Halibrand kidney-bean mag wheels in 1/24; any aftermarket source? Surplus to swap?

[Wickersham Humble]

I have a StromBecker 'Scarab' (early battery-powered slot car; sorta) racer I bought in 1959 or '60, and it had very nice two-piece Halibrand pin-drive/knock-off 'mag' wheels, and I'd like to find a source for something as good: one of mine (never used) has a broken outer rim, and my efforts at casting a replica have not been worth using, thus far.  I need one (they were originally cast in blue styrene, using a plastic spindle on the front (steerable) end, and metal axle on the rear, that could be splined to a gear for motorization.  From photos, the original proto Scarabs had wider (perhaps taller) rear rims, but the kit came with four identical parts.  Actually, they are so nice that I wish I had a stash of them, to enhance a number ot other builds that I am progressing on slowly.  Also, the tires on the kit were real rubber, being that it was a table-top racer, and mimicked the Firestone Super-Sports racing tires that were prototypically on so many comp cars; Indy, GP, and Bonneville -- by appearances.  Comet made some nice no-name rubber racing tires too, and I found one example in my parts boxes. 

These 1/24 size rims are nice and big; not underscale for 1/25 builds, also.  Any help at all on where these might be sourced, or on the outside chance, on anyone who might have one or more to deal for -- please communicate!  Even resin or printed tires would be fine for shelf models like mine, of course.  I still have a modest supply of really old kit parts to swap... ! Wick

[sidcharles]

i'm not sure if what i call them are what you do, so as silly if it sounds, a picture might help your cause. i am certain my interpretation is sold by at least two resin 3D guys, but am reluctant to invest the time looking through all of my links if i don't have something to compare.

in any event, to get the size you want, could a 3D be incrementally enlarge,d or are they only adjusted in BIG steps?

[RancheroSteve]

Replicas & Miniatures makes a nice set of Halibrand kidney bean wheels (P-147) that might work for you.

[Wickersham Humble]

Don't think I'd ever bought from them before.  Nice wheels, but no prices; poss not available now?

Wick

[Fat Brian]

If the number of lug nuts doesn't matter to you Aoshima makes a very nice set with rubberish tires.

[stitchdup]

you've got few to pick from if you can find someone to print them

https://cults3d.com/en/search?q=halibrand

[RancheroSteve]

2 hours ago, Wickersham Humble said:

Don't think I'd ever bought from them before.  Nice wheels, but no prices; poss not available now?

Wick

Actually, I have to correct myself a little - I think these might be the style of wheel you're looking for? 

Not sure if they're still available, but you can Email Norm at replmincomd@aol.com or call him M-F 9am-5pm EST at (410) 768-3648 for availability and ordering. 

Photo from Craig Stansfield's Fotki album: https://public.fotki.com/crstan/replican-and-miniat/replicas-and-miniat/page4.html

 

[Chris V]

The Strombecker Scarab is 1/24 scale (or possibly even larger). The Halibrands by R&M of MD are severely underscaled for this model.

[Ace-Garageguy]

A point about the front-engined Scarabs: the rear wheels shown on most period photos are not the same design as the more typical "kidney bean" Halibrands on the front.

[Wickersham Humble]

Bill (and Chris),

Yeah, my kit still has the two different style Hali's, and oc the rears were wider.  Def 1/24 scale, which makes them look pretty slick on a 1/25 car, too!  I wish I could find a reliable person to resin-cast some sets, or even 3-D print.

Funny early slot-car design, used batteries for power, but my kit from '59 wasn't that deluxe.  I built it as a curbside Devin SS about 1960, with chrome-reverse rims from the old AMT Corvette kit; white with red/black racing stripe.  I was going to recreate the space-frame, suspension, etc. but need to finish it, so will be curbside with SBC and opening hood.  I still have the original decals, but probably beyond use now.  I should scan them, at least, huh?  Somebody, I think, makes a new one, also.  Still have a sheet for the Comet 'Panther' racer, too!l

Besides one of the Strombecker (notice that company uses both that trademark, and the StromBecker one) rims being broken, I want to be able to source more for other projects; this old guy's favorite wheel.  I see to recall that the company once was sold as Strombeck and Becker...?  Memory very worn out, now!  

Edited Friday at 07:30 PM by Wickersham Humble
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[Ace-Garageguy]

I have a couple of the Strombecker kits that have been cherry-picked...no wheels or tires...and at least one is slated to be a full-detail tube-frame model.

I love the way the real cars look, and the way they used SoCal hot-rod tech. 

What other road-racer ever ran a Halibrand quick-change?

I'm mightily interested in a source too.

Edited Friday at 08:15 PM by Ace-Garageguy

[sidcharles]

were the wheels in the original post the first commercially available magnesium wheel?

that Dow 7 finish is quite pleasing. *

*[probably two not entirely accurate statements, but my mind's eye makes them so]

[Wickersham Humble]

Sid,

I'd defer to Bill, but I think the were among the first, postwar.  Remember, Harry A. Miller designed spoke mags for his TNT racers well before even Bugatti came out with a very similar rim; Miller in the mid-teens, no less!  We're not worthy, men!  Alloy/mag wheels got a huge boost by the mid-thirties on aircraft, when just like on cars, they replaced the wire wheels previously so prominent.  

I had a set of American eight-spokers on my '70 240Z, the one I restored for my book in the 'eighties, and they were from a Triumph.  Though risky, I had them cut by a machinist on the reverse of the spokes to clear my front disc brake calipers.  They were early, and a very high percentage of magnesium, I was told; they began to erode on the inner drop-center, and after glass-beading them, I sold them to a Datsun roadster (nut!) that had a fetish for them. Very like Minilites.  Replaced them with ARE 4-spoke 'Libres' for a while, then went to Konig 8-spokers, which look much like Panasports.  Love that Dow 7 patina, also!  Wick

[Wickersham Humble]

Reventlow, as I recall (too lazy to look it up) had the incomparable hot-rodder Chuck Daigh as a mech and driver, and possibly Travers & Coon?  Like the AC-cum-Cobra, the Scarab was more or less a rip-off stylistically of a Ferrari, but as Groucho Marx once was credited with saying: "If you're going to steal, steal from the best!"  I think that the Halibrand quick-change did wind up in a few other rod-derived sports racers; seems like the Edwards had it too, or ???  The 'Old Yellers',Cunninghams, Bocars, Echidnas, Hussar, Allards, Chevy/HMW, and other innumerable sports specials made the 'fifties a memorable decade. Eventually led to the Chaparrals and all of Group 7 and CanAm monsters.  For kits,  I wish there were a better source for scale Firestone Super-Sports tires, even the natural rubber ones we used to see.

Lance R., lucky devil, married blondie Cheryl Holdridge (sp?) long-time Wally Cleaver girlfriend from Leave It To Beaver, but not Mary Ellen Rogers. Wonder if she got a ride in a Scarab?  Wick

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 hours ago, sidcharles said:

were the wheels in the original post the first commercially available magnesium wheel?

that Dow 7 finish is quite pleasing. *

IIRC, Ted Halibrand introduced solid dished 18" magnesium wheels for championship cars (the "big cars" that ran at paved ovals including Indy) sometime not too long after the end of WW II, maybe '46 (foreground, below). The kidney-bean slots, called "Sprints" came along a little later. Halibrand's early parts, including his quick-change rear ends, were initially directed at real racers, not the consumer market. 

Again if I remember right, Romeo Palamides introduced the first widely available magnesium wheel in 1956. I have a copy of Hot Rod with an ad for them. The company shortly became American Racing, and the rest is history. Again, IIRC, the original Palamides wheels were also solid dishes with no holes, and kidney-shaped holes followed. The spoked American wheels debuted in the early '60s.

DISCLAIMER: I'm old. I'm tired. If I got anything wrong, feel free to put me right. Just be certain of your facts. Truth matters.  

 

[sidcharles]

Q: what's the crotch-cooler ragtop in the middle?

[Ace-Garageguy]

4 hours ago, sidcharles said:

Q: what's the crotch-cooler ragtop in the middle?

It's a Kurtis sports car, one of 18 made, the same Frank Kurtis who built very winning Indy and sprint cars and midgets.

https://www.below-the-radar.com/kurtis-sports-car/

https://www.motortrend.com/features/kurtis-sport-car-motortrend-icon-joins-family

Edited Saturday at 12:46 PM by Ace-Garageguy

[Chris V]

4 hours ago, sidcharles said:

Q: what's the crotch-cooler ragtop in the middle?

It's a 1949-50 Kurtis Sport Car by Kurtis Kraft - The tooling and rights were sold to Earl Muntz, who manufactured and sold the car as the Muntz Jet. 

[RancheroSteve]

9 hours ago, sidcharles said:

Q: what's the crotch-cooler ragtop in the middle?

See my version here: 

 

Edited Saturday at 06:03 PM by RancheroSteve

[Wickersham Humble]

Great replica of a significant car! Missed the WIP segments; what did you begin with?

I had practically swapped a '56 Chevy 210 wagon for a basket-case Muntz Jet back in the early 'eighties, but it turned out the kid (literally) who had given up on the Muntz wasn't 18 yet, and his mom queered the deal.  It had been a Lincoln 337 or Cad 347 flathead V-8, but he took a 390 FE out of it, which apparently hadn't ever run.  It was a mess, but rare enough I might have sweetened the deal for him, except for her snotty jibes.   It would have been a huge project, and I had my own '35 Packard 120 coupe 'in the works'...  also missed an Allard at the Turlock Swap Meet about 1980 for about $1,400; four door (K-3?) but all there and running -- as I recall, a Zephyr V-12, a snakebit engine at best. Can't afford 'em all!   "...what might have been!"   Wick

[RancheroSteve]

25 minutes ago, Wickersham Humble said:

Missed the WIP segments; what did you begin with?

I looked at a couple of semi-basket case Muntz Jets up in Malibu for a friend of mine back in the 90s I think. One had the Lincoln OHV, the other a flathead. He (probably wisely) passed. I've got photos somewhere I should scan.

[Wickersham Humble]

With 1/1 cars, and not being able (elementary school teacher's salary, and only a small book royalties and article fees) I had and have limitied my 'stable' to 2/3 cars, once of which I often drive daily -- BUT I always hungered for tthat special, low-production example.  At least, one that I could restore, not exotics like Ferrari's or even Cobras, etc. but seldom scored something really nutty.  My '61 Pontiac Tempest with OEM Buick aluminum 3.5-L V-8 is as close as I'm coming right now, and it's essentially finished up.  I added dual exhausts, MBZ suv rear sway-bar, and soon a 4.bbl. carb.  We once restored and drove daily a '55 Nomad, a striking '62 Stude Hawk, and of course, the '35 non-classic but bitchin' Packard coupe that I had to sell when the kids both needed tonsillectomies!  Other restos have been relatively plebian rides, but satisfying.  The Muntz, for all it's period styling, might have been that car, esp if upgraded with a modern mill.  I'd like to see your photos; one might be this car, as it wasn't prepossessing to contemplate!  Wick