Hints & Tips
Scale Model Tires
Regardless of the year, all Corvettes have a few things in common other than power, speed and grace. Tires is one of those things.
Tire technology has evolved dramatically over the years. From the skinny wide-whitewall of the fifties, redlines in the sixties, to radial tires in the seventies and unidirectional in the eighties all the way up to the Run-Flat technology of today, tires are now better than ever in terms of performance, safety and durability among others.
Replicating the proper look of the tires in scale models is very important because the wheels and tires of a car can represent up to 20% of the total side view. Before getting to work, you need to decide what look to replicate. Do you want your model’s tire to look like new tires?, used? clean? dirty? etc.
Let’s begin with kit’s supplied tires. The first thing to do is to sand the tread of the tire to eliminate the flash in the centerline and to reduce the shiny look. You can use a coarse sandpaper like 320 grit or even 100. Nail files also work great for this. Work slowly to control consistency around the tire. If you can mount the tire in rotary tool, like a drill, it will speed up the process. Sand until the proper tread look is achieved. How about replicating a car that has uneven tire wear due to miss-alignment? Well, sand one side of the tread more than the other. Aftermarket tires usually have less centerline flash. However, the same procedure can be applied.
Now let’s focus on the side of the tire. Unless you are replicating a tire dunked in Armor-All, the shine of the side needs to be toned down a bit. For this, you can sand the side with fine grit sandpaper (600, 1000 grit) or you can apply some dullcoat. Depending on the desired sheen, you can mix flat and gloss clear, or use semi-gloss clear. If you are painting rise letters, make sure you use acrylic paint, since enamel won’t stick to vinyl. If you are applying dry-transfers or decals, make sure the surface is clean. Since dry-transfers and decals adhere better to smooth surfaces, you may want to apply them before dull-coating. Of course you don’t want to sand over them!
If you look at a real car, the tires always present some deformation in the bottom due to the weight of the car. The higher the air pressure the less noticeable. Unless you want your model to roll, you can replicate this effect by flat-spotting the bottom of the tire either by sanding, or cutting with a sharp blade. This can also helps in correcting improper stance of a model. For a more deflated look, flat spot the bottom and make a cut along the centerline in the spot. Insert something like a piece of wire or toothpick, to make the tire look wider in the bottom than on top.
Once you have the proper look of the tires, make sure the wheels fit properly without flash and are properly centered.
As with any other technique, practice and patience are keys to success. Keep on Corvette-modeling and experiment on some models… you will be surprised with the results!!!!
Summary
Ismael has hit on another great detailing item most of us overlook.. tires. It only takes a few minutes to sand the tire tread or flatten the bottoms of the tire for a more realistic look.. but many times we just don't take the time to do this.. I plan on trying a few of the techniques Ismael suggested , how about you?... Al
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Page updated 01/03/00