Wheely Good Wheel Restoration
I recently found a doner ORV chassis for my Lancia 037 from my friend Terence/Kiasukid. It was a good buy and it had the correct wheels/rims which I rarely see available. They were were terribly curbed on the outside edge but I don't let things like that bother me at all as it is completely recoverable!
Photo 1: 1 of the offending 'Curbed' Wheels
Photo 2: I started to sand back the leading edge/detail of the rim, be sure to use a flat block to sand evenly and to make sure the leading edge is square to the wheel
Photo 3,4 & 5: I used Rapid Mould killer which has 12g/L Sodium Hydroxide, 40g/L Sodium Hypochlorite to strip the paint (just experimenting and it worked, I think it helps to 'whiten' yellowed plastic too!)
Photo 6: Stripped and Clean.
Photo 7: Tamiya Putty to fill deep gouges.
Photo 8 & 9: Adding Styrene 'Plastruct' strip using their product 'Bondene', I forget what gauge the strip was so take your wheel into the model shop for reference.
Photo 10: Whallah! Ready for fine sand and application of Paint, a wheel saved.
1: Original wheel requiring work.
2: Begin Sanding leading edge.
3: Mould Killer Strips Paint!
4: Stripping in progress...
5: Coming up a treat :)
6: Stripped and Cleaned.
7: Filling Gouges w Tamiya Putty
1
8: Plastuct styrene strip...
1
Working around with Bondene/Solvent
1
Ready for light sand and paint :)
Comments
mongoose1983
Your work is excellent, James. I have done the sand back the leading edge of the rims in a project car a couple of years ago and I know it works perfectly. Now adding a new strip on the border is such a nice job. Don't think I could do that. Again, your work is amazing. The wheels now look GREAT.
BeetleLover
Thanks EB, It's worth having a go! Work around a little at a time with a fine paintbrush with the solvent and you'll be right! I forgot to say about curling the strip over a scissor blade to give it a curl to make it easier to follow the arc of the rim! $3 US for styrene $10 US for solvent which will last ages... I hate to think what these rims go for new!
BULLFROG
very nice work there, the rib look original, are you interested in a new set of rims, i might just have them, i'll check my parts over the next couple of days, send me a message if needed.
cheers Bullfrog
tamiyaonebay
Wow, that was magic! I love the finishing touches with the styrene. Very impressive!
Renco5012
Crap, if I'd thought of this I'd have not binned some old WW1 rims years back... Dodgy stuff that mould remover, lol. Neat job
BeetleLover
Doh! I should have asked for everyone's old dying wheels before I revealed my restoration secrets!!! Something has to be pretty seriously destroyed before I consider it landfill! I do however hope I live to a ripe old age so I have time for all my restoration work!!!
JWeston
absolute quality, sir!
Corpse Thrower
Another set of Lancia wheels saved. Gotta love that.
Dante77
Now thats the spirit!
I've binned far better wheels than this. Not any more! Thanks for the write up, amazing work!
Cooltoys
Great Restoration of the wheels.. Thumbs up!!
The wheels looks like new again....
TIMECMDR
A great tut James, well worth the effort on some old vintage rims
Dam 10
Great work... thanks for sharing
Origineelreclamebord
That's a super restoration job you did there! You wouldn't quickly notice those aren't new! :o
Skottoman
That's great work! Being new to styrene myself, it's such a great tool for RC use! I am still learning, but tips like this are GOLD! Nice job!
mad maz
wow thats a graet idea i have never throw my old damaged whels away and have boxes of them as you never know thay mite come back to use one day and after you have posted this fantastic idea up thay will have new life put back into them ... great work dude
mr alan
Nice work..... Wow!
Wyoming
Nice repair James very clean!
def4x4
Very nice work on those wheels, excellend job!
BeetleLover
Thanks for all your comments, the sanding and paint stripping was done in about 2 hours so well worth the investment and no excuses for not recycling aye!
Bluefoot
Dude! Exxxxxcellent!!
Gruntfuggly
How tough is the styrene? Is this a cosmetic repair or would it stand up to running?
BeetleLover
The styrene strip is possibly a little softer than the original lip, it is bonded very well to the wheel so I'd have no problem running these and besides when they are bashed up again simply repeat the process!
BeetleOne
That is a fine Job with lots of patience and dedication!
BeetleLover
It really doesn't take long! Sanding back the lip is one of those in front of the television jobs... Gluing the strip is maybe 5 minutes per wheel
Moostar
A fine job done there! Thanks for sharing it
BeetleLover
Big thankyou to Bullfrog here in Melbourne whom I managed to trade with for a new set of these rims. These will go in the project box
Crash Cramer
Very cool trick James. I have some bad wheels, but they are in my JUNKYARD pile of bits and bobs that I think are too far gone for me to fix. I plan to make something out of them. That solvent is great, but be careful how you store it, I think mine got too hot in the garage and evaporated even with the cap on solidly. Not many more days before the wedding, can't wait for the photos.
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