This is the method I have used to get some more scale looking wheels for my Land-Rover model at a reasonable cost.

Before you start, a quick reminder that knives and drill bits can do damage to hands so please be careful.

You will need:
1. Tamiya M1025 Hummer wheel part number 9335205
2. A sharp knife
3. 1.5mm drill bit
4. 2.5mm styrene hexagonal rod
5. 1.5mm metal or styrene rod. I have used ordinary gas welding rod which is about 1.5mm dia.

For drilling I used a mini drill chuck in a cordless screwdriver as it is much lighter and slower than a normal drill so hopefully a bit more accurate.

Next remove the outer moulded wheel nuts from the rim using the knife. You’ll need to do this by shaving a bit at a time and it helps if your knife is long enough or cheap enough to be flexible.

Then do the same on the inner moulded wheel nuts.

Next part is to drill 5 holes where your wheel ‘studs’ will go. The spacing for these is 12mm, so part drill the first hole then use a pair of calipers set at 12mm to mark the other 4. Try and position your first hole midway between the ribs on the back of the rim otherwise you may hit a rib when drilling.

Now that you’ve prepared the wheel you need to make the studs. Cut a piece of the hex rod to the length you want the wheel nuts to be (2mm approx) then carefully drill down the centre.

Now that you have a wheel nut, cut about a 6mm (1/4″) length of the welding rod and insert it into the nut.

Now insert this ‘stud’ into one of the holes in your wheel rim. and repeat until you have enough completed wheels. Once the ‘stud’ was in place I put a blob of CA glue on the back.

Then a coat of primer.

Some paint in the colour of your choice, and flat black for the wheel nuts.

And fit them to your model

This article was originally written and published by me on the Tamiya Club website in July 2008, at the time there weren’t any affordable wheels that looked like standard Land-Rover rims. Whilst there are now much more affordable alternatives I think it is still worth re-publishing this article to illustrate how parts can easily be modified for a specific look.

Matthew Field