Just wondering what you guys do for painting and weathring of tires. For the most part, I’ve only painted them black. But I’d like to try other things. So, what do you guys do to reproduce a good tire look?
Oh, in my case, I’m talking about for aircraft, but I guess cars would apply too.
Dana
Dana,
Like you, the only color I’ve ever used is flat black. But after drying, I like to take a light earth tone, or maybe a real light gray, and gently dry brush both the wall and tread of the tire. I’ve had other modelers tell me that since dirt only really gets on the treads, I shouldn’t dry brush so much on the side walls, but the heightened effect of deepened detail I get is just too good to pass up. Sidewall drybrushing is really good when you have raised letter detail, and tread that comes over onto the sidewall.
Gip Winecoff
I recently found a paint I like very much for aircraft tires. Its an acrylic from the Color of Eagles line called Tire Black. Very realistic shade of dark gray. The a/c in my signature pic is painted in that color, with semigloss black hubs.
I like to use Pactra Hot Rod Primer Gray or RLM 66 on my models. Part of my job is transfering tread patterns to cardboard. I use a semi gloss black to do that. The paint is always darker than the tire.