Tamiya Escort WRC wheels for Celica

[SomaXIII]

Hi all,

I am currently planning to build the '92 Toyota Celica WRC (MonteCarlo Version), using the classic Tamiya kit. As you know, this kit has two wheel sets: the 5 radius OZ, and the Racing OZ wheels for gravel. But the version I want to build had OZ racing wheels for asphalt (they are bigger than the gravel ones)



I have read that the wheels included in 2 Escort kits from Tamiya could fit perfectly the Celica ones. These kits are the Michelin Pilot version and the blue and white version (I already have the Repsol version and their wheels won't work for me)

I was wondering if there any posibility of buying these wheels (rims and tyres). Maybe someone is able to make a copy in resin or something like that...

Thank you very much!

Ps. Sorry for my not too good english!

[rallymaster]

Hello,

I will build the same car and have thought to this Wheels question too.
Believe me, forget the idea to use the escort rims, that's totally false they can fit "perfectly" the car.
Those who said that haven't really look at the rims...!!?
The ford rims are bigger and use lower profile tarmac tires.

the correct wheels for the Celica are those included in the studio27 91 celica transkit (almost impossible to find ).

I decided to convert the rims by myself but I'm also considering to cast (if ever I have time again for modeling) the Studio27 rims or wait till someone decide to make them (Renaissance maybe ) because converting the rims is a lot of work to get them correct...

Beemax should release the 91 Montecarlo version, maybe their rims would be usefull for your project, if they make them correct...!

Edit: link to my gallery Celica file, you can see how I tried to convert the rims
http://s1138.photobucket.com/user/pc...?sort=3&page=1

[SomaXIII]

Thank you very much for you answer, Phil. I see that I'm not the only one with model on mind! I am not so brave to try to convert the rims by myself! xD

I am thinking about the option of someone creating these wheels with the correct size, maybe using 3D printing. I have seen some fabulous creations in this forum. And I know about two customers at least!

[stevenoble]

I used the Escort wheels when I built my Celica. Phil is right, they are not 100% correct, however they still look reasonably decent. It depends how accurate you want them to be..??

[SomaXIII]

Steve, your Celica looks great!
That was my initial idea. Althought they are not the actual wheels, I think they look very close to the real ones (better than the gravel ones, included in the kit).

Could exist any chance of getting these parts (the tyres and the sprue in which the rims are included) from a Tamiya distributor? In this case, maybe someone could provide me the codes that refer to these parts of the kit (Michelin Pilot 24153 or Blue/White version 24144)

Thank you very much!

[stevenoble]

Originally Posted by SomaXIII

Steve, your Celica looks great!
That was my initial idea. Althought they are not the actual wheels, I think they look very close to the real ones (better than the gravel ones, included in the kit).

Could exist any chance of getting these parts (the tyres and the sprue in which the rims are included) from a Tamiya distributor? In this case, maybe someone could provide me the codes that refer to these parts of the kit (Michelin Pilot 24153 or Blue/White version 24144)

Thank you very much!

You might struggle to get them as the kit is no longer in production..

[rallymaster]

Steve, you built a great looking car using the escort rims.
So it's the moment I think I should verify that what I wrote above was not misleading.
I didn't meant the escort rims "can't fit" (Steve build proves it can even if not totaly accurate), I meant that saying they "perfectly fit" the car is totaly false. I wanted to say that correctly again.

Anyway as already said the escort rims probably look better than the gravel ones.

[Fangi0]

The answer might be the 'gravel' rims in the Aoshima ST165 kit...

They are far too big to represent gravel rims

A more accurate gravel rim for the ST165 would be those in the Tamiya ST185 (Safari) kit, so if you could find a suitable set of slicks, you could use the ST165 rims (with slicks) on your Monte ST185... and the ST185 rims and tyres on your ST165...

Make sense ??

[SomaXIII]

Hi Fangi0!

I also have the Aoshima ST165 kit, and I have tried to use their wheels as you propose, but I think they are too small for the Montecarlo ST185...

As Steve has said, it will be difficult get these pieces as spare parts from tamiya.
Now I am asking myself if the rims of this Finland Focus by Hasegawa would fit the size of the Montecarlo ST185:



Does anyone knows the size of these rims?
Steve, could you please size the diameter of the Escort wheels you used?

Thank you all for your help!!

[vitanvk]

Originally Posted by SomaXIII

Hi Fangi0!

I also have the Aoshima ST165 kit, and I have tried to use their wheels as you propose, but I think they are too small for the Montecarlo ST185...

As Steve has said, it will be difficult get these pieces as spare parts from tamiya.
Now I am asking myself if the rims of this Finland Focus by Hasegawa would fit the size of the Montecarlo ST185:



Does anyone knows the size of these rims?
Steve, could you please size the diameter of the Escort wheels you used?

Thank you all for your help!!

Hi,

isn't this what you are looking for? or there was something wrong with those wheels..?

[SomaXIII]

Originally Posted by vitanvk

Hi,

isn't this what you are looking for? or there was something wrong with those wheels..?

Yes vitanvk! Those wheels would be perfect for me
But I have the decals ready for the Tamiya kit and I cannot buy the Hasegawa kit to use only the wheels...

[vitanvk]

Originally Posted by SomaXIII

Yes vitanvk! Those wheels would be perfect for me
But I have the decals ready for the Tamiya kit and I cannot buy the Hasegawa kit to use only the wheels...

Hi You asked about the Focus wheels and i thought you might want to buy a second kit and use the wheels only... Anyway, i still think there was something wrong with hasegawa wheels, so it is not a solution for you.

Vitan

[rallymaster]

Men, believe me the only solution 100% accurate is the Studio27 transkit rims !!
Hasegawa ones are false, design isn't correct (deepness, spokes shape...)
Evo3 Focus rims are not accurate either, centre is too large and spoke too small with holes square instead of rectangle, exact contrary of Celica rims.
but if you're not so obsessed by accuracy than I am IMHO the Focus rims may be the easiest to find and they are not so far from real ones when not having the eye just above because compared to the Escort rims which have same inaccuracies, they offer advantage to have a more correct size.

[ZTony8]

Hmmm-how about the wheels from the Heller(I know,I know) Peugeot 206 Safari version kit?I know they're the correct style and they're the smaller diameter like you need.

[rallymaster]

Originally Posted by ZTony8

Hmmm-how about the wheels from the Heller(I know,I know) Peugeot 206 Safari version kit?I know they're the correct style and they're the smaller diameter like you need.

not a bad idea to think to heller...
Unfortunately 206 WRC rims are 5 nuts ones.
moreover molding quality isn't really nice in heller kit and the design of the rims isn't totally accurate either... (style like you said seems similar but holes aren't long enough - all modern rims may have the same style btw)

In fact I don't see so many possible match... Not so many cars used these rims...