WWII British Airborne Weapon & Equipment Set
Bronco Models 1:35 Scale Kit No. AB3567
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Welbike and CLE
Images showing the parts for the front and rear wheels with the central axles glued to the etched spokes to begin with
The etched spokes needed to be formed into the dome shape but there was no jig supplied like there is for the BSA folding bike so I made one by drilling a shallow 6mm hole into a block of spare resin (1). The etched spokes can then be laid onto the jig (2) and in the case of the spokes with the axle attached use the axle to press down until the required depth is achieved.
For the other spoke without the axle I use a small drill bit to push down to form the dome shape ensuring to press down perfectly straight so the spokes bend evenly all around (3).
With the spokes formed we have the same issue of the outer edge compressing and forcing distortions the same as they did with the larger spokes in the BSA spokes (4). You can see this distortion in the images (5) and to rectify this for those already bent I simply cut away the section of outer circle that were distorted and then glued the spokes into the inner ridge in the wheel halves.
For the spokes not yet bent I firstly cut out small sections to leave room for the contraction of the outer rim due to the bending of the spokes in the jig. After bending the outer edges showed no distortions (6) and can be glued directly into the inside of the wheel half ready for fitting the well haves together (7).
When fitting the wheel halves together the spokes ends must be offset each side to get the correct sit of spokes and to this end I cut off the inner locating pin on the wheel half and positioned the wheels to have the correct spoke offset and then just glued the wheel haves together to complete the wheel assembly (8).
