3D Printed Tires & hubs for 40" Mosquito
3D Printed Tires & hubs for 40" Mosquito
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The Rabid Models 40" Mosquito represents the Iconic WWII fighter-bomber and as is the case with almost all of our planes, it was designed without landing gear. However its possible to make a simple wire landing gear using 1/16" or similar music wire. "How to make the landing gear" is up to you, but we can offer suggestions. Unfortunately there are few good options for tires - they aren't in the correct scale size and shape and are very heavy. So we made our own!
These 3D printed tires and hubs are the correct scale size (45x15 inches at full size). The 70mm/2.75" tire is made from soft black TPU and is 1-inch/25mm wide. Choose from three tread variations - grooved, "diamond", or "knobby". The hub is PETG and is in two halves. (The hub is glued together onto the tire).
Groove Tread and "knobby" tread designs
Here is a picture of a full-size Mosquito landing gear for reference.
The tire weighs 16gm and with the hubs the completed unit is 22.6gm (about 0.8 ounce). Including the gear wire, a set of two wheels will add about 2 ounces to the model which is a lot - but the model will handle the extra weight especially if you use a smaller batter pack. For example, you could use a 1000mah 3-cell instead of a 1350mah 3-cell battery. Although the model will not perform as nicely as it will without any landing gear attached, it will be able to land and take off from the ground.
This package includes 2 tires with hubs. The modeler can certainly add a small tail wheel as well, if desired, but this is not included in this sale. The wire landing gear is also not included, that is up to the modeler to fashion.
3D-printed parts require very little preparation. Painting the hubs is recommended because all plastics will deteriorate over time if exposed to sunlight - any plastic-compatible paint. The wheel hubs can be glued together with CA or Foam-Tac cement. The two hub halves are designed to be glued onto the wheel and have starter holes for the axle - carefully drill out the holes to match the axle wire size you are using.
