I am building a 10' bush plane and want to equip it with those big balloon tires seen up in Alaska.

Does anyone know a source for them at 8" - 10" ?

Thanks,

Paul

The largest I know of are 6 inchers. Trexler and Du-Bro both sell 6" inflatables, with the Trexlers being much lighter.

I'm facing the same problem with finding or making bush wheels for a 1/3 scale (140") Super Cub I'm building. May end up using some kind of small inner tubes for tires.

Good luck with the search, and keep us posted as to what you find.

AmpAce

Hi guys, my friend and I are also building a 1/3rd Super Cub and looking for "tundra" tires in the 10" range.

So far in my search I have found some beach tires (but likely too heavy)
http://www.wheeleez.com/wheels-beach.php#kcc

I also looked at 4.10-4NHS utility tires which are 10" OD but would need to shave off as much tread as possible and make a custom aluminum hub.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...70_18845_18845

I also got a quote for a 10" tire custom made by Trexler. After explaining what I was looking for, they were interested enough to reply with a formal quote. Their price per tire came out to $88 each. The tough part was the cost of tooling at about $945. I replied asking what it would take in terms of volume of sales for them to defray the tooling cost. So far I haven't heard back. According to their description the tire would be 12" diameter off of the form and end up around 10" diameter when inflated. The wall size would be around .09" which is about twice the thickness of most inner tubes I have found in that diameter. They were willing to mold in a short valve stem stub. I was planning to install a presta type valve which is smaller than the standard schraeder valve but very common on nicer bicycles. Trexler couldn't give a good extimate of how much weight the tire would support.

I am very intent on finding a 10" tire that looks like it belongs on a bush plane. The 1/3rd Balsa USA Super Cub we are building will be used for aerotowing and will be equipped with a 3W-200 twin. It will need clearance for a 32" or 34" prop. I am resisting the urge to add taller landing gear and hoping the tundra tires will get the height needed.

Anybody out there have other ideas? I'm still looking and determined!

Larry

Larry, that's exciting stuff! I think you are going to save me a lot of research and work. I'm going to be in the same place as you, soon, as my 1/3 scale Super Cub is definitely going to be a "bush plane" too.

I have looked at a lot of wheelbarrow and cart wheels too, but none of them seem to fit the bill. They are all too heavy, and the wheels, (rims) are too large in diameter to be any where close to scale. The wheels should be someplace between 2 and 4 inches in diameter. I thought that I would try to make wood wheels from two ply discs sandwinching some sort of lightweight spacer block beteen them for width. I hoped to find some sort of garden/yard cart inner tube that would work, although I imagine that it would have to be replaced fairly regularly.

I think the biggest problem in finding something that looks scale will be finding an inner tube with a small enough hole in the center. I also thought about shaving some of the garden cart tires down, but I've found no one around here that has a tire shaver/truer anymore.

The part about the 10" Trexlers sounds very interesting. I hope they make the center the right size, if they decide to build them.

I'm not sure how much market there would be for this size of tire, but I'll bet they could sell a few of them anyway. I, for one, am certainly interested, although the price is pretty steep. I do like the idea of having some kind of standard valve stem on this size of tire.

Man, you better put a throttle stop on that 3W or reinforce the wings or both, or you'll fly the wings right off of it!

Thanks for posting this, and please let us know of any new developments or discoveries, and I'll do the same.

AmpAce

When you do get the tires you want, be sure to under-inflate them. I use the 6" tires on my Laser tow-plane and by keeping just enough air in them to hold the tube on the rim during landing (I inflate them by blowing in the tube). This keeps the landing bounce from getting out of hand.

Ib

Good advice, Ib!

Even on my smaller electric Super Cubs, using Trexler tires, I can get a collassal bounce if I land hard, and the tires have too much air in them. With low inflation pressures, you can still get a big bounce, but less air pressure sure helps!

AmpAce

I'm in the same boat as you guys. I'm building a giant Pawnee and the tires look like they will have to be around the ten inch mark. seems there isn't a great deal to choose from out there.

Check out infant buggies/pushchairs..(not sure what you merrikans call them)
quite a variety of styles and shapes, surprisingly light too

always seems to be plenty dumped in skips (skips = big metal box yopu throw rubbish in)

Well here you go: balloon tires: all kinds and in the sizes needed.

http://www.wheeleez.com/

http://www.flyingmag.com/article.asp...&page_number=2

Used primarily for beach carts. With these wheels you could land and take off anywhere. Wide profile makes for drag though.

Ib

Check out Genesis RC for the wheels they use on their Wacos, might be just want you want.

Regards,

Steve

Thanks for the ideas and information, guys!

Steve, those Genesis wheels aren't large enough for what I need.

Ib, the Wheeleez wheels look like they might work. They are a little heavier than I would like, and also wider. May have to order a set and try them.

AmpAce

I think the 22 cm (8.75") wheel would work well. It would be possible to abrade quite a bit of tred off, and turn the hub and add lightening holes if desired to reduce weight.

Ib

I think the 30 cm ones would be my choice for the big Cub, although a little large. If they could be lightened substantially, they would be much more attractive.

Have you had any hands-on experience with these wheels, and if so, how do they look? I see they are only rated for 10 mph top speed, but the short Super Cub takeoff and landing runs shouldn't hurt them too much.

AmpAce

I am trying to talk myself into buying a pair, but they are a little overkill for the Laser. I think they would work well on the big engine cub.

Ib

Ib,

I corrected the tire size in my last post. I think the larger 30cm ones would be best for me. That size would scale up to about 34 inch bush wheels.

If you decide to buy a set, let us know what you think when you get them in hand, and I'll do likewise.

Thanks,

AmpAce