Hi All:
I'm wondering what techniques are being used to paint/weather tires, to demonstrate dusty/muddy/used, or what ever. What paint colours do you use etc. I presently using testor's "rubber" but it's to brown, never looks right


I do have a bit of advice for tires, after cleaning and scrapping them to erase the mold lines, there is always the "stuff" that needs to be scraped out of each tread ( I hated this part). Now I use a small stiff metal brush ( 3 for a $1.00) , I think they are for leather cleaning, but they do a superb job of cleaning this last part, as well as give the tire alittle wear......Try It.


Slug

If there plastic tires, i start by painting them flat black, and drybrush with the rubber color (color from rubbing tires along the sidewalls on rocks and what not) and then i use a wash of browns to get some dust in the treads, and some grout with brown paint i use to brush on some mud.

I haven't done many tires (11 to be exact), so I'm new to the idea. I just use flat black, with a dust or mud drybrushing. I fade the black to show wear and tear. I rust or show bare dented metal on the nuts and hubcaps.

Jeff

Hey Bruce, I like to use Model Master's aircraft black. It has a very dark gray look. Then i lighten a bit w/ light gray to bring out the detail.

Thanks guys, some good ideas to try


Slug

After seem cleanup and and any tread wear I want to replicate I paint flat black after which I give a wash of burnt umber. I'll also drybrush dark gray on the sidewalls and treat tops. I use pastel chalk (the color of the groundwork that the vehicle would be traveling through) brushed for inside the treads where dust and dirt may accumulate, after which I seal with a flat clearcoat.

I have a simple method that works well every time.
Firstly I paint the whole wheel black with an tin of air spray. Then when airbrushing the vehicle, I give the hub a spray ... never bother much stencils as the evolution can get it pretty good.

When well dry, I mix some pastels in whatever tone i wasnt the dust. I add some humbrol enamel thinner and brush this into the treads and detail. Leave to dry. then I dampen my finger with the same and dip it into black pastels and rub it all around the raised treads. This shows up all the detail nicely and blends with the previous pastels to give a nice weathered look.
When finishing the vehicle I give a very light overspray with dust. All of the below used this method.

I tend to spray the entire tire flat black after clean up.. then I thin down some gray paint.. a lot of times I think i use panzer grey.. or RLM 66 or whatever i have around to use. thind about 50/50 and lightly airbrush that on the tires.. after it dries I use a q-tip slightly dampened with some thinner to rub off the gray a bit where the rubber meets the road and such. to get a black tire thats been out in the weather a while.. then i use the circle template method to spray the hubs the base color... wash and drybrush the detaill then weather with mud or dirt added and painted and/or pastel chalks...

works well for me..

Some good examples guys, thanks for the input

:-)--<
Slug

thanks for the tips guys!

now i can use them on my sdkfz 222 and the puma

I use Gunze's "tire black" for painting plastic or resin tires. It's more grey than black and is a good base color. I then run a ground colored wash (buff or tan for desert, darker browns or grey for other soil types) into the tread pattern. I finish of with light colored pastel dust to flatten the paint and give it a final worn appearance. If they're rubber tires, I just skip the paint part and go with the washes and pastel dust. Here's some pic's of my M1025 and SAS Pink Panther that show how I did the rubber tires (M1025) and plastic ones on the 'Pinkie'.

Bob