Been using Matt black for years,but I’ve seen photos on this sight that seems way more accurate.I’d prefer straight out of the bottle,but if I have to mix it that’s fine to.any thoughts?
Depends on what you mean by accurate. Anything lighter than pure black is actually delving into the realms of gray and can be attained by adding small amounts of white or gray until the color looks right.
I don’t know if you are an enamel or acrylic guy, but have you considered Tamiya acrylic XF-85 flat rubber black?
straight black is just way too stark and almost never looks right…I always lighten it up with gray til I’m satisfied with the results. I once bought a color simply called ‘rubber’ but it just looked like dark brown to me. My best results have still come from mixing up my own brew.
MM enamel has a color called U.S. Army Helo Grey. It’s basically the color of asphalt or tires, and I highly recommend it if you use enamels.
as i use acrylics i color mine with MMA engine gray. not as thin as a wash but thinner than paint. and i do a lot of warwheels. the only time i had some flake off badly was when i was putting the rubber tires on the road wheels of the afv club SHO’T KAL.
Gunze H77 tire black, or I’ve heard great things about Vallejo rubber. If you wanna mix your own, just add some brown to your black to get a good scale/worn look.
Thanks to all replies, very helpful
Try Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black or MM interior black, both are very very very dark grays.
Tamiya Nato Black
I agree, Nato black
Hello!
My favourite is the Humbrol 32 dark grey - I use it all the time. Hope it helps, have a nice day
Paweł
i use german grey wich is dark enough for me
I’ve used the Vallejo rubber paint and it looks great, even feels like rubber too.
Phil
Again thanks to all replies .seem to be a lot of options out there
Yup, I’m part of the Tamiya NATO Black club.
I mix Tamiya Flat Black with their German Gray
Floquil Grimy Black is a good one also! -Derek
It depends on the environment. Sometimes a little brown helps. Testors makes a rubber color, but to me it is TOO brown. If you are going to be weathering, just a gray is fine. Account for a dusty environment with weathering. But the color of a tire (other than brand new just unwrapped) will vary from mfg to mfg and by other factors. Almost any really dark gray with just a smidgeon of color will be better than a flat black. I leave the flat black (out of bottle) for cavities that I don’t want to drill out but still look like an opening.
Low-Tech, but it worked: I tried mixing Old Fashioned Testors Tiny Bottles using 90% Gloss Black and 10% Flat White . . . and got decent results.