But first, the plebian task of assembling the wheels. Which I had actually been dreading. First, because, well, there are quite a few of them!
![Image](https://i.ibb.co/WFSc9Rp/wheels-7.jpg)
Oh and, no, this is not some kind of tire bunker I built for the 25 PDR... it's the stack of tires that needs wheels!
And then there is this bin full of more than 1200 spokes and ferrules is just enough to scare the heck out of anyone! (I'd love to know how they made those ferrules... talk about an amazing bit of machining... C'mon Kian, post a picture of those in production!!!)
![Image](https://i.ibb.co/k11tR9p/wheels-1.jpg)
Anyway, having talked to several folks who said that they were spending several hours a wheel and having nightmarish times with theml... I was dreading this.
How foolish and timid I was!
The wheels are actually a total piece of cake! And the instructions from Armortek are absolutely right on! In less than a single model-shop day, I managed to A. FInd all the parts. B. set up the jigs to do some serial production (I have two sets of jigs with the two kits). And C. Get the rears of three wheels done and start two more.
![Image](https://i.ibb.co/Qp79sxh/wheels-2.jpg)
Now I may have a bit of an advantage, working with the 'real' wheels and spokes on occasion. But if one follows the instructions, they are not intimidating or hard. But here are some tips that may help you. And I know some of the builders 'before' me have posted some tips that are great, too!!!
The first thing is that the '1:1' size spokes have a very tightly bent head. And it is very important to put a bend in the head that matches the c. 50 degree angle that Armortek specifies in their instructions. This bend means that the head will sit flat in the hub when the spoke is tightened. I used a set of miniature horseshoe pliers (I call them that because as a youngster growing up on a horse farm, these farriers pliers were what we used to shoe horses and remove horseshoe nails.... who knew that it would help with Armortek kits 40 years later!!!). These pliers are helpful later...
![Image](https://i.ibb.co/MMwG1mB/wheels-6.jpg)
See the angle of the head? This will help you a LOT!
Next, bend your spoke until it is shaped like a surgeon's suture. It should have a nice sweeping radius to it that lets it go from the hub to the third hole (where it belongs) so that is simply goes through the hole. You can bend this with your fingertips and put the right radius on it. Don't worry about bending it. It will straighten out fine later. Not sure what Mark and Kian chose for the material, but it is a mild steel that is brilliant as it will stretch and if you only bend it gently once will NOT work harden. So in a later step, when you fit the Ferrule, the wire will stretch beyond its elastic limit and then stay straight. All the kinks or 'suture twist' comes right out of it. In all the spokes I fitted, I only broke the heads off two. More on that later. It will take some force... and you will think you are going to break the head off But you won't!
![Image](https://i.ibb.co/9czGxMF/wheels-3.jpg)
Once the wire is through, slide the ferrule on (it's best to do first, because your pliers will crimp/damage the wire and make the ferrule hard to get on. Then take your farriers pliers and stretch the spoke. One thing that is critical... Make sure you tighten the center hub HARD. Because you don't want to have it rotate during the process. Lock it in well. By slightly stretching the spoke, you will take out any curve or wobblies in it and have a nice straight spoke... just like a real one. The nice thing about the farriers pliers is that they let you use the rim as a fulcrum and you can put a lot of force on the spoke. You can also do this with a pair of dikes (Directional cutters or cutting pliers for the politically-correct), but the farriers pliers are the best. And who doesn't need an excuse to buy another tool???
![Image](https://i.ibb.co/Qrjszpt/wheels-5.jpg)
Once the ferrule is in place and the spoke is straight, follow the Armortek pictures to use a small screwdriver and a pair of pliers to bend the wire. BTW, (and I will post a picture of this tomorrow), don't just go for a 'bend'. I used a very aggressive "Z-bend" to take the end of the spoke and bend it in a way that it kept the ferrule under tension. Again, you are going to "Think" you will break the spokes. But you won't. Or if you break a couple, you will find the right tension. This "Z" bend puts a lot more force on the spoke and helps create a strong wheel. The originals were threaded and you tightened the ferrules with a big wrench until all the spokes "Sang' when hit with a bar. The strength of these wheels comes from tight spokes that the whole 4 ton armoured car "Hangs" from! Think about that... the car hung from a handful of 3/16" wires. Brilliant! This above picture is the inside of a wheel showing how straight the 'stretched' spokes really are.
![Image](https://i.ibb.co/Qp79sxh/wheels-2.jpg)
Here are three wheels with the 'rear' spokes finished. About 5 hours work, including sorting through bags and doing all my setups. These wheels may have been intimidating when I first saw them.... but honestly I did a wonderful little white metal Armoured Car from ScaleLink a couple of years ago and those wheels were a far greater PITA. And these, really, are easier and better than Pocher wheels, which were always sort of the industry standard. So don't let the wheels scare you off one of the most interesting kits Armortek has made yet!
Note that after fitting all the spokes, I ran a light bead of cyanoacrylate around the inside of the hub to lock everything together. And a thick bead of JB Weld anaerobic epoxy around the outside to 'pot' the ends of the spokes. With these two little additions to the wheels, you will NEVER get loose spokes on RC models. Certainly not on static models.
More wheel work tomorrow and I expect at least another full weekends to get 4 chassis wheels, two spare wheels, two armoured car front wheels, and 4 armoured car double wheels done. But with that behind, the rest of this is going to be easy. And in reality, these are fun, relaxing and easy to do! Just follow the Armortek instructions and some of the tips here on the forum. And you'll have your wheels banged out in no time!
Cheers,
RPR
P.S. IF anyone has any extra hub/spoke/rim sets.... I'd like a couple more as spares for the chassis. Or maybe I am just a glutton for punishment!