Hi everyone.
Take this as much a warning for new modelers excited about "lifelike" vinyl tires as a reminder for experienced modelers who have not had this problem (yet).
I have been telling people for years to avoid viny tires like those in AMT aircraft kits and use resin or all plastic replacements, and have often been poo-poo-ed and told manufacturers changed thier formulas and melting plastic is no longer a problem. The viny gun belts in the MRC 1/3h helicopters did the same thing to rotor components in the kit.
Two tigercats using these original AMT Ertl vinyl tires met a sad fate within 18 months of being built up. one was built just snapping the tire onto the completed rim and the other had a piece of foil strip added to the rim "just in case" . The foil did nothing to slow the plastics' demise.
The nose wheel was melted into the plastic parts storage bin and the one mainwheel has these two parts melted onto it. When i opened my first tigercat, the tire was sitting on top of the wing and had eaten its way into the wing sitting on the store shelf. I am sure that temperature plays some factor in the chemical process taking place that is now causing the vinyl to weep some oily subtance.
I hope this helps prevent someone from losing a model the way I did. I built my tigercats at the same time and they both ended up trashed due to it....
David
Build to please yourself, and don't worry about what others think!
TI 4019 Jolly Roger Squadron, 501st Legion