Help me identify these wheels and find something close...

So here's the story: basically, my friend's Miata (http://photobucket.com/albums/v497/ibiza109/Fall%2005/?action=view&current=berkeley1.jpg) (click for picture) was totalled by a guy who turned left on a red in front of him. My friend and his girlfriend came out fine, but the car crumpled almost 3', and well... he loved it to death. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be on these forums... so I can say here that I've taken up the idea of building him a 1:24 replica.

After a bunch of searching here, I found what appears to be the only 2nd-gen left-hand-steering Miata kit, and it's a good one!

The next complication is the rims. He got them just a few months ago... 17" Enkei 10-spokes. After some more searching here, I think they're "ES-Tarmac"s. I found them in two boxes. One's blue or green, and it's 15" wheels. The other is red, and it doesn't say what size they are.

*edit*
IMMEDIATE QUESTION: WHAT SIZE ARE THE ONES IN A RED BOX?
(this box (http://www.hlj.com/images/fuj/fuj19232box.gif))
In either case, HLJ and everywhere else I've seen them says they're sold out.

So that's what I need help with. The rims. I'd rather get the size right than the exact style (I think that was my friend's intent when he bought the wheels)... Could anybody tell me where to look, or what other rims to look for?

Any advice on matching and painting that silver would be greatly appreciated too. Thanks.

Eventually I'd like to mount it in a clear plastic case, find out how to write Jenba Itai (I can write Chinese... just need to find the characters), and I dunno... find a fitting quote about warriors' horses dying, or something along those lines. Oh, and have his girlfriend give me all the details on the little details of the car...

Since both pictures are identical, I assume both are 15 inches. I think the old red box one is sold as a new Parts Maker product line. It'll probably look too small even on a tiny Miata model. 16" wouldn't look too bad, but it'd be better to have a 17". I'll keep on looking.

If the worst comes, you can cut the spoke part and graft it on a 17" rim.

As for the quote, could that be the Japanese phrase: Jinba Ittai? It's nothing to do with a horse dying, but that has been the Miata's concept since it's birth, so I'm almost certain I'm right. In Chinese, the characters are probably the same, but pronunciation would be different.

It's composed of four characters human-horse-one-body (make sense, right?) and if you look up those words, you should be able to find them.

Yeah, Jenba Ittai is Mazda's "one-ness between rider and horse" quote in Japanese that it's been using for Miata marketing.

I just figured it might be cool to find a quote about a warrior's horse dying for this occasion, to go with "Jenba Ittai." I'd write that in English, somewhere.

Your grafting idea could work. I'll keep that in mind as plan B. Thanks for the tips, and for the characters that make up Jenba Ittai.

Hm... how about these? They look easy to modify into ES-TARMACs.

http://www.wheelspecs.com/specs/images/WheelModels/enkei_nto3.png

Enkei NT-03. However... when I look this name up in Google, most of the results are 12-spoke. But some are 10-spoke (which is what I would want). Do I have the name right?

Anyone recommend a place to look for these, in scale?

those wheels on the miata look like CE28's or GT-N's

You could try the rims that are included in the JACCS Accord kit by Tamiya. You'd have to change it from center nut to four lug, which wouldn't be too hard. I think the rims are 18", the hardest part would be finding tires.

Hey that's brilliant. Volks can't be too hard to find, right?

I've seen that Accord kit around too. Can tires be bought separately? How low-profile are the ones that come with that kit? (When I'm off work I'll look for pictures)

Thanks guys.

They're slicks, and there's the rub. I've had a kinda hard time finding tires that aren't too big and don't have to stretch too much to fit. Perhaps the XS tuning tires could work?

If you're still looking, what about the Fujimi Kranze Shoki?

http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ19213

I have a set on a model sitting right in front of me. Unlike the boxart, the actual rim is a 4 lug, so less conversion work. Also, there is a bit of a lip on the rim (not too obvious from the boxart)