Question: I have heard that VMAR has a new main and nose wheel with a metal hub. Do you mean looks like metal or for real metal? Just how many different styles of wheels have been used in VMAR ARF products?

Answer: Well, first of all, YES we have a new main and nose wheel with a metal  hub and YES it's real metal, not plastic painted to look like metal. More about the metal hub wheel shortly.

As to the different styles of wheel that we have had over the years: Beginning in about 96 or 97 we had a wheel that had a plastic hub and a square shouldered tire. We hated it... it was rather ugly, it was round in a sense, had too much run out in all axis, it worked OK on grass fields but was poor on pavement. At the time, the technology available to us was limited and this wheel was about the best that could be produced at our factory without huge increases in cost. Most modelers trashed these wheels and the wheels that came with most brands of ARFS at that time and installed their own favorite wheel.

In 2000 we introduced a new wheel with a better plastic hub and better rounded shoulder tires. It looked way way better, was more true to the concept that wheels should be round, had less run out and worked just fine on grass. Pavement was somewhat problematic if the wheel had any run out. Manufacturing cost was higher but manageable without a price increase to the end user. Anecdotal surveys of field use indicated that 80-90% of modelers with our trainers were using these wheels as is. Usage factors were lower in the intermediate, sport and scale categories.

In 2003 we began internal development of a new wheel that would have a better truer hub and help to reduce run out even more and work with round shouldered tires. A large number of sample sets were built and tested. In mid 2004 this wheel entered production and is the metal hub wheel that people are asking about. This wheel is significantly better than anything we had in the past, it works well on grass or pavement, is more consistent in production, looks good and lasts pretty much indefinitely. Prices to consumers purchasing VMAR ARF models did not increase with the introduction of the metal hub wheel. As of mid 2005, the metal hub main and nose wheel has been in production about a year. It is used on almost all models (some of the lower price point products were transitioned over last) and the supply chain is now generally flowing these new wheels into the market. Feedback to date indicates that this wheel is seldom discarded by the modeler. We expect and accept that scale modelers will continue to utilize high end after market replacements for stock wheels.