Hey everyone.  As the fall closes in here north of the equator, I have started my annual shop work and I chose the T&J WWII Jeep as my next vict. . .ah, project.  The plan from T&Y comes with both the Jeep and its trailer but I haven't decided if I will make the trailer.  As you can judge from the photo, this is not a "naked" final project.  Some plans just scream for paint treatment and since I was a kid, I loved the idea of model building and making the item seem as real as possible.  The Jeep fell into that category and so I called on my past "weathering" chops for the finish.  I was also lucky to find some 1:6 scale decals so I did not have to create the stencils and hand paint the markings.  However, I did make sure that the markings were in line with 1942 's Army Regulation 850-5 that stipulated how vehicles were to be marked and what images should be used where.    

Overall, this is not a difficult project and most of it does not pose difficult technical issues for completion.  Probably the trickiest part of the build is making the tires so I will deal with this first.    The plans call for the use of factory made wheels as the basis but I made my own of maple, since I knew they would be painted.  If leaving this naked, walnut or another dark wood is perfect for the tires.   

The jig is pretty straight forward once I got the mechanics of it in my hear and found the right length 1/8" round nose bit.    The jig's most crucial part is the 30 degree angle that must be set for the tire rout to work out.   Here is the initial glue up of the jig.  Note that the 30 degree angle is cut on both the ends of the front piece and on the front edge of the base plate.  The reason for that will become obvious in later photos.
 

After the initial jig is glued up and dry.  You are almost ready to set it up on the router table.  Place the 1/8" round nose bit in the router table and raise it to approximately 3/16" height.  This can be adjusted after some test cuts.

The sled that was made above will hold the tire blank and slide into the router bit. 
Here is a photo of the frame needed to keep the sled in line with the bit and create a stop so as not to rout through the tire blank. 

Here is the sled in the frame.
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Now, it's time to prep the tire blanks.  They should already be made to 2 3/4" diameter  and 5/8" thick.  I drilled a 1/4" center hole for the axel since I use 1/4" axels for most of my models, with a 5/16" through hole in the axel housing.  Once cut to size, the edge is routed as per the plan. 

In the plans there is a diagram for a jig to mark off 30 segments around both faces of the tire blank.  Using 1/4" hard board, attach the template to the hardboard and scroll saw out each segment.  Make sure you can get a 05mm pencil in the slots made.

Once that is done, using a 1/4 dowel as a centering device, place it on the tire blank and mark each segment on both sides.  Make sure the the second set of marks on the opposite face of the tire falls between the marks on the front side, like interlocking your fingers of both hands.

One side marked

Now it's time to place the tire on the jig, aligning the mark to the center mark on the jig and slide the sled forward until the tire hits the stop.  It should rout less than 1/3 of the way through the face.

The tire mounted and ready to rout.  Make sure the tire is held securely in the jig with the screw and knob.  If it isn't, the router bit can grab it and turn it on the jig, ruining the spacing and in some cases destroying the tire (Don't ask me how I know this).  The "x"  is just to gauge where you are when going around.  And remember that the marks on the face you see is opposite of the face you are actually cutting.  So once done, flip the tire to the opposite side and rout the other side.   For your own sanity, it you make this and make your own wheels, make a few extra.  It anything goes amiss, you have spares.  And you also have one or two to experiment with to get the rout depth correct.

When they are done, the next step is to drill out the center for the wheel rim.  I placed the tire in a 70mm chuck and drilled out the center on the lathe leaving an 1/8" thickness for the back.  The plan does NOT call for a drill through but, if I were to make this again, I would through drill the tires and make the rims accordingly.  I like that better but thought I'd give T&J's concept a try.  NOTE:  the front wall of the jig must be short enough so that the marks on the tire and the center mark of the top of the jig can be easily seen and aligned.  Once you have a tire made, it is a matter of adjusting the front of the jig to make both marks visible.  I made my tires and had them marked before I made the jig.  ALSO, the center line of the jig should be marked down the front wall of the jig and the tire aligned to that line.  If the tire is not lined up squarely in the jib, the resulting routed areas will not be symmetrically situated around the tire.  That too, I learned the hard way. 

Here is a completed routed tire on the lathe getting ready for the center drill.

Here is the tire being center drilled.  in my case, I found that the thickness of the Forstner bit, when reaching flush with the material, left the perfect 1/8" thickness on the back side.

Well, this has gone long enough I think so I will continue this later with a second or third chapter.

Hope you found this , in some small way, interesting.

Dave