In test fitting the wheels and rubber tires for the Merit M19 kit, I'm finding that they're quite loose, to the point where the plastic wheels almost fall out of the tires.

Has anyone else experienced this and aside from buying resin replacement wheels, what did you do to ensure a good solid fit?

Cheers,

Chris

Hi, Chris! If you don't mind waiting for a little while, I'm sure that some aftermarket companies will be dealing with this wheel/tire fit problem pretty soon. (Ex: TANK WORKSHOP, D-TOYS, VOYAGER, REALMODEL, LEGEND, etc, etc)

In my own case, I will usually wait for the aftermarket people to come out with resin "corrections"- I don't mind the wait, because I just go on the next step in the assembly process. I always build my models in "sub-assemblies", so I don't let a small setback interrupt my work. Besides, I usually have about a half-dozen other projects on my worktables (yes, that's plural) to keep my workflow going.

If you don't want to wait, you might want to try adding some plasti-card shims at the 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions to the mating surface of your rims to ensure that your tires are equidistantly placed on your rims. I've used this "little fix" with much success on other models that have had this problem. Of course, some test-fitting will be required.

I start out with my thinnest plasti-card, which is available at most reputable hobby shops, and then I work up from there, adding a shim to each of the four 12, 3, 6, and 9 "clock" positions to keep the alignment "true". I've tried adding shims at the 12, 4, and 8 positions, but that isn't going to be as "true" as the 12, 3, 6, and nine positions...


Good Luck-

Thanks for your suggestions Dennis. The real problem with shims is that the bead area of the wheels is very small so if I were to use shims, the rubber tire won't have anything to hook onto.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi, Chris! Since I don't have the new M19 kit yet, I didn't realize that the Wheels-to-Tires fit is THAT BAD. As I said in my initial reply to your question, adding the shims to the wheels to take up the slack has worked for me in the past on some of the other kits in my collection, when a resin "correction" or up-grade wasn't available. If it were me, I'd just wait until the aftermarket boys come out with a resin "Wheels & Tires" set. I've been meaning to buy an M19, but now I think I'll hold off until aftermarket wheels & tires become available.

Just thought that my suggestions might have worked for you- You'd think a reputable company like HOBBY BOSS would have handed down a better-engineered kit to MERIT... Don't they test-fit these things before they OK it for production? That's a pretty sad blunder to put on the market, don't you think?

PS- HOBBY BOSS/MERIT should have done the tires in a "layered" slide-molded styrene assembly, as other manufacturers do...

Go to your local Lowes etc, look for the foam dowels. They can be had in small diameters that can be stuffed around the inside of the tire. That will fill out the tire and tighten the tire against the rim.

That's a good suggestion Taylor.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi, Chris! I just learned that there is a TIRE & WHEEL Replacement set that has just been released by REAL MODEL for your M19:

RM 35270 M19 WHEELS for Tractor & Trailer

They look GREAT, judging from the photos...

Seen and ordered. Thanks!

Cheers,

Chris