Willem's Guide to Making Wheels
by W.M. Elzerman
In the many years I have been making card- or paper models
I've developed a personal method for making wheels. In many cases the model
designs use glue tabs at either the circular sides or at the treads' strip.
Both often give a 'faceted' curve instead of a nice smooth round shape.
The techniques used are simple straight cutting, some layering and "butt
joints". Butt joints are the kinds of joint where the parts are glued together
using only the edge of the paper. When possible, extra reinforcement is done
by adding glue in an invisible corner.
Especially with car and vehicle models, the look of the wheels is very important.
I have seen many nice builds destroyed by bad looking wheels. Somehow they attract
much attention, especially when it is an open-wheeled vehicle like a racing
car.
Basically, a cardmodels' wheel is made of 3 parts: a strip-part for the tread
and 2 discs for the sides. In this description the discs are also 3- dimensional.
First, I cut the parts without any glue tabs. Edges which will be visible
afterwards get some touch-up coloring. I use simple waterbased paint for this,
but also felt tips or color pencil can do the job.
In most cases the original glue tabs are unusable. So the next thing is to 'scratch-build'
some. In this example, I cut 2 rings of the same size as the side part and divided
them into 8 pieces. These inner- and outer-rings provided 16 needed tabs for
4 wheels.
The side discs are closed with the inner-tab only AFTER scoring. The circular
scoring was done using a fitting template-- an appropriate circle cut out of
a piece of thick cardboard. Some moving around inside with a scoringtool and
you're done.
The next step is building the rims. This time it's a simple construction,
pillbox-like. It is glued on its place and is set aside to dry.
When dry, the folding of the side discs is very simple; just start gently
at one edge of the joint and bend down. You will notice the fold 'growing' almost
by itself around the disc. Work all around and adjust where needed.
Close the side with the outer-tab.
Here's the same part from the opposite side.
At the left partly folded and at the right completely done and closed with
an outer-tab.
The
tread part is made of the original strip and layered with an additional strip
of card that is the same width as the tread, but over twice as long.
The long strip is glued half-way to the back of the original after both were
curved by dragging them over a table's edge, or a round stick. This gives the
strips a rounded curl.
Before the glue is totally dry the circle is closed and adjusted as round
as possible by hand.
Now the edges of the side disc get some glue. Let it dry until it gets sticky,
but not completely dry! Then both parts are joined and adjusted to make a good
round shape. Set aside the let dry further.
It may even happen that the glue has not tacked on all corners. No problem
as long as the parts are on the right place. By spreading additional glue on
the inside corners the joint is completed and reinforced. Again set aside to
let it dry.
Finally the other side disc is put in its place. The edges of it get some
glue, dried until sticky or tacky. The inside edge of treadpart gets a fair
amount of glue and is instantly put in place on the side disc. Do the necessary
adjustments and set aside with this most recently added disc side down. Gravity
will do it's job and the glue will flow more or less from the tread part in
to the corner with the disc. Because it is in a closed box the drying will go
slow and the flow will take time. So far, this has worked always for me...
Last
is some sanding and touching up of the outside edge when desired. I use fine
grit waterproof sanding paper and a felt tip. The pictures show both stages:
before and after sanding/touching-up. Unfortunately the flash of my camara makes
the touch-up much more apparent then in reality.
GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY! HAPPY BUILDING!
