Finally got the perfect tire for my builds.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

I have being experimenting with many different resin cast tires. 

I really like the old AMT Firestone Deluxe Chamoions, but AMT is not including them in kits anymore... Only the Firestone Supremes.

Also, I like the thread detail of the AMT parts pack Firestone Deluxe Champions, that are a new tool tire, even tough, the whitewall is a little on the small side for my taste. Not to mention it's tampo printed on the side of the tire without any lettering. 

I got about five of those tire packs, and on every one I had to repaint the whitewall on the correct side of the tire. Where the Firestone lettering is. 

Since those are really expensive to get here in Brasil, as they have to be imported, and cost same as a full kit, I've be trying to make a nice and cool whitewall for my factory stock builds without having to spend my kit money on tires.

Started casting resin copies of the old Firestones from the AMT kits, only with a separate whitewall to make painting easier:

Resin castings. by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

After painted, they look nice, just like the originals, and once on the model, one can't tell the difference without touching them:

Resin castings. by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Those are resin tires:

1955 Chevrolet PIckup by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

I was not quite happy yet. 

The resin tires are rock hard, and that can be a pain to adapt them to some kit's wheels, being the backing plates the worse part.

So, I started to think about real rubber tires.

Found a flexible resin, locally made by a company called Redelease, that duplicates the "feel" and texture of Tamiya tires. That got me pretty exited. 

Tried to use the resin to mold a tire, but even with a lot of mold release, a silicon mold was a total failure...

I needed a tough mold. So it hit me: Using resin for a mold would work.

Did a test and BINGO!! The rubber tire would pop out of the mold with ease.

At this point I decided to make a hybrid tire. Using the large whitewall from the old AMT Firestones on the new tool AMT parts pack Firestones. 

Used the Dremel to cut the whitewall from the parts pack tire, and made the remaining "hole" a bit larger, so the larger whitewall would fit. 

This was the result:

Original AMT Tire Cut. by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Then a mold was made. The first halve was made from epoxy putty, and the second halve was made from resin:

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

I made two molds for the tire, one for the larger whitewall, and another for the stock parts pack whitewall.

The whitewalls were molded in silicone, so they could be made with resin. The resin whitewalls are more precise on replicating the lettering and logos, and once painted it looks great:

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

And here is the rubber tire with it's whitewall still unpainted in white resin:

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Here is the finished product, rubber tire, with resin whitewall painted in semi gloss white:

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

The first set I made, and it's ready for installation:

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Here the two kinds of tires: Smaller whitewall, and bigger whitewall from the old AMT Firestones:

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Here is the thread:

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

The rubber part:

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Casting rubber tires by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

[peteski]

Very impressive! Even the surface finish looks perfect - not too rough and not too shiny. It looks like rubber. Do you pressure-cast?

 

BTW, tires have tread, not thread - easy mistake to make.

[Bill J]

Nice work on the tires

[dimaxion]

Excellent Tires .. You do nice work .. Thanx ..

[Foxer]

Beautiful work, Túlio!

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Very impressive! Even the surface finish looks perfect - not too rough and not too shiny. It looks like rubber. Do you pressure-cast?

 

BTW, tires have tread, not thread - easy mistake to make.

Thanks!!

No, I don't pressure cast. 

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Thanks gentlemen!!

[landman]

Nice. Are we going to be able to buy some?I need some for my '34 Chevy model as I have some on my real '34 Chevy, the exact same Firestone Champion Deluxe.

[Bernard Kron]

These are heart-attack gorgeous, and for me, too, virtually the ultimate combination. With the pending demise of Modelhaus, and acknowledging the fact that these are even better than what I've gotten from then, as far as my own needs, their commercial availability would be something profoundly to be desired!

[peteski]

Thanks!!

No, I don't pressure cast. 

WOW!  How you you avoid air bubbles trapped in the mold?  Especially in the ridges of the tread.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Nice. Are we going to be able to buy some?I need some for my '34 Chevy model as I have some on my real '34 Chevy, the exact same Firestone Champion Deluxe.

These are heart-attack gorgeous, and for me, too, virtually the ultimate combination. With the pending demise of Modelhaus, and acknowledging the fact that these are even better than what I've gotten from then, as far as my own needs, their commercial availability would be something profoundly to be desired!

Guys, I hadn't thought about making tires for sale, not even sure if it's legal, since I'm using the Firestone logo. But if you send a pm with your addresses I can tell how much it would cost to ship some tires to you. There are basically two kinds of shipping trough Brazilian Correios: The EMS, that arrives in about 7 days, and costs more, and the slow mail, that can take up to three weeks to deliver, but it's safe, and a lot cheaper. I'm used to send model cars to a friend in Washington State, that's into collecting those tiny 1:43 scale diecast cars. I'm sending him the collection of Carros Inesquecíveis do Brasil, of Altaya editing company, (google that and you may even like the models) that basically is a complete collection of model Brazilian cars that are almost impossible to find in the U.S. for a reasonable price. Until now I never had a problem with a pack of models not arriving. Sometimes they get stuck in the U.S. customs for a couple of days, until they dismiss the possibility of the model cars being some sort of bomb, or Anthrax or whatever they are looking for at the time, but that's all.

On the tires cost, I estimate I'm spending about 10 Reais in materials to make one. 

Today, one U.S. Dollar, buys 3,24 Brazilian Reais, so the cost of a tire would be about 3 Dollars? I have no idea of what would be a reasonable selling price, never sold anything like that.  

[Lovefordgalaxie]

WOW!  How you you avoid air bubbles trapped in the mold?  Especially in the ridges of the tread.

What I do is not using runners to cast rubber tires. I have a mold that is two halves. Pour liquid flexible resin on the both sides of the mold, and then carefully join the halves. Usually, some resin will "bleed" out on the sides, and lot's of air bubbles also come out this way. 

Until now I had no problems with air bubbles on the tires. 

[peteski]

What I do is not using runners to cast rubber tires. I have a mold that is two halves. Pour liquid flexible resin on the both sides of the mold, and then carefully join the halves. Usually, some resin will "bleed" out on the sides, and lot's of air bubbles also come out this way. 

Until now I had no problems with air bubbles on the tires. 

Interesting - thanks for the tip.  So the liquid rubber is more viscous than typical liquid resin (so it doesn't just pour out of the mold half when you tilt the molds to join them together)?

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Interesting - thanks for the tip.  So the liquid rubber is more viscous than typical liquid resin (so it doesn't just pour out of the mold half when you tilt the molds to join them together)?

Exactly.I have quite enough time to join the halves without the flexible resin pouring out of the mold. Tried many times using runners, but those would "eat" a big piece of the tire tread, plus I would always get air bubbles.