scale. It's a must if your a builder. like me, of scale "traditional" hot rod models.  Thanks for checking it out...TB

Edited November 13, 2024 by tim boyd

[sak]

How does contact replicas & miniatures to place orders?

[tim boyd]

1 hour ago, sak said:

How does contact replicas & miniatures to place orders?

Jeff....Norm is a one-person proprietor and does not operate a website. Recommend you email him at replmincomd@aol.com  

Would be helpful if you included your question in the title of your e-mail message.  

Norm's a great guy.  I'm sure he'll bet back to you as soon as he can....Cheers....TIM 

[peteski]

I'm not into hot rods so I was unaware of those wheels in the '36 Ford kit.  To me these wheels look like ones used in VW Beetles or early Porsches (which were somewhat related to Beetles).  I did not realize that '36 Fords used similar bolt pattern/wheel design.

[ChrisBcritter]

I took a whack at this a while back - also found a good '36 center and was going to cast a 2-piece center and rim.

[250 Testa Rossa]

I will have to order a few of these. I also have some from Modelhaus.

[68shortfleet]

On 11/27/2024 at 3:07 AM, ChrisBcritter said:

I took a whack at this a while back - also found a good '36 center and was going to cast a 2-piece center and rim.

I've considered attempting this myself, but I want a three piece wheel where the center hub area(brake drum) is the third piece. Would make detail painting them so much easier.