painting kit rubber/vinyl tires

There was a great article about painting these in Tamiya magazine #88 in late 2001.  If you have it or can get a copy of it, try it out-looks great!

Great question -

I have been disappointed as the years have passed that Tamiya/MM have not put out a tire black. Gunze makes a flat tire black H077 which I believe ends up looking more 'sticky' than flat black; has more surface texture when dry. That being said I think the best tire black out there is from Polly Scale. I believe using a tire black color instead of flat black gives it a more realistic foundation for weathering them later.

One can make a dusty brown/very slightly steel (from the tracks) mixture (to your preference) and dry brush the outer edge of the wheel, the part that comes into contact with the track. Brown pastel chalks in a very fune dust work well there. You're going for a look of highly impacted, fine ground and coated dirt and dust, not neccessarily rust or oily residue. The profile edges can be weathered/aged along with the with the rest of the wheels. Washes (like artists oils in MS or turpenoid) are almost essential here, and I cover the entire profine of the wheel/tire, but not the leading edge, with this. The profile is where you may try to highlight a more accumulated, oily, muddy, or even chipped look. I usually do not 'chip' the rubber, but do so with the rim of course. The concave pocket of the wheel face would have been a wonderful accumulation zone for dirt and grime that would be worn very fine/ground down on the leading edge of the tire.

Mud treatment will of course cover it all and would be an alternative to this. There are lots of cool ideas for mud simulation at this forum.

I would paint the rims before putting on the tires, and give them a flat clear coat and probably do some some weathering in the inward sides before installing the wheels.  For light weathering, lightly spray with a very thinned acrylic tan or brown, depending on the type of dirt your vehicle has operated in, basically giving a nice dusty used look.  Maybe grind in some pastels for further effect.  Although I agree with the comments about black not really looking like real tire rubber, I wouldn't worry about the basic color because even light weathering will hide that.

Here's a Daimler Scout car I did a while back.  The tires aren't vinyl, but since I simply painted them flat black prior to weathering, I think the basic technique would apply to vinyl as well.

 

 

 

 

Airtrans,

I've had good luck with a Dragon BTR-70 with vinyl tires. First, I used sand paper to take the shine off the vinyl. After painting the wheel, I added the tires, than gave the assemblies, still off the model, a shot of acrylic clear flat. The final touch was ground pastels, applied with a brush. It settles into the groves and tread well, giving a realistic appearance. Once they're on the vehicle, I give them a final touch of pastels to tie them into the model completely.

Aaron Skinner wrote:

Airtrans, I've had good luck with a Dragon BTR-70 with vinyl tires. First, I used sand paper to take the shine off the vinyl. After painting the wheel, I added the tires, than gave the assemblies, still off the model, a shot of acrylic clear flat. The final touch was ground pastels, applied with a brush. It settles into the groves and tread well, giving a realistic appearance. Once they're on the vehicle, I give them a final touch of pastels to tie them into the model completely.

Thanks! I Just hit one of the tires with sandpaper to see how it turns out and it is exactly what I wanted. They no longer look like brand new tires that have had armorall put on them!