Return to the BUILD

“In this phase you will assemble the parts of the first of the wheels for your Eleanor Mustang model. Check that the pieces fit correctly before screwing them in.”

Contents

Parts

Build

Front Left Rim and Tire

Step 2.1

Start by soaking the Tire in hot water (+167°F or 75°C). It should sit for at least two (2) minutes.

Hot water can cause burn your skin, so be careful here. This water will soften the rubber Tire for easier installation in Step 2.5:

Step 2.2

Well, I only made it to the second kit of this build before I found something I wanted to modify. While this Central Rim Part is actually really good, I thought I would correct the color of the lug nuts by making them appear chrome-plated as on the real car. I accomplished this with the use of a 1mm Liquid Chrome Pen. This stuff applies like paint and dries with an almost mirror-like finish. Here is the stock Central Rim Part:

And here is the same part after a quick touch of the liquid chrome pen on each lug nut. It is a small touch, but I love it!

Fit the Central Rim Part to the Internal Rim Part, aligning the three tabs over the matching screw holes as shown:

Step 2.3

Secure these parts together with three (3) PS05 screws:

Step 2.4

Another Mod Zone, so soon?! Yep. For whatever reason, the all-silver valve stem on this External Rim Ring was bugging me. The fix was easy; I just hit the tip of it with my Black Sharpie to make it look like it had a tiny cap on it:

Fit this Internal Rim Part assembly to the External Rim Ring, aligning the screw holes as shown:

Secure these parts together with three (3) DS02 screws.

This is your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Step 2.5

Remove the Tire from the hot water and stretch it over the wheel assembly until the tire ‘beads’ are fully seated on both sides.

Use tweezers, fork, or similar tool to extract the Tire from the water, we don’t want to burn ourselves. While the Tire is hot and soft, it is easier to stretch it over the wheel assembly:

Be sure to align the tread pattern of the Tire to the wheel correctly, as shown:

Thoughts

Assembling wheels/tires for partwork models is always interesting due to having to heat the rubber tires. Still, I feel this wheel came out looking superb! Keep this wheel someplace safe for now as we won’t need it again until Kit 6.

Next Up

 Kit 3 – Air Filter Bottom/Top/Mesh, Carburetors, Cylinder Head Covers, Oil Filler Cap, Intake Manifold (Coming Soon)