
Builder Last Online: Feb 2021


Model Scale: 1/8
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Started: 01-25-12
Build Revisions: Never

For those of you who like to build the big monogram kits, here is a great modification you can make that doesn’t require a lot of work, equipment or supplies and adds a nice touch of realism to your model. All of the big kits come with wheels you have to glue onto the brake drum faces with locator pins. If you want to display your chassis with a wheel removed at a later date, you can’t. This tutorial will show you how to make removable wheels similar to the real thing.
All you need for this procedure are your choice of rims, the brake drum faces, 1-72
screw or hex head bolts, the corresponding
1-72
nuts (or
1-72
acorn nuts if you can find them) a drill bit slightly big enough to allow a
1-72
bolt to slip through and a hard setting
putty
. Here’s what I used.


You can use any putty
you like but it must set very hard so you won’t loosen your bolts when you go to install your wheels.
First, cut off the locator pins on the drum face and the nuts off your wheels, but not so much that you can’t see where they were. You’ll need to drill your hole in the exact same place as the pins and nuts. Beforehand, you’ll need to decide if you want to keep the chrome surfaces or strip them and repaint them your choice of color. I decided to paint them Honda Hampstead Green to match my rear axle. You’ll need to paint the parts before you add the bolts so you won’t have to mask off your bolts in the end. Here’s what you should have.


At this point, from the inside of the drum, put some super glue around one of the holes and insert a bolt making sure you hold it correctly in place until the glue sets. When you’ve filled all 5 holes, it should look like this.


Now, mix up your putty
and place it to back up your bolts so you won’t loosen a bolt and have it disappear inside the brake drum after you put it on the axle.
The Milliput putty
is a 2 part material that doesn’t shrink and becomes rock hard if you let it set undisturbed overnight. Once the
putty
is totally set, you can put your brakes together and install your wheel. These are the Torque Thrust wheels from the kit. I stripped the chrome and sprayed them Model Master's buffing
metalizer
magnesium. I polished the outer rim with SNJ polishing powder.

Here's what the assempbly looks like when you're done.

If you do happen to lose a bolt and you can easily remove the brake face, you can repair it by cutting the putty
and exposing the bolt, reglue and reputty. It’s a pain in the butt to do so make sure you get it right the first time. That’s basically it. Good luck.
All you need for this procedure are your choice of rims, the brake drum faces, 1-72





You can use any putty

First, cut off the locator pins on the drum face and the nuts off your wheels, but not so much that you can’t see where they were. You’ll need to drill your hole in the exact same place as the pins and nuts. Beforehand, you’ll need to decide if you want to keep the chrome surfaces or strip them and repaint them your choice of color. I decided to paint them Honda Hampstead Green to match my rear axle. You’ll need to paint the parts before you add the bolts so you won’t have to mask off your bolts in the end. Here’s what you should have.
At this point, from the inside of the drum, put some super glue around one of the holes and insert a bolt making sure you hold it correctly in place until the glue sets. When you’ve filled all 5 holes, it should look like this.
Now, mix up your putty

The Milliput putty



Here's what the assempbly looks like when you're done.
If you do happen to lose a bolt and you can easily remove the brake face, you can repair it by cutting the putty

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