Randy Ayers Nascar Modeling Forums

[AdamtheWayne]

I think I'd like to step up my game where my tires are concerned. In days past I'd sand the tread and paint the lettering/sidewall with a water based craft paint. I'd like to see all your tips on making those tires look as real as possible.
_________________
"Dude, it's not Camelot... it's only a model." "Details man, I need details!!"

[gks1964]

Since I build mostly pre 80's cars I use PPP tires with decals. I guess that I'm no help! But interested in seeing what everyone does.

[Orangeastre]

On the Monogram kit tires, I scuff the “tread”, wash the tire with dish soap, and water( for you literal folks). Insert wheel, coat of future with a brush. Apply tire brand decals, hand writing, weights etc. Then a coat of Tamiya xf-86 with a brush on the tire only.

[Dan Belcher]

I've done two straight early 90s white letter Goodyear builds, and the method I've used on those has been to rotate the tire around and use the plain side instead of the raised letter side and use decals. Similar to Orangeastre's method, I scuff the tread and wash the tires with dish soap and water. I spray gloss coat on the sidewalls, let it dry at least overnight, then apply the tire decals (Powerslide decals) and let those dry at least overnight as well.

After that, I spray a very light misting of Tamiya Smoke over the decals to take away some of the harsh brightness of the white decals and make them look more natural, and then finally I finish things off with some flat clear.

Here's what the finished product looked like on my last build, this was from an AMT kit, but the current build I'm doing is a Monogram kit and it seems to be working just as well on it (just need to do the final flat clear application once it stops raining for a bit!) The little bit of imperfection from the Tamiya Smoke helps the lettering look a lot more realistic in my opinion.

[AdamtheWayne]

Okay, some good tips. Dan, those look awesome!

HERE's the thing. I have been afraid to attempt futureshine on any tires. Seems to me they would eventually crack? Also, the only paint I've ever gotten to dry on tires is the water based latex style paints.

So I guess what you're telling me, is not to fear clearing over tires? Or is it that the clear needs to be a specific type? (Acrylic, enamel... acrylic enamel?) I'm assuming once there's a successful base coat the final dullcote can be nearly anything?
_________________
"Dude, it's not Camelot... it's only a model." "Details man, I need details!!"

[Orangeastre]

No enamel, I have a set of tires I hand lettered in the early 90’s. Still tacky....

[Dan Belcher]

Thanks!

I've done some experimenting with that. I actually managed to get away with using Future for the gloss finish pre-decal and then Tamiya lacquer flat clear for the final finish on a few IndyCar builds over the last couple years and haven't notice any cracking. I used Tamiya lacquer clears for both the gloss and the dull on my most recent ones and haven't noticed any problems with that either. To be safe, I recommend going ahead and installing the wheel into the tire before clearing, that way you don't flex the sidewalls much moving things around later. Just mask off the wheel when you do your clear coating, I recommend either using a coin, or you can try what I did: I cut a circle out of a styrofoam plate and stuck it to the end of a dowel to let me hold it in place and then pick it up, so I can just reuse the same piece of masking over and over again quite easily.

The most important thing: do NOT use enamel. It will quite literally never dry.

[AdamtheWayne]

[AdamtheWayne]

[Firefly]

I ALWAYS use decals for the brand lettering, but after final dullcoating, I'll dab a medium-firm brush in some brown or gray dry pastel dust and brush it over to weather the lettering a bit. I've handwritten the 'LF", etc., with a chip from a yellow china marker (sort of a grease-pencil).
_________________
Bill Jobson is my real name.

[Pierre Rivard]

Brush Future on sidewall
decal
Future to seal decals
Brush Vallejo matt varnish 70.520
Soot color Tamiya weathering master to tone down the white
Use more weathering master for used tire
[url[/url]
_________________
"When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it" - Yogi Berra

[Snake3]

1. Scuff the tire with sanding sticks.
2. Raised letter tires can be trimmed away with a hobby knife. Trim a little off and sand the rest.
3. Wash tire with soap and water, let dry.
4. Apply decals and gel pen markings, let dry.
5. Spray with dull coat.