Gold vintage monster beetle rims on my wt01 monster beetle

[Terz1 745]

Hi guys. When I got back into tamiya again about a year ago I really wanted a monster beetle but they didn't do it at the time. So I bought the wt01 mudblaster 2 and fit a beetle shell and finished it just like the box art.

One thing which bugged (no joke intended, lol) me was that my wt01 monster beetle had silver wheels and everyone knows a monster beetle should have gold wheels!

So with the re-re just released there's a good supply of these gold wheels about. My question is will the front wheels just fit directly on my wt01 as they are free rolling? And secondly will the below crp item be okay on the rear wheels to to convert the hex fitment to vintage fitment.

Thanks for any help.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REAR-WHEEL-ADAPTER-12mm-Hex-set-to-fit-Vintage-Tamiya-Rims-Tire-RC-Team-CRP-1715-/351583545383?

Edit - I just realised that the wt01 has hex fitment at the front as well. Would I need 2 of the above kits? And do the vintage gold monster beetle front wheels have bearings in the actual wheels?

[Nitomor 2122]

I thought you'd bought the WR02 gold wheels?

You could just get normal tamiya vintage hubs, like the hornet/lunchbox I guess the MB is the same. Thise adapters above look like they would maybe space the wheel out more?

For the fronts, the Kumamon tractor and I guess the tumbling bull too has bearing front, so you could just fit the front axles off them or as you say, get two pairs of rears, but then again, you'd need vintage adaptors on the front too in that case!

[Terz1 745]

I did. I bought 2 sets of the gold WR02 wheels so I'd have 4 with the hex fitment. I didn't like the size of them to the monster spike size wheel though. They seemed to short and fat. I haven't even opened one packet of those.

I could try some vintage hubs on my wt01 from my hornet and see if everything works okay with the wheels from my vintage blackfoot. I'll have a play tomorrow.

If the above space out the wheels too much I don't think it would look very good as the wt01 has a wide stance already.

I don't want to start getting axles from other models really. I just wondered if there was a bolt on solution. May be 2 sets of the vintage rears with the vintage hubs all round (if they fit). Not sure a seller would sell 4 of the rears though??

[markbt73 5315]

Axle length will be a problem. The old Monster Beetle axles are much longer than modern ones, the five-point hubs are thicker than standard 12mm hexes, and the wheel itself where it attaches to the hub is much thicker. Maybe if you used axles from the rear of a Wild Willy 2, you could fit everything on.

[Nitomor 2122]

Are the WW2 axles any different? I don't remember noticing a difference.

If the extra hub width is an issue, you may be able to use Junfac barrel nuts which their widener kit uses, they sre available seperately. Would MB/SRB rear axles fit? I could try some Lunchbox wheels on classic hubs on the WT01 to confirm fitment?

Regards

Nito

[Terz1 745]

You're right mark the axle length of the wt01 is really short compared to the vintage monster beetle. I just tried the vintage hubs in place of the hex nut and the wt01 axle didn't even poke through the hole. Plus the wheel was pushed further out which didn't look good. With the crp kit I found they'd be even further out. Not good.

Thanks for your help and suggestions nito. I think I'll leave my silver wheels on with gold covers. I had my lazy head on and was just looking for a quick fix. The wheels look so similar but fit so differently. I'll leave them as they are I think. Lots of other things to sort out. Thanks again for the help.

[Nitomor 2122]

Never give up!

So I just got in and mrs is out with kids so had a few free moments!

Take one WT01 axle and rob a drive hub from my Monster Hornet which has Lunchbox wheels

Looks a bit short

In the words of S Express...ooohh that's bad!!

No!!! That's good!

Projection...

How?
Take a barrel nut from the Junfac 13mm widener kit which comes with 14mm iirc barrel nuts, available seperately for $7 a set of 4.

Edit: I have no idea how the MB wheels compare to the LB, the Lunchbox wheels are quite a bit wider than the WT01 wheels. The wheel on the opposite side isn't a WT01 wheel but it is the stock tyre.

Regards
Nito

[XV Pilot 1936]

Or you could spray your silver wheels with translucent yellow spray...

[Terz1 745]

Thanks for taking the time to do that nito. Really appreciated .The pics you've took look just like my wt01 looked like with the old school hubs fom from my hornet and vintage blackfoot wheels attached. Which is promising seeing how it finally turned out for you.Those barrel nuts might just work!

I'll do it in stages. First order the 4 set of barrel nuts. If they still work with my vintage blackfoot wheels (as I realise you used the lunchbox wheel) which are identical to the mb wheels all should be good. If that goes to plan I'll then buy some more vintage hubs and then finally the gold wheels! Fingers crossed.

Oh I liked the s express reference too. As soon as you said it the song was going through my head!

Thanks for your suggestion xv. Really appreciated too. If the barrel nut plan doesn't work I just might use the spray method.

[Terz1 745]

Are these the barrel nuts you were talking about nito?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gmade-JunFac-M4-x-14mm-Barrel-Tube-Nuts-2-2-Inch-Wheel-Widener-RC-Car-J51131-/141823507850

[Nitomor 2122]

That's the ones

You're welcome. Btw, are you sure the MB wheels are the same as the LB, they look like 2.2" wheels on the rere because it looks like they're shod with the narrower WT01 tyres to me but I may be wrong?? The LB wheels are an odd 2" size and fatter than the WT01's.

Cheers

Nito

[Terz1 745]

I might have wrote in so it didn't come across to well. Yes the mb re-re ones are 2.2 so different to the lunchbox ones that you test fit the barrel nuts on. Thats why I'm going to test these nuts with my 2.2 vintage blackfoot wheels with the old style fitment. If everything works okay then I'll buy the gold re-re mb wheels. Might have to try to get 2 rear sets.

Thanks for confirming those are the barrel nuts I need.

[Nitomor 2122]

If that is the case, the 2.2 wheels should fit better then as they won't project as far.

It might be worth you trying one of your bearing wheels on the front of the WT01 without the hexes and see if it works, maybe with the barrel nuts? Alternatively you can get the WR02G axles, might work out cheaper than 2 sets of wheels and another set of drive hubs?

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

With the risk of repeating something that has been mentioned in this thread already: I've played a bit with WT01, WR02 and Monster Beetle parts and think there might be a solution. Front is easy, rear involves a little more work. If you should want to use these solutions, I can dig out the part numbers for you.

To mount front Monster Beetle wheels on a (RWD) WT01, all that's necessary are the front C-hub extensions for the WR02, 4 TA02-type kingpins (a bit shorter than the TA01-type on the WT01), 2 3x21mm screw pins and WR02 front uprights. You might need slightly longer steering rods too.

For the rear, you'll need 2 WR02C (Honda City) rear axles, but a new crosspin hole needs to be drilled. The first pic below shows from left; normal length wheelaxle (as included with the WT01), long wheelaxle (as in the rear of the WR02, except WR02C and WR02G, which have this axle type up front!) and the extralong rear wheel axle of the WR02C (which so far is unique to that model).

I also checked if the "long" axle would be suitable in combation with the re-re SRB rear hub (which is thinner than the MB rear hub), but the axle is a tad too short.

[Nitomor 2122]

Great informative post Mokei.

I found this last night which covers the bits you mention above for the front;

http://www.icbhobbies.com/TAMIYA-FARM-KING-WHEELIE-WR02G-FRONT-UPRIGHTS-SUSPENSION-ARMS-AXLES-BUSHINGS_p_1316.html

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

I found this last night which covers the bits you mention above for the front;

http://www.icbhobbies.com/TAMIYA-FARM-KING-WHEELIE-WR02G-FRONT-UPRIGHTS-SUSPENSION-ARMS-AXLES-BUSHINGS_p_1316.html

The assembled parts in the pic (suspension arms, uprights and C-hubs) are from a WR02G, so the king pins are the same TA01-type that are included with the WT01. So you would need 4 TA02-type king pins too. And the 2 3x21mm screw pins I mentioned, which work as king pins in the C-hub extensions.

[GregM 1109]

Some information on how I mounted old Tamiya rear wheels on a modern chassis using Team CRP FX10 axle extenders:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=77687

[Terz1 745]

Wow all really helpful suggestions guys. This post doesn't do justice to all the great suggestions you've put forward. There's a lot of stuff to go through there and it's obvious a lot of experimentation has gone into finding a good set up to fitting this type of vintage wheel. I just wanted to post this up before bed to thank you as I haven't had much time today.

If I've got more some free time tomorrow I'll look through all the suggestions in more detail. I know one thing it would have taken me a long time to figure the above out, if at all. Thanks