Have you guys found any color or color mixture that looks right for the rubber on aircraft tires? I painted mine MM Acryl Flat Black and they just don’t look right in that color. I do have an older bottle of Testors “Rubber” color but I don’t remember if that looks right or not.
Thanks
Mike
Mike, that Testor’s “Rubber” colour you have looks spot on I reckon.
Cheers…Snowy
i paint mine flat black and then do alot of dry brushing with grays and dark umber. i works out fairly close. i’ve seen the color “rubber” but i’ve never used it. later.
Snowy,
I just tried it and now the tire looks like a Tootsie Roll. [(-D]
It is too brown for rubber.
Mike
Mike, I just used Testors Rubber on some True Details P47 tyres and they look great but I should have told you there was a few more steps I did. After painting them I hit them with Future, after that cured, ran a Burnt Umber oil wash into the tread pattern. After that I hit them with a flat coat, then, as Salty points out some careful dry brushing with some lighter grey enamels to pop out the tread highlights and sidewalls. Fairly involved, but the result is worth the effort and your tyres will look very realistic. I don’t think you will ever get that result straight out of a bottle. Hope this helps you a little. By the way Mike, if your kit parts are starting to look like food, you know it’s time to take a break and eat. [swg]
Cheers…Snowy
Mike,
For years the commonly used paint for used tires was Testors Hotrod Primer - It’s darker than Panzer Grey but lighter than flat black. Unfortunatly it was discontinued about 15 years ago (came across 3 bottles of it in the Misc. paints box in an out of the way HS in a small town in western Kansas a couple of years ago - all were usable so I grabbed them). You might try to add white to your black until it is just a little lighter than the black. And I agree with you, the current Testors Rubber is much too brown.
I use testors rubber followed by a wash of black and a light dry brushing.
John
I use Color of Eagles (also called Aircraft Colors) Tire Black. To me, it really looks the part. It’s one of the only acrylic paints I use. You can see it on my Avenger below.
Hope this helps.
For more modern AC, like your F-15, Floquil " Weathered Black" is pretty good out of the bottle, but like others have said, some washes & dry brushing won’t hurt. The Testors “Rubber” is pretty good for WWI AC but nothing later.
Gunze Samgyo makes a tire black also that works good, then dry brush with grey on treads.
Pix,
Who makes “Aircraft Colors” paints? I don’t think I have seen them in stores.
Rick,
Thanks for the heads up about Floquil weathered black as it also looks pretty good from what I can tell from Testors web site.
Thanks everyone for all of the good suggestions.
Mike
Mike - I oder mine from Eagle Strike Productions:
http://www.eaglestrikeproductions.com/
Click “Aircraft Colors” logo. it is listed under “Basic Colors.” They don’t need mixing, and two coats of their RLM 04 Yellow over white covers VERY well. They’re great paints, for acrylics (I prefer enamels).
I airbrushed flar black with a drop or two of flat white.
I still have a partial bottle of Aeromaster’s Tire Black that I bought years ago, and I’m quite satisfied with the color. After painting the tire, I drybrush either brown or grey, depending on what type of surface the aircraft flew from (dirt or otherwise).
Mike, I tried using Testor’s Rubber once before and like you didn’t like the results–too brown. I had never associated the color with a Tootsie Roll, but that’s a pretty accurate comparison![(-D]
Mark
I use Polly scale’s SQ. black rlm 66. Perfect on tires
Mike,
I have been using Tamiya’s Nato Black (XF-69) for a quite a while now and it makes a ver realistic (IMHO) rubber color for any sort of tires. Give it a try.
Cheers
Darren
Mike…
Aeromaster (enamals & acrylics) did a “Tire Black” which i thought was quite accurate…
it’s kinda like a satin black but, with a little grey in it…over here i’ve found a dark grey------>Xtracrylix (FS16081)…(wishes it was FS36081) but, it’ll do nicely once toned down…
works good…lasts a long time…
Mike, like Woodbeck, I use RLM66, followed up with a dark wash, and dry brushing. Find this works really well on treaded tyres, as the RM66 is not so dark as to hide the detail accentuated by the wash.
Karl
Good tip with the NATO Black darson I’ll get some and try it, the Tamiya stuff is a bit easier to clean up, not to mention that now these guys have me checking my tyres over and over to see if they’re too brown. [X-)]. There’s nothin’ strikes fear into the enemy’s heart like a fully loaded P47 on Tootsie rolls thundering down the runway. [(-D]
Cheers…Snowy
Well, at least it’s better than looking like a Lifesaver.[:D]
The last time I had to paint tires was on the MiG-21 that I built a few years back and I just simply mixed a droplet of flat white into a small amount of flat black dispensed in one of those little plastic cups you sometimes get with take-out food (that hold salsa or parmesan cheese for example).