I know this is probably a waste of time but............what the heck. I'm looking for a pair of 6 5/8" Williams Bros. vintage wheels. I know they have gone T.U. and I have searched every hobby shop I can find in Canada and then thought of all the resources on R.C.U. and decided I had nothing to lose . Any info on where I might find a pair would be greatly appreciated. Please e-mail me or reply to this post if you know of a pair somewhere. Thanks in advance.

Steve

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Steve, did you look at Flair's web site (UK). They might have what you need or close enough.

Just curious. What plane will these be going on and when will you be needing them? Rumors are strong that someone will be back in production of these within a year.

Of course you could always make a pair of wheels yourself in about a week! Yeah, I know, you probably don't want to hear that. Below is a set of 5 1/4" inch spoked wheels I made in about a week. They look a heck of a lot more authentic than the WB wheels and while one WB 5" wheel weighs 105 grams, my handmade 5 1/4" spoked wheel with aluminum (and wood) rim and stainless steel spokes (40 of them) and stainless hub weighs in at 102 grams! And this is with a heavy reinforced fuel hose tire. With the much lighter foam tires (show in the photos below) I'd guess the wheel is closer to 95 grams. And I wouldn't be surprised if I can shave off a couple more grams on the next try.

Thanks Bob. I'll have a look

They are for my 1/4 scale E-III Eindecker. I have a hard enough time with putting planes together and I would like the wheels to be round. LOL. Yes, the thought crossed my mind that I may have to make them but I will do my best to avoid doing that. I'm hopeing that there is a set out there somewhere that some hobby shop has gathering dust and would like to part with them.

Steve

And as long as we're on the subject of WB wheels, while they have long been a mainstay of WWI modeling they are far from perfect. Below are a few of the things that are "not quite right" about the current (past?) WB wheels:

1. The inside wheel disk actually has "Wiliams Bros" molded into it and has no scale detailing whatsoever.
2. The tire has a very noticeable mold seam (which to be fair will probably wear off).
3. The spoke impressions (only 16 of them) radiate straight out from the hub to the rim (many WWI tires were not like this).
4. The molded in lacing on the "wheel covers" looks nice (particularly if carefully painted) but is not accurate for all aircraft.
5. The tires on the WB wheels are far too fat for earlier aircraft like the EIII.
6. The conical shape is a perfectly even rather than the slightly curved (volcanic?) look of the spokes in most old photos.

All in all the WB wheels are a quick and easy and reasonably good looking accessory for WWI models. However, for those who like to go "totally scale" these wheels are likely to be less scale than the rest of your model. And this assumed that you don't just open up the package and slap them on unpainted in totally stock condition. Many many WWI wheels covers had an inspection hole and duplicating this on the WB wheels would be challenging because the plastic is so thick. You have to carve out a much larger hole and then recreate the cover.

Don't get me wrong -- the WB wheels are a wondeful boon to WWI modeling but they aren't nearly as scale as the WB machine gun kits and probably less scale than a nice set of homemade wheels.

steve dubro will have wheels in about 2-3 weeks i saw them at toledo they look real nice @ lighter in wt. price 35.00 to 40.00 , balsa usa will have them also

charlie

Steve,
I recently placed an order from Mick Reeves Models in England for 2 6" WW1 wheels, a Vickers machine gun (1/4 scale) and a LeRhone dummy engine kit. Well he sent me two wheel sets for a total of 4 wheels, so I have a pair if you want them. They are 6" diameter, and you will need to make a bushing depending on your landing gear diameter. Cost is $45 If your interested I will post pics.
Good news too! BUSA announced that the Williams Bros molds and dies have been purchased by another company in Texas, and will be ramping up production of the WB wheels and machine guns sometime in May-July of 2005, if you want to wait.
Jake in Colorado

What you sat about WB wheels may be true but they would be better than what I have now.
Thanks

Steve

Thanks Charlie. That may be the best thing for me to do. I'll wait and see what the Dubro's look like and also Balsa USA.
Thanks again.
Steve

Try Proctor models. I just scored a pair of 5 1/4" smooth tread wheels from them (last pair), and everyone else I checked with was out.

Thanks Scalebirdman

Steve, I didn't mean to totally knock the WB wheels. I just wanted to point out to folks that they're not perfect. People seem to put an awful lot of effort into making their scale models and then don't give a second thought about the scaleness of the accessories they add on. The WB have become a sort of de facto standard.

BTW, the original EIII did not have fabric covered wheels but rather they had covers made out of thin sheet metal. I simulated this on my EIII. This also allowed me to drill out a lot of the heavy plastic to lighten the wheels quite a bit.