Vinyl/rubber tires

[The Zod]

Over the years,I have read how some modelers have said that the rubber/vinyl tires have either cracked,or even just fell apart with age. Other than not painting said tires with enamel paint or laquers,is there anything I can do to prevent that? I have a Testors/Italeri Katyusha truck,and an old Peerless GMC 6x6 that have those kinds of tires. I really doubt if anyone makes resin replacement tires.

 

[Cheyenne]

Chad , check out Tank Workshop products , if I'm not mistaken they have the GMC tires in resin , chained and unchained .
Don't know about the Ruskie tires tho .........

Did you ever get the PzIV stowage bin I sent you , I mailed it out the same day I sent J Rutman his wagons .

 

[Bagge]

Chad, about the Katyusha, i have wheels left from one that i built some 25 years ago and nothing wrong with those tires, maybe not a good idea to expose them to direct sunlight....
//Mats

 

[Sharkmouth]

Chad, the Testors/Italeri/Zvezda Katyusha is actually a ZiL/ZiS-151 truck and wheels are available. These same wheels were also added to the BTR-152 (not the lack of a K as in BTR-152K, or ZiL-157K as they had larger wheels with a centralized pressure system).

Regards,

 

[moon puppy]

I"m kinda curious about the original question, can we do anything to the vinyl tires to preserve them?

 

[Sharkmouth]

I"m kinda curious about the original question, can we do anything to the vinyl tires to preserve them?

Sure, I have loads of vinyl tires that look as nice as when I pulled them out of the box. I simply don't put them on my models.

Regards,

 

[moon puppy]

So if they are still looking good, what's the problem?

 

[Jeeves]

I think they react when in contact with the styrene over time...I read somewhere about it being less of a problem if there is a coat of paint in between them. I have the same Katyusha in the completed cabinet...nothing bad has happened yet in the 5 years it's been in there...

 

[Sharkmouth]

The vinyl and styrene do not get along. Vinyl melts styrene. I have a damaged Opel Blitz from Italeri in sealed bags thanks to the Italian company placing their vinyl tire on the polystyrene sprues within the bag.

Painting the wheel prior to adding the tires causes a nice barrier which helps but then, many times one must stretch the vinyl over the wheel. This may cause stress if the wheel is a tight fit, rubbing off of the barrier when prying on the tires and so on. Then of course is the splitting when the vinyl dries out.

Since I place all the vinyl tires in a separate bag and replace the kit wheels whenever possible, I have a nice collection of pristine UNUSED tires.

Regards,

 

[Jeeves]

Maybe do a dio of a tire dump?

 

[The Zod]

Chad , check out Tank Workshop products , if I'm not mistaken they have the GMC tires in resin , chained and unchained .
Don't know about the Ruskie tires tho .........

Did you ever get the PzIV stowage bin I sent you , I mailed it out the same day I sent J Rutman his wagons .

Yes sir,I sure did. I thought I sent a PM thanks. I know Tank Workshop has the chained tires.Will ask abot unchained.

 

[The Zod]

Chad, the Testors/Italeri/Zvezda Katyusha is actually a ZiL/ZiS-151 truck and wheels are available. These same wheels were also added to the BTR-152 (not the lack of a K as in BTR-152K, or ZiL-157K as they had larger wheels with a centralized pressure system).

Regards,

Thanks for the info Saul.

 

[The Zod]

No luck in finding resin replacement tyres.tried Hussar and Tank Workshop. Gonna search some more To the idiot plane..............................

 

[jknaus]

I have seen it done with future. Coat the rim and let dry. Someone also tried coating the tire I think, but dont know how it turned out

Why not just put a tire together and then make a resin casting of it?
James

 

[The Zod]

I have seen it done with future. Coat the rim and let dry. Someone also tried coating the tire I think, but dont know how it turned out

Why not just put a tire together and then make a resin casting of it?
James

Thanks for that tip James. Looking around,I do believe Italeri got the tread pattern wrong. It is the typical US Military tread. I don't believe the USSR used that pattern on thier own trucks.

 

[Kreighshoer]

my method of choice: glue a length of aluminium foil on the rim and you have effectively isolated vinyl from styrene for all times!

 

[moon puppy]

Good tip Laura.

The Wildcat I did a couple of years ago seems to be holding up fine. I'm pretty sure I painted the wheels prior to installing the vinyl tire and the tire would have gotten a good soaking of future when I sealed it. May have even weathered it a bit.

 

[AndyFettes]

Sorry I was getting abit lost here,..

Are you talking about the actual vinyl tyre when stuck onto the plastic rim of the wheel and how that effects the plastic of the rim ?

Its early :S

 

[Kreighshoer]

Are you talking about the actual vinyl tyre when stuck onto the plastic rim of the wheel and how that effects the plastic of the rim ?

yes! (if i get it right!) - the softener in the vinyl tends to "wander" and attack the harder styrene, resulting in quite unpleasant effects!

 

[Sharkmouth]

Laura got it! Like I wrote before, it has damaged an unopened kit so now I insist on seeing the Italeri sprues before purchase whenever I know the kit includes vinyl tires.

Regards,