Truing wheels and tires for Artin 1/43

It would probably be the understatement of the day to say that neither front or rear wheels come “true” in an Artin 1/43 car. However, fixing it is only a Dremel tool and a 9V battery away.

 

v  First take the chassis off the car and place it in front of you.

 

 

v  Take all four tires off the chassis

 

 

v  Take the front axle apart. For this I like to use a pair of pliers on the right and on the left. One of the wheels should pop right off while the other will stay on the axle.

 

 

v  Mount the wheel with the axle in your favorite version of a Dremel tool.

 

 

v  Mount the first front tire back on the wheel.

 

 

v  Using 120 to 200 grit sand paper and the SLOWEST speed of your Dremel tool, bring the tire to the sand paper. Make sure the tire does not get too hot or it might fall apart.

 

 

v  Sand it down until you have it at about 14 mm diameter. Make sure to round off the edges. Repeat for the second front tire, and then mount the front wheels and axle back on the front of your chassis. If you like (and it does help) you can actually seal/coat the front tires to make them more slippery. I prefer to use nail polish (preferably transparent but pink has been seen before), some people like a coat or three of Future floor polish, some other people like actually CA glue.

 

 

v  Go back to your chassis and take out a 9V battery and an emery board (or your wife’s favorite nail file)

 

 

v  Place the battery vertically on your workbench and bring the chassis braids vertically down onto the battery contacts. Hold the emery board and while the rear wheels are spinning, eliminate all flashing and grossly out of round plastic features of the wheels.

 

 

v  Your wheels should now look like they have been rounded but make sure to not overdo it.

 

 

v  Mount the rear tires back on the wheels. At this point, you can glue the tires on the rims. To do this I use either CA glue (very little) or shoe good (give it 24 hrs cure/dry time).

 

 

v  Bring the chassis to the track where you have taped down another sheet of 120-200 grit sand paper

 

 

v  Apply power to the track (never more than 6-7 V for a stock Artin motor) and hold the chassis so the wheels/tires barely touch the sand paper. Start sanding like this. Make sure the motor does not get too hot, the tires do not get too hot, but MOST OF ALL, do not push down to hard or you will strip the gear/pinion.

 

 

v  Continue sanding until the rear tires are about 16 mm diameter.

 

 

v  You are done !!! The whole thing should not take you more than 10-15 minutes once you get the hang of it !!!

 

Last Update: 2/19/07                                                                                              Drop me a note