Better tyres available??

[KonaDawg]

really don't like the look of the tyres that some with Tamiya gt cars and was wondering if anyone had a source for alternatives?  Looking at 1/24 scale mainly.  Thanks for any replies!

[Marco F.]

May be you'll find what you are looking for at scaleproduction.de or try to find some suitable tyres from slot racing.

Marco F

[KonaDawg]

Good call!  I'll have a look.

 

Thanks.

[Steve Noble]

Any particular tyres? As I usually find Tamiya tyres to be very good if not some of the best..

[KonaDawg]

Yeah, they are not too bad by comparison.  Just felt they were a little too thin.

[Peter Roberts]

Sometimes Revell/Monogram kits have multiple tyre sets, so may be worth checking out. 

 

Could be worth a post for those modellers who have unused spare sets

 

PR

[Pete in Lincs]

Put some measurements on here. Inside and outside diameters and the width you would like. I'll see if I can help.

[Ben Brown]

In addition to Scale Productions, Renaissance also sells some slicks of different size and width. I got them from Spot Model in Spain. Both companies’ tires seem to be at least as good as the ones I’ve seen from Tamiya.

 

Ben

[Rob de Bie]

On 2/2/2020 at 7:35 PM, KonaDawg said:

Yeah, they are not too bad by comparison.  Just felt they were a little too thin.

Roll your own! I recently scratch-built a couple of slick tyres from plastic-card. It was not too difficult: I laminated layers of 0.75 mm plastic card tightly around the wheel. The first one (top photo, left) was built with strips that butted with 90 degree cuts, but that method resulted in small kinks in the tire. The next one (right) was built with 45 degree cuts, and that worked a lot better. I made the tyre width a bit oversize, then cut the tyre to the correct width using a JLC razor saw. I still need to cut the rough side of the 'white' tire to size (top photo, right). I tried the same technique later on another model (second photo). I found out that starting with 0.5 mm card instead of 0.75 mm makes life a lot easier, specifically when you start wrapping the wheel. Later you can switch to thicker card. 

 

Rob

 

 

[Nick Belbin]

All good answers above. Here's another option, the GTS Series from/by Le Mans Miniatures:

 

http://www.gts-series.com/en/spare-parts/wheels/1-24-571.html

 

Nick

[KonaDawg]

Thanks for the idea and demo Rob. I will definitely be trying that.  Your tyre is just that little bit fuller and fatter and that's the look I think the kit tyres miss.

[KonaDawg]

Apologies all, I didn't get any notification of recent replies to this topic 😐  Must be my phone acting up.  Thanks for all the reply's and ideas!

[KonaDawg]

On 3/5/2020 at 7:45 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

Put some measurements on here. Inside and outside diameters and the width you would like. I'll see if I can help.

Pete, thank you for the offer. I'll have a look around and get back to you if I can't find anything suitable.

[Rob de Bie]

3 hours ago, KonaDawg said:

Thanks for the idea and demo Rob. I will definitely be trying that.  Your tyre is just that little bit fuller and fatter and that's the look I think the kit tyres miss.

Great! In that case a few comments:

 

- I used CA glue throughout

- pre-curve the plastic

- the first layer is the difficult one: you need to make a butt-joint of the 45 degree cuts, but avoid gluing the strip to the wheel

- sand each butt-joint smooth before adding the next layer

 

Here's one tyre more that I built this way. I'm still playing with shades of black to create a realistic tyre. In this case there's still something missing colour-wise on the thread (running surface).

 

 

Good luck!

 

Rob

[KonaDawg]

Hi Rob,  That tyre looks awesome. Particularly like the way you have reproduced the curve where the tyre meets the wheel.  To my eye, that's the bit the kit tyres miss and its quite obvious once you compare the two.  Thanks, will have a go.

Edited March 12, 2020 by KonaDawg
spellings

[Rob de Bie]

2 hours ago, KonaDawg said:

Hi Rob,  That tyre looks awesome. Particularly like the way you have reproduced the curve where the tree meets the wheel.  To my eye, that's the bit the kit tyres miss and its quite obvious once you compare the two.  Thanks, will have a go.

Well spotted! That was one of my main reasons for building a new tyre, Fujimi gave that area a really strange shape. Maybe I overdid the curvature a bit though - I'm still learning what a tyre actually looks like!

 

The same learning applies to the thread area: initially I left it a pure cylinder, and that did not look right. I chamfered the edges a bit, and that's better.

 

One other advantage: these plastic tyres don't pick up as much dust as rubber tyres do. I really tried to clean the rubber one before making the photo, but still it's covered in plastic bits from my work desk.

 

Rob

[KonaDawg]

I guess there are a variety of profiles across the spectrum of tyres.  I think you are right, it ultimately depends on which tyre/wheel you are modelling.  Planning on doing the Tamiya AMG GTR LEON CVSTOS and looking at images of the real car, the Tamiya wheel and tyre combination are actually pretty accurate   But, I do like your interpretation!  Yeah, plastic dust is like dog hair, it only exists when you take a pic of something :))))))