Air Manufacturing Wheels

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These Beautifully Engineering Wheels are going to find their home on our new 43% Carden Extra 300. They are engineering is the USA by Air Manufacturing and are a very high quality and lightweight option for your large model!

My dad was on the search for a lighter option to the Dubro Wheels we have used on all our previous large models, after a quick search on Flying Giants he came across an article by TOC Pilot Bill Hempel, he had a similar theory to ours and wanted to save some weight. The wheels in question are manufactured by Air Manufacturing and are CNC machined by a RC Modeler called Rex Chapman. After some research and a good look at them on the net, we decided to go for them. My Dad called Rex who was very helpful and after a good conversation we had two 4 3/4" Polished Wheels on the way, within two days they had arrived at our door, now that's service that you can't even expect from many of our UK shops.

On arrival it was clear to see these wheels are a true work of art, CNC Machined hand polished Aluminium rims with a Dubro tread, so we still have the high quality tread that we know works and wears well. The rim has a roller bearing which houses the pre-installed axle, the wheel spins on the axle so so smoothly, they are simply quality! The major bonus of these wheels are the weight savings, the Dubro Tire and Axle, weighs in the region of 9oz (thats per tire), the Airman wheels are 5.5oz including the Axles per tire, so a saving of 3.5oz per wheels, 7 oz in total, so nearly 1/2 pound, that I can tell you is a lot!!

We will get a few shots of the wheels on the plane in a few weeks when we have the model finished, but I for one will be buying more of these wheels as saving 7oz for no building effort or effect on the airframe is a huge incentive.

Here are some pictures,

Its hard to convey the true quality with the pictures, but take it from me some of the best machining I have ever seen

Thanks to Rex for his quick service and friendly advice.

 Matthew