Total tally of costs:

Direct materials costs:

1. 10mm x 2mm aluminum bar stock for rim (enough for two wheels) = $1.10
2. Stainless steel wire for spokes = $2.60
3. 4 stainless washers and tubes for hubs = $1
5. 15mm x 2mm spruce for rims = 60 cents
6. Rubber hose for tires (including hard rubber inside) = $4.50
7. Pack of small bolts and nuts for valve (enough for many wheels) = $4
8. Putty and paint = $3 (maybe)
9. Plywood former for wheels = 20 cents ?
10. Thin bamboo for rim lips = 30 cents

That's a total materials cost of $17.30 per set of spoked wheels. I'm sure Donnie could have found this stuff at half these prices!

Indirect costs:

1. Materials for jig = $5 (can be used again and again)
2. epoxy and CA = $0 (plenty left over)
3. Sandpaper = $2 (plenty left over)
4. A "bunch" of 1mm drill bits broken in the process of drilling the hubs = $8 (maybe I need to count this as a direct cost )
5. Mental anguish = priceless

All in all, no matter how you figure it, it comes out to less than the cost of a pair of WB plastic wheels -- and something like 1/6th the cost of one of the Arizona models spoked wheel kits (in the 5" size). It took me a while to figure things out (and I needed a lot of help from my fellow modelers) but now I figure it will take about three days to make a pair of fantastic looking spoked wheels and may in the long run save me a ton of money.