Wheel Suppliers

[Bulbous]

Hi all,

I am currently working on some Western Australian narrow gauge (3'6") models and am looking towards doing them in TTn3.5 - 1:120 scale on 9mm gauge track. The main thing i am having trouble with is finding suitable wheels to use. The standard size of wheels on the four wheel wagons was around 36", which comes to 7.62mm diametre. I am chasing wheels in around 7.5mm diametre with either disc or spoked centres, but would settle for somewhere in the vicinity (between 7mm and 8mm if needed).

I really need a good supply though, as I am designing the wagons around a standard wheel and axle to give the right coupler heights throughout each different wagon style. I have checked out some English suppliers for their 2mm finescale or 3mm catalogues, and have even looked at Proto87 and similar. The Northwest Short Line wheels for HO scale (code 93000169NS) are the right size (1.5mm axle) but no picture or description of the wheel centre design.

I am also trying to keep the wheels as fine as possible, so not looking for a 110 or 88 thickness wheel.

If anyone has some options or ideas, I would be keen to hear them!

Cheers,

Matt

[nickelplate759]

The product picture at this link shows what NWSL wheels look like.

https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/nwsl-ho-39297-4-stanton-drive-power-truck-1215-80-wheelbase-36-wheels-with-110-tread/

[railnerd]

most likely too big, but have a look here…

   http://greenwayproducts.com/brass-builders-corner-trackside-specialties/

Check into the HOn30 Thomas the Tank Engine wagons that were released recently by Bachmann.

   http://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=756_772_975

-Dave

[Bulbous]

Thanks George and Dave, much appreciated.

The NWSL wheels might work, as one style of wheel we had here was disc wheels with three or four holes through to face, such as:

(Hard to see clearly, but there are four holes through the disc wheel)

The main style of wheel I am chasing is something similar to the following:

(Clearest shot of the underside of one of the GA class open wagons)

Cheers,

Matt

[garethashenden]

I haven't found anyone doing 7.5mm wheels. Did you see the Narrow Gauge wheels in the back of Alan Gibson's catalogue? They do 8mm wheels in disc, 6 hole disc, 6 spoke, and 8 spoke. Unfortunately they don't do either 3 hole or open spoke wheels. I'm not sure if using 8 spoke instead of split spoke wheels would work for you.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Steam era models here in OZ make wheels and lots of other neat stuff.
Smallest is 9mm thou in disc and spoked.
I have used their wheels on some On30 stuff and they are briliant.
Might be worth a look see.
Rod.

[Bulbous]

Thanks for the updates Gareth, Rod, much appreciated.

Due to a poor measurement on my behalf, it turns out the standard wheel sizing for WAGR wagons is 800mm (around 31.5 inches) so I am really chasing wheels in the 6.6mm diametre area. I can get 6mm diametre wheels through the 2mm Society, in holed disc, 8 spoked and 8-split spoked versions, but have to confirm that they are able to be gauged for 9mm track. The 3mm Society doesn't do anything smaller than 8mm diametre wheels, and I also picked up a bag of spoked wheels from Graham Farish which are closer to 6.2mm diametre, but with much thicker treads, making them look a bit chunky. They are also on 15.2mm axles, and I am trying to keep the axle lengths down to around 13.5mm if possible.

A quick idea of the current model - I have attached the current version of the GC class wagon I am working on below (overall dimensions are around 19mm wide, 41mm long and 13mm high). I have the final version in design which will allow the chassis and wagon body to be seperate parts, and make it easier to install bearings and axles without having the bend the printing too much. The current 15.2mm axles would fit in the model without bearings (running on the plastic directly), but I would prefer brass top hat bearings in there for better running and longer wearing life on the plastic surface. The final design also has coupler pockets and locating pins for alternate bodies to use the same chassis (WAGR used standard chassis across various wagon types - this one is the 16' wood chassis with 9'6" wheelbase).
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Cheers,

Matt

[garethashenden]

In that case the 2mm ones are probably the best bet. They can be regauged fairly easily. The flange is 0.5mm, so the overall diameter makes up some of the difference.

[Bulbous]

Thanks Gareth, it looks like time to join the 2mm Society then!

Cheers,

Matt

[scaro]

Steam Era no longer do 7.6mm or 9mm spoked wheels. (for 2mm axle)

Kadee and others certainly do 7.6mm for HOn3, but all disc. They are moderately finescale, about .080" or 2mm profile.

NWSL did a 9 spoke wheel for logging cars in both 7.6mm (26" HO) and 7mm (24" HO), but they have not done them for years and will not do so again. I have a couple of pairs somewhere.

Though Alan Gibson do 8mm (possibly 8.2mm) they are not in stock at the moment at the 3mm Society so I'm guessing he has not run them for a while. (for 1.5mm axle)

Ian Osborne does plastic 8mm injection moulded in spoke and disc. (for 1.5mm axle) They look pretty good and are finescale width, with the spoked wheel having the right spindly look. They're also cheap.  Personally I think they look the nicest.

Hadl of Germany do an 8.3mm spoked wheel with metal tyre and very fine spokes, nice but not cheap. (think 1.5mm axle)  Tillig do something similar with Y spokes though it's a bit chunky looking.

6.6mm is not done except in disc by NWSL for N scale, probably for locomotives.

Graham Farish did 6.5mm on a couple of bogie wagons but this is a disc wheel.

Farish's spoked wheel is about 6.3mm but looks a bit clunky, I think. There has to be a hub around the outer end of the spokes, as the piece is a plastic insert into a metal tyre. This has the effect of of making the tyre look too thick, and the thick 1.5mm axle doesn't help matters; the spokes are way too stubby.

Dapol did do a metal tyred 6.4mm spoked wheel on one wagon which was much finer, think it used a thinner (1mm?) axle so the spokes could be longer, but they never repeated the experiment and went back to disc wheels on all their N stuff so far as I'm aware. 

Although Peco wheels are 6.2mm (?) they in fact look better, as being a one piece plastic molding, rather than a metal tyre with plastic insert, the tyre is thinner -you can see more daylight through the spokes than the Farish wheel.

2mm Association wheels are 6mm and look correctly spindly but I wonder if they may look a bit small for WAGR in 1:120. They do 7mm too, but only in disc I think.

Ben