Managed to get my hands on some old Pyro 1911 aircraft kits; Avro tri and bi plane, Bristol boxkite, and Martin-Handasyde. Has some old Rosepart aftermarket wheel detail kits, however, lost them (along with a lot of other valuable stuff) in a move. Any suggestions on how to fabricate the open wheel with spokes along with the mounting brackets and hardware?
Also, anyone outthere doing their own photoetching? I have patterns drawn on CorelDraw, however, need someone to produce them.
Thanks!
Papermodellers.com site has a few tutorials on making wire wheels for paper that could just as easily be used for plastic.
Tom’s Modelworks has a PE kit for 1:48 WW1 planes that provides the spokes- you use the styrene wheel riim and tire. I have used these on the Pyro pre-war planes and they work okay- look very nice.
They are a bit of a challenge to use- you have to cut the center out of the exising (kit) wheels. A lathe is nice for this but it can be done by hand (a Dremel tool helps). Sure wish someone would do PE wheels that are the full wheels, with PE spokes, rims, and tires! But the spoke inserts are the next best thing.
Those Pyro kits were sure nice. I wish someone would do a similar series with modern casting methods and molds. Those planes were very historic and it is a shame there is not much of a market for such subjects.