# New "MC-wheels" :-D



## clausheupel (Jan 27, 2005)

Hi folks,

last night I had the rare opportunity to do a lil´ tinkering in the R&D department of my slotcave.

I already slaughtered some dozens of obsolete tape cassettes (who needs them in the age of MP3?) over the last years (and threw away some more 100s of them...), but kept the screws (I like them for mounting resin bodies to T-Jet chassis).

But what about all those nice little reels inside those MC´s? Always thought they might give cool custom rims, so I put some of them aside for future experiments.

Now finally here´s the proof: Especially the white ones found inside Maxell MC´s are a perfect fit for T-Jet sized axles! They are quite easy to press on, run perfectly round and look cool IMHO. Double flanged rims virtually for free! :tongue:










As I´m also casting silicone tires and experiment with different compounds I finally found a good use for my super-soft (read: too soft) Tuff-One sized rear tires now: They can be stretched enough to slip over the flange of the MC-rim and provide great grip.

For the front tires the 3 mm low-profile tires designed for Vincent rims work great.

Now that combo sure won´t fit under any T-Jet body, but there are quite a few bodies with larger wheel wells, that probably go well with those wheels (e.g. Willys Gassers)!

Here´s my AW 70´s "coke bottle" Vette (lowered about 1 mm):



















The white color sure isn´t the coolest you can imagine, but I can´t think of any color lasting very long on that Nylon stuff...? Hmm, I´ll give Humbrol lacquer a try and will let you know...

Happy tinkering! 

Greetings from the other side of the pond

Claus


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## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

Great tip. Thanks


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## vaBcHRog (Feb 19, 2003)

Claus you might be able to die them different colors with a rITZ Die


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## Hittman101 (Oct 21, 2009)

Never thought of using them.. They look great and cheap.. Thanks for the idea..


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Cool engineering!!! Spray em silver, then add some black wash to the inset, oh yea!!! Reminds me of the Buick GN wheels...Thanks, RM


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

You da man Claus!


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

Claus- Wow man, thats an awesome idea/tip....time for me to hunt up my old cassettes now


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

The ingenuity on here never ceases to amaze me:thumbsup:
Now where's that old tape box:wave:
Rick


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Very clever Claus...*

Thanks for the tips... Back when you we're a wee lad, I bet it was a bad idea to leave you unattended with tools close by huh?  :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Well done!


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## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

The ones that I found so far seemed to fit well with the tyco chassis. Thanks again Claus.







.


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

Amazing, I can't believe the smarts here.


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

great idea Claus. man the things I would miss out on but for you smart guys!


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Icing on the cake....*

I betcha there's even a craft store "nail head" that fits perfectly over the center of the hub.


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## Omega (Jan 14, 2000)

Cool, I will need to try this out on some customs I am working on.

Dave


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## TX Street Racer (May 8, 2004)

Wow, that's just nifty right there!:thumbsup:


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

*This is genius!!*

This sounded so cool I had to try it. So I raided my collection of horrible old cassettes yesterday. I found likely candidates from 4 different manufacturers: TDK, Maxell, Memorex, and Sony. So far, all I've had time to actually work with is TDK. If you have a vehicle with large wheel wells to be filled, the results can be dramatic. It works well, for example, on a Mako Shark. The Mako looks kinda pathetic with the stock skinny Tjet wheels:










Tuff Ones size wheels help some, but there's still room for improvement:










But now check it out with TDK wheels:










The rear tires are Weird Jack's AFX tires that happened to be old and stretched and loose on AFX wheels. The fronts are these silicones that I've had around for AFX that always seemed too loose, even when they were new. Since these pictures were taken, I also tried some O-rings on the front that also work well but bring the height down just a little.

The only thing I might need to do is add spacers to the front axle to keep everything clear of the edges of the chassis and the pickup shoes and like that. Brilliant idea, Claus! :thumbsup:

--rick


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Claus what a NEAT IDEA!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Now rick has thrown this Red Shark picture up on HT and it looks Great with his Cassette rims on it.

Bob...gotta try this one...zilla


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

Hey rick, did you ever notice that the wheelwells on your GREEN Mako have been Trimmed ?!


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## Bubba 123 (Sep 10, 2010)

clausheupel said:


> Hi folks,
> 
> last night I had the rare opportunity to do a lil´ tinkering in the R&D department of my slotcave.
> 
> ...


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Ralphthe3rd said:


> Hey rick, did you ever notice that the wheelwells on your GREEN Mako have been Trimmed ?!


Yeah, actually, I HADN'T noticed till I took these pics... then looking at them, I thought, "So where's the wheel well lip on these wheel wells?" When I got that car years ago, I had to strip a nasty coat of gold paint off it... Somehow, I never noticed the cut wells. I will take a closer look at the actual damage later, now that someone else pointed it out. 

In the meantime, here's another conversion! Of the 4 types of cassettes I started experimenting with, the Sonys have red rollers and the Maxells, which were a cheap low-end model, had yellow rollers. I thought the yellow would set off the yellow windows in this Lola nicely...



















--rick


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

I likes those yellow ones!!! RM


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## clausheupel (Jan 27, 2005)

*Whoa! So many different colors to be found???*

Hi folks, first I wish you all a happy New Year!

Second I was happy (and surprised) to stir up some (= so much) interest with those cheapo wheels. And of course I´m glad to still be able to contribute sth. useful every once in a while...  Thanks for all those kind words! 

@ Hadaslot and Rick: Great pics of great conversions - thanks for sharing!

I never saw any other cassette rollers than white or black ones. I really love those baby blue ones for Tyco sized axles, but the yellow ones Rick dug out are simply awesome!

Keep on slaughtering those tape cassettes! Just a moment... - when and where´s the next flea market...??? :hat:

Claus


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## XracerHO (Feb 6, 2008)

Claus, Great repurposing idea! Awhile back, salvaged the screws from my cassettes but threw them out without thinking of the wheels! With all the colour variations & a new source of rims, like you will be watching for them at the flea markets & garage sales!!
*Happy New Year to All!* ..RL


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## torredcuda (Feb 1, 2004)

Found 2 black spoked ones and 4 black non-spoked ones,gotta dig thru some more for 2 more spoked ones as I like those.My problem is I can only salvage the cassettes I realy don`t like or non-working ones as I still have a cassette deck in the `cuda.


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## JordanZ870 (Nov 25, 2004)

This is a great thread.
These cars look great!
I have a ton of old tapes that old housemates
left behind. I wont feel one bit bad about
harvesting wheels and screws! :thumbsup:

Great vision, Clause!


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## Harold Sage (Apr 6, 2008)

Awesome idea clausheupel :thumbsup:


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## clausheupel (Jan 27, 2005)

*This afternoon...*

... I found another cool "victim" for those wheels:




























A lot better than any other wheel combo I tried to get the right look for the T-Jet version of the Dash Chevy.

Very tight fit, but believe it or not: The tires don´t touch the wheel wells! Running great! :thumbsup:

Claus


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Uh, Can ya still buy cassettes??? Gotta try some of those...RM


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## torredcuda (Feb 1, 2004)

Awww crap,what I thought was a score with the black spoked ones is a bust as the axle hole is too large for a t-jet.


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## torredcuda (Feb 1, 2004)

Hilltop Raceway said:


> Uh, Can ya still buy cassettes??? Gotta try some of those...RM


Plenty for sale we just need to figure out which ones have a "good" wheels.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_lpo_..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1RQK9K9XWKCQEET6KYPC


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

Claus - cool ideas!!! I gotta try it on 69 dodge chargers!! 

Wes


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

torridcuda, do you remember which brand of cassette that was?


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

torredcuda said:


> Awww crap,what I thought was a score with the black spoked ones is a bust as the axle hole is too large for a t-jet.


consider making a sleeve out of brass or plastic tube the fits tight on the axle and use those for independent fronts?


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## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

I found some of the six spoke wheels like in pics out of a Maxell. 90 minute if it matters.


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## torredcuda (Feb 1, 2004)

The black ones I found were in recorded albums so I`m not sure who made them.Strike 2 was a Sony UX,it had white spoke wheels that were just a hair loose on the axle.


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

torredcuda said:


> Plenty for sale we just need to figure out which ones have a "good" wheels.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_lpo_..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1RQK9K9XWKCQEET6KYPC


So it's 75 cents to $1 per pair (of wheels) buying the cassettes new, even if you can wangle the free shipping. 

I believe I'd try garage sales, on Sunday, and make a real lowball offer for all they have. Some thrift stores should still have some cassettes, and you might be able to get very low prices by buying all they have; they'll be glad to unload them, I'd guess. Once you buy a pile, you can figure out which ones are best for your uses.

Like most people, I already have plenty. Since I love making stuff from junk, I've been taking them apart occasionally and trying to figure what to do with the parts. I've used the wheels for detail bits on science-fiction gaming buildings, but it never occurred to me they could be used as slotcar wheels - D'oh!

Hats off to Claus, the repurposing master.

-- D


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

torredcuda said:


> The black ones I found were in recorded albums so I`m not sure who made them.Strike 2 was a Sony UX,it had white spoke wheels that were just a hair loose on the axle.


Ahhhh... I was looking forward to trying some red ones that are in a couple of Sony cassettes I found. Guess I'll be prepared if they don't work...

The ones I have used so far were Maxell and TDK. 

--rick


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## Marty (Oct 20, 1999)

Will these work?

http://us.ebid.net/for-sale/lot-of-...-s-blue-soft-sided-carrying-case-70114088.htm

http://us.ebid.net/for-sale/lot-of-...-maroon-soft-sided-carrying-case-70114132.htm

Marty
Marysville, OH


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