When your casting a copy of the kit tires out of resin, do you haft to have them separate like the kit had them, or do you cast them put together?
Thank You in advance
Straightedege

You can cast them as one piece,. You will need to make a two sided mold to capture the detail on both sides of the tire.

Thank You Gino, it will be quite a while before I can cast anyway, but I wanted to make sure I didn't put together all the tires if I needed one left apart to cast a copy.

The same here. I always cast them a a single piece...
Ciao

Yup - I cast them in single pieces. I've done both a once piece mold and a two piece mold. One piece was easier, but left the inside metal wheel part 'blank'

Howdy straightedge,

I fairly recently recast my Super HET tank transporter tyres. I actually cast two seperate sets, plus a few spares (a total number of 28 tyres).
All I did was take one of the tyres I was casting (the very best copy of the original bunch), and stuck a small piece of clay on the top side of the tyre when it's sitting vertical (on the tread), to create a pour plug. I then built a small enclosure (box) out of small Lego pieces around it till the top row of Legos is level with the top of my 'pour plug'. I then mixed my mould solution so it's drying time was just a tad retarded (kinda like me), and then took a cheap, but good brush (bought from Hobby Lobby) and brushed the mould solution on and around the Michelin sidewall lettering and other details, and then set the tyre in my Lego box. I then slowly poured the mix in till it reached the top of my Lego enclosure (but not past the top of my pour plug) and let it dry overnight. The next day I disassembled my Lego box and removed my mould block. I then took a new Xacto blade and carefully sliced on either side of the pour plug (along the line of the tyre within) and gently, and slowly removed my 'Master' from the mould agent, and Voila!!....I have my new mould.
It is one-piece, easy to use, and shows all the little details on both sides of the tyre (even the ones I don't want ).

And an additional suggestion if I may. If you plan on making a lot of copies, do yourself a favour, when you make your master mould just place multiple 'Masters' in the same mould. This way you get multiples of the piece you're trying to cast in one shot, and, it prolongs the life of your mould.

HTH.

Tread.

Oh...and one more thing (and this is a personal choice). I picked up a can of cheap spray 'Pam' at the Dollar Store and when I am about to cast a copy, I just lightly spread open my mould 'pockets' and give them an extremely quick spritz of the 'Pam' before I pour in my resin. This has helped to allow the mould to release my copy once it has dried, and also helps to maintain the integrity of my Master mould (because sometimes when you are removing your cast piece, small chunks of the Master mould can go with it thereby negatively affecting the final quality of subseqeunt copies.....not good.).

P.S. If you need any further input on this subject, our good Mr. Roo is quite the expert as well!

I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Tread you got that wrong I only make the masters as I have friends that do the molds and casting for me, because making molds and pouring resin is, to me, the most boreing part of modeling there is. (LOL :-)

PS> should have my new lot of resin tyres today in the post

Thank You Tread for the input that information will come in handy about the multi casting to save on the mold, cause when I do make them I will need a lot, cause most of the vehicles I plan to make are going to be multi wheeled vehicles. I spent just about my whole life driving 18 wheels, and I've owned my own for 21 of them, so I plan on a few of them.
Now even the smallest truck will take 6 tires, and that is without a spare, unless I get hold of some super singles, but I never did like them in real life, so I don't think I want to put them on a model either. thanks to everybody for the input

Best Regards Kerry