Tires for conversions

[jerry56]

Well I've been looking at different tires for conversion projects. Most of the stuff I do falls in that "in between scale" Tonkas, Ertle Big Farm, Diecast Masters,Bruder. They are kind of ...generally ...around 1/16ish maybe 1/17ish...except the Bruder which seem closer to 1/15...
Before we get bogged down in "scale" these were built as toys so they are "close" to a scale... The toy designers designed them for kids to play with and have fun.... not have a micrometer slapped to them....so they are toys....
Anyway, I found a few tires that seemed to work with the above TOYS and wanted to share the dimensions with anybody that does these conversions so they a better idea of tires sizes since they aren't really mainstream RC stuff
Here is what I found...this list is not all encompassing just what I have found so far.


The first one is a Lego tire, the originals are getting pricey but I found some knock offs on Aliexpress for around $2. The only problem is the rim size it's different than all the other RC tires, I've been remixing WPL rims to fit these larger ID...


I didn't get a picture but the ID is appox. 33.7mm

The next one is a WPL tire they call the Gravel tire it looks like the Tamiya tire only smaller..All the WPL tires use the same size rim but again a kind of odd size at 1.2 inch a 1inch RC rim falls thru but the 1 inch RC tire can be "stretched " to fit the WPL rim , there are a bunch on Thingiverse, I've found a few that look pretty good...



This next one is called a WPL v3 tire and is what comes in most WPL kits and RTRs... the RTR tires are usually pretty firm the kits tires are a lot softer you can buy them on now as "hard" or "soft"



This next one is also WPL but is called the v4 sometimes but here is a link for this one because it doesn't really have a name. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3301...27424c4df1Sv4c




This one is a Diecast Masters tire.... it's a pretty hard tire and has a reputation of providing little traction but I'm pretty sure we can find a use for it...Again the rim size is odd so I just remix the ones I like to fit...the ID is appox. 36mm



This one is a small tire that I hope to use on low boy trailers or a drop deck it's another Lego but you still can find them pretty cheap its marked 49.5x20



Again an odd size ID so 3D remixing again

And this last one is a standard size Tamiya tire... in this case a Lesu I included it because some people use it on Bruders and even some of the big farm toys...I think this is the wide tire... the others I think are only 20mm wide or maybe 22...



I don't know if you can buy the Dicastmaster tires separately yet but I included them because I replaced the back tires on mine giving me 8 tires to use else where...
I get my WPL from Aliexpress for the most part they are all in the 2-3 dollar range so still affordable. The small Legos I got from Brickowl I think and I think they were less than a dollar each....but that was a few months ago.
So I hope this helps anybody doing a conversion....
I forgot one...
WARNING I'M NOT SURE YOU CAN FIND THESE ANYMORE.....
I haven't found them on aliexpress in a long time
This is also a WPL for the D12.... another odd sized toy but the tires may be of use, I put the on my Bruder Ram
They are a small tire at 55.85mm they come on a metal rim and they are pretty soft ....




Again they fit a standard WPL rim...

[sparkycuda]

Nice-to-know info! Thanks.

Ken

[ddmckee54]

In the spirit of sharing, I've got a couple of Bruder conversions in the works that I have been gathering parts for. I found these on Ebay, but haven't bought any yet. https://www.ebay.com/itm/19421147090...evt=1&mkcid=28

They look to be about the right size, the Bruder tires that I measured were in the 75-77mm range.

Don

[jerry56]

Nice find... Just adding to the list.. just seems like it makes it easier for folks if there is a thread for different size tires.

[frizzen]

I may have to diagree on what you called the WPL D-12 wheel?

The plastic steelie 'D12' wheel i've got is a single piece outer-half only rim with glued tire
2.150" ...tall.... 54mm
0.675" ...wide... 17mm
1.125"....'rim'.... 32mm



The plastic Drift 'D12' wheel, tire is a removable plastic drift ring
2.185" ...tall...... 55mm
0.765" ...wide... 12mm
1.850" ...rim..... 47mm

Both use the WPL 0.198 / 5mm hex

[jerry56]

That's just what they called them....D-12 upgrade.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...27424c4dKqkigS

[dremu]

Ooh, good options! I'd seen some stuff on the Lego tires but they seemed mostly car-ish, and I've only seen some of those WPL ones. The others may be real handy for some projects (rubbing hands together.)

Wrt wheels, for folks with a printer, I did up an OpenSCAD that takes various dimensions from the tire (inside width, lip width, thickness, etc) and spits out a generic wheel with optional lugs and hex drive. It can also do duals. It's not perfect and it's definitely short on cosmetics, like the base form is





But with some customization of the code you can do stuff like





Anyway, if there's interest (like, does anybody else use OpenSCAD? ) I could prolly figure out how to put it up on github or someplace for public use/contribution/fiddling.

-- A

[jerry56]

Keep them coming ....
That M-35 wheel is one of the best I've seen...nice work...
I'm not versed in OpenSCAD but I like the idea of a generic wheel that you can put different centers in. That's how us laymen do it... well me anyway... I take a wheel and resize it then "core" out the center, change what I want then put the center back in. This way I can change backspacing, create duals, etc....
As for the Lego's that's why I like them they are more of a street looking tread, you don't always want an off road tread.. at least I don't...

[dremu]

Originally Posted by jerry56

Keep them coming ....
That M-35 wheel is one of the best I've seen...nice work...
I'm not versed in OpenSCAD but I like the idea of a generic wheel that you can put different centers in. That's how us laymen do it... well me anyway... I take a wheel and resize it then "core" out the center, change what I want then put the center back in. This way I can change backspacing, create duals, etc....
As for the Lego's that's why I like them they are more of a street looking tread, you don't always want an off road tread.. at least I don't...

I hear you on the street tread. I had a devil of a time finding one for my Fierito, which, err, I don't have a thread for here. Ended up using a Tamiya tire from their robot/education line, which is entirely separate from their RC stuff. (IIRC it's #70111, comes with weird wheels, though there's also #69916, same rubber, clear wheel instead of white.)

Started out as one of those horrible 80's corded remotes:



new wheels and tires vs old



Body modified to match the one in the garage



The two together



Blame/credit Frizzen for this, as he did exactly the same thing, 'swhere I got the idea.

And yeah, for some of those wheels I had to do exactly that, bore out the center and redraw. Parametric backspacing and the dual are actually pretty straight forward, got them in the code already, but for anything more than that basic ones in the top two pix, you gotta hand code the design.

Hmm, maybe do one code chunk for the wheel outer ("barrel"? what's its proper name?) and one for the center... gotta put on my thinking toque.

-- A

[ddmckee54]

Here's another option for tires for conversions - roll your own. If you've got a 3D printer it's simpler, cheaper, and faster than it sounds. I'm including 3 links to YouTube videos.

All of these videos use Oogoo, which is a DIY mixture of 100% silicon caulk, corn starch, and sometimes water. (It has to be the caulk that smells like vinegar as it cures, the newer less odiferous caulk won't work - and no acrylic-blend caulk either.) The water is what causes the silicon caulk to set up. Other agents can be added to thin the caulk mixture, as shown in the third video.

In this first link he makes a solid tire using a 3D printed mold. The clock shows the the elapsed time from start to finish. He's using cooking oil as a release agent, and the ingredients he's using are black caulk, corn starch, and water. This is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3IRgjFhW6Y

The next video shows a different mold that has a better surface quality, making a foam-filled tire. The release agent was silicone oil. The ingredients in his Oogoo were clear caulk, laser printer toner, and corn starch. It looks like he's making a pretty durable tire. In this video you can see that he weighed the caulk, but I couldn't find any info on the weights of the other ingredients. Here's the link to the 2nd video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X62rLgvMO5Q

This last video is not about making tires, but rather making the Oogoo more pourable by thinning it with naptha. The one thing that I did like about the 3rd video was that he not ony weighed the caulk and the corn starch, he told us the weights. That way he knew what his pot life and cure times would be. He used 10g of corn starch and 100g of caulk. I haven't been able to find a lot of info on this ratio, it varies from 1:1 which will cure in 15-20 minutes, to the 1:10 used here which sets in 1-2 hours. Thinning the Oogoo didn't appear to affect it's cure time, but I would guess that it would affect the shrinkage. Here's that link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_IOqxds130

Don

[jerry56]

I've thought about this... there is a guy on Cults that makes tire molds.....haven't got that far yet...

[dremu]

Originally Posted by ddmckee54

Here's another option for tires for conversions - roll your own. If you've got a 3D printer it's simpler, cheaper, and faster than it sounds. I'm including 3 links to YouTube videos.

Oh snap! At first I thought you were gonna suggest flexible filaments, which can be a royal pain, at least IME. And the detail left a lot to be desired.

But this, wow. Commonly available stuff, and the level of detail was amazing, especially on that second video. And once the mold is designed, making more is just a matter of hitting "print again" if one gets broken or whatever, not like they're hand-carved. This may be exactly what I need for a project that's been bouncing around in my head for a while.

Thanks!

(Also, *roll* your own? )

-- A

[ddmckee54]

Originally Posted by dremu

(Also, *roll* your own? )

Blame it on an obviously miss-spent youth, hanging around with the "wrong" type of people.

I've been looking for tires in the 75-77mm OD range that I'll need for another Bruder conversion that's in the works. I don't want to have to spend more for just the tires than I'll have invested in all of the rest of the conversion - just don't seem right.

Don

[skeeter]

Does anyone know where to source 55MM tires? I'm finding myself in need of 8 plus rims too. I'm wanting to do some scale drop/tag/lift (Whatever you want to refer to them as) axles under my trucks. I've found that 55MM tall tires would accurately represent the tires that we use locally for this application.

[ddmckee54]

skeeter:

I found these 55mm OD tires on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Almencla-Rubb..._id=6925978011
I'm not sure what you'd want to do for rims, and since these are 1/24 crawler tires the tread might not be what you'd REALLY want.

Don

[dremu]

Originally Posted by ddmckee54

Blame it on an obviously miss-spent youth, hanging around with the "wrong" type of people.

I, err, was going for "roll your own tires" because tires roll. I have no idea to what else you might reefer, err, refer Dave's not here, man. =))

Originally Posted by ddmckee54

I've been looking for tires in the 75-77mm OD range that I'll need for another Bruder conversion that's in the works. I don't want to have to spend more for just the tires than I'll have invested in all of the rest of the conversion - just don't seem right.

Don

Yeah, it gets frustrating, especially when, as you pointed out in another post, you want a specific size AND a specific tread pattern. Oddly, I found a bunch of cheap Tamiya-style tires that are what I want for the rears of a project, but can't find matching tires a bit shorter in diameter for the tags, and nothing even close for front super singles, grrr.

Of course now I'm knee-deep in trying to CAD the tread Just So, and it's making my head hurt figuratively (sorting the geometry of the tread) AND literally (poor eyesight.)

We enjoy this hobby, right? =))

-- A

[ddmckee54]

Originally Posted by dremu

We enjoy this hobby, right? =))

We must. I'm pretty sure it's not the high pay, or the wild women, that keeps us coming back for more.

Don

[jerry56]

The closest I've found to 75-77 mm are the v4 WPLs at 71mm... and the are cheap...

[ddmckee54]

Jerry:

Yup, they are 71mm, they are cheap, and they look good. I wasn't sure about the size, but I ordered enough of them to do the truck. When they arrived I thought that they looked great for what they cost. Then I stood them up next to the truck, what a difference that 6mm makes. To quote Roc Ingersoll from Galaxy Quest, "That's just not right..." I also ordered axles along with wheels/tires - also too small for the truck.

However, they look just right on the Bruder cross country Jeep RC conversions that I built for my great niece and nephews. (I of course kept the prototype, it was used after all. You don't give somebody else a "used" gift now do you? Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Wheels, tires, axles, they all look good on the Jeep. I might just be able to fit the 2 speed gearbox in there too.

Maybe someday the kids will get a conversion kit for their conversions.

Don

[jerry56]

Yeah sometimes you can get away with 6mm difference and sometimes it just sticks out like a sore thump.. But the WPL stuff does seem to work well for most of the Bruder and Tonka conversions. Glad yo still had a use for them so it wasn't a waste...