RE: Top Flite P-47D Thunderbolt ARF .60-.91: Building & Mods
Main Wheels:
If we judge the scale of this 'Jug' to be 1/7.76 (based on dividing the wingspan of the full scale by the wingspan of this ARF), and full scales had 34" diameter tires: then scale main wheel size would be about 4.38" diameter. Good Luck like trying to squeeze wheels that big into the wells. The problem with after market wheels is that as the diameter increases: so does the width, and the width is usually too wide anyway in proportion to the diameter.
To complicate matters: the wheel wells in this Jug are relatively shallow, probably because they are so close to the leading edge of the wing (less than 5/8" at closest part, compared to 7/8" on the Top Flite Mustang ARF).
The included main gear wheels appear to have Dave Brown hubs, but the relatively small dia hubs (in relation ot overall wheel diameter) and smooth, but stiff foam tires leads me to believe the tires are made by someone other than Dave Brown.
In any event, they are NOT the same ones that come with the Mustang: the Jug ones are slighter taller, yet significantly narrower (remember the afore mentioned shallow wheel wells?). I measure them to be about 3.3" diameter x 0.8" wide. That all said: it becomes a bit of a challenge to install anything larger and have them be able to fit cleanly into the wells.
Once again, I have chosen to replace my stock wheels with a set of 3 1/2" threaded Dave Brown wheels. They are only marginally taller than the stock ones, and about 0.04" wider, but they have larger diameter hubs that will make them look better than the stock ones.
I considered Sullivan, Robart, and a few other wheels all 3 1/2" diameter, but they were all wider, and usually about double the weight of the Dave Browns.
Today, I was experimenting with my retracts, RoboStruts, and wheels and realized that even with the Dave Browns: I need to remove some of the wheel well in order to get the wheels to retract completely. Not a problem for me, but it emphasizes the need to keep the width as narrow as possible when considering substitute wheels for this Jug.
Note: the reason that I have to remove some of the wheel well is because of addtional wheel offset caused by using RoboStruts makes the wheels bottom out in the wells. If I were NOT installing RoboStruts: I would not have needed to remove any material from the wells.
And BTW: my set-up DOES leave room for the gear doors to fit into the wells as well.