TOPIC:

I am going to be building a Wild Willy 2 soon. I realize that this is a completely different model than the original, but I am interested in making it look a bit more like the original M38. The most obvious thing that looks wrong is the balloon chevron tires and wheels. Is it possible to use the original wheels on the WR-02 chassis? It looks like the original did use 12mm hexes for driving the rear wheels, but the front looks like it only used an inner bearing but not an outer. I can compare the instructions but I don't have an original 58035 to do a detailed comparison.

Assuming it would work, I need to find old tires and wheels. Reproduction original style tires are available on eBay, but wheels seem harder. Anyone have a source for a set of original Wild Willy wheels?

Ufz, how about the Willy wheeler, that would be way easier to replicate. Finding a full usable set of M38 best chance, my guess, get a complete car with ok wheels and broken body. Or get the rims from Shapeways.

Well, I haven't tried it but you got me thinking so...
The wild willy/ blazer tire is a 1.9 so theoretically the new style 1.9 crawler bead lock rims should work and there are so many styles to choose from. They are 12mm hex so would work on the newer chassis. Hmmmmm I will check this out further when I get home as I have both parts tot his puzzle, the only question in my mind right now is the width of the wild willy tire, but that could be trimmed.....

Thanks, I'll be looking forward to hearing what you find. I knew there would be someone on this forum who has both versions.

OK, so here is what I have found out.
I have a set of bead lock type alloy wheels for a Jeep Rubicon project I have on the side burner as well as a set of those really nice reproduction Willy / Blazer tires so when you put the 2 of them together they will fit! with a bit of work As I suspected the inner return on the Willy tire is a lot wider than the newer type tyres but looks like it will trim off easy enough. On my mock up I can't push the rim halves all the way together with the center spacer in there because of the extra material. If you leave the spacer out, it fits OK, but doesn't clamp the tire, although it is a good tight fit, I suppose you could glue it too.. but I think if you trim it down all will be fine. I would also say these particular rims are narrower than the original Willy rims but other widths are available I believe.

So on a quick mock up you get this....



The WW2 is one I built for my wife many years ago, A bit custom and the other is my Willy shelfer that I bought new built never run about 20 years ago. I think these rims look pretty good and if they were painted white they would be even better, I am pretty sure if you look around on evilbay you can find them for less than $40 for a set.
So that's the good news........

However I totally forgot that the front of this WW2 is 1150 bearings like a Blackfoot even though it has the double wishbone suspension....hmmmmmm
So perhaps someone could chime in here and let me know if there are different steering knuckles that will fit this chassis and take the 12mm hexes?? Something from a touring car or???
I also thought there was some sort of conversion hub for 12mm wheels to straight axles?? If that could be accomplished I think it would make for a much better looking Wild Willy 2 but that's just my 2 cents worth.

Your results my vary, test in an inconspicuous area first, use as directed.....bla, bla, bla bla......

Hope some of this helped

Ok,
I am going to update my own post here, I just could not stop thinking about this wheel issue ( yes I do need to get a life! ) So I went to the manual drawer, yes I keep them all, and found the old Wild Willy 2 manual and I had forgotten what a dogs breakfast of a chassis this is, Tamiya really showed off there "modular design" ability on this one, So it's good news! The front end is mostly built from TA-01 type parts and they added a weird adaptor to run the old monster truck type steering knuckles, the good part is most of what you need to convert to 12mm is included in the kit!!
The B 9 parts listed as "not required" are exactly what IS required, plus the B 14 hexes. You will need to find, 2 extra wheel axles, 2 extra drive pins, 4 1150 bearings and what ever ball ends and shorter ( I assume) rods you need for the steering. Not to bad after all and it really will make an interesting custom WW2 for sure.

Go for it! If I could I would!!

oldwilly wrote:

OK, so here is what I have found out.
So on a quick mock up you get this....

That looks so much better than the big balloon tires that I can hardly believe it.

Hope some of this helped

Yes, it helped a whole lot. This is exactly the type of information I was looking for. So the answer is yes, I can make it work with some aftermarket wheels and based on the trial results you've achieved, it will really improve the appearance of the Wild Willy 2.[/quote]

oldwilly wrote:

However I totally forgot that the front of this WW2 is 1150 bearings like a Blackfoot even though it has the double wishbone suspension....hmmmmmm
So perhaps someone could chime in here and let me know if there are different steering knuckles that will fit this chassis and take the 12mm hexes?? Something from a touring car or???
I also thought there was some sort of conversion hub for 12mm wheels to straight axles?? If that could be accomplished I think it would make for a much better looking Wild Willy 2 but that's just my 2 cents worth.

oldwilly wrote:

Ok,
The front end is mostly built from TA-01 type parts and they added a weird adaptor to run the old monster truck type steering knuckles, the good part is most of what you need to convert to 12mm is included in the kit!!
The B 9 parts listed as "not required" are exactly what IS required, plus the B 14 hexes. You will need to find, 2 extra wheel axles, 2 extra drive pins, 4 1150 bearings and what ever ball ends and shorter ( I assume) rods you need for the steering. Not to bad after all and it really will make an interesting custom WW2 for sure.

This is good news indeed. It is easy enough to use the B9 parts, and I happen to be parting out a Bush Devil 2 from which I can steal the axles and drive pins which will be perfect. I've gone ahead and ordered a set of tires as well as a set of white steel stamped wheels from RC4WD. I also got a set of proline compatible beadlock spacers. These allow for a thicker bead and may mean that I might not have to trim the tires. We shall see.

I'll certainly post pictures of the model once I get it built. I'm looking forward to a Wild Willy 2 that looks much more like an M38.

Oh Ya,
I had forgot about those white steel wheels from RC4WD they are a nice old school look, had some on a real Jeep or 2 back in the day. Now I have a set on this one....



Its a crawler I was building awhile ago and I really should get back to it . If the gang is interested I could start a build thread on it, might be incentive I need to finish it up ...
I am looking forward to seeing how you make out with this project, I am assuming there could also be some spacing issues but I agree it will look a whole lot better in the end!

Here they were called whitespokes in the real world

And chromespokes for the chrome versions

oldwilly wrote:

Oh Ya,
I had forgot about those white steel wheels from RC4WD they are a nice old school look, had some on a real Jeep or 2 back in the day. Now I have a set on this one....

Its a crawler I was building awhile ago and I really should get back to it . If the gang is interested I could start a build thread on it, might be incentive I need to finish it up ...
I am looking forward to seeing how you make out with this project, I am assuming there could also be some spacing issues but I agree it will look a whole lot better in the end!

Yes start a thread on this chassis. It lokks fine.