Flat spotting tires

[89AKurt]

Another thread asked about gluing wheels on the axles.  I brought up that I do, plus fixing a pet peeve of mine, toy appearance of tires sitting on the surface.  IHMO it gives the appearance that the vehicle has weight, when the contact patch is flat.  Go out and look at your personal vehicle, do you see completely round tires sitting on the ground?  Military modelers really obsess about this, you can spend more money getting resin wheel/tires that bulge out too, the Bf-109 tires even has the correct toe-in angle.  So why not do it to your cars?  It also fixes the dreaded tripod when the assembled suspension is not perfectly built.

For example, this Ford is Box Stock, it did the tripod, so did one tire more.  You have to put it on the flat surface, get a worm's eye view, rock it, pick the "lowest" tire to do more.  I use the Dremel with the sanding drum, working sideways (sucks when not glued on the axle and you go with the tread ?), and do a hollow in the center, so the contact is at the edges, otherwise you still see daylight.  Lay down flat a sheet of rough sandpaper on the bench, do the front, then back wheels, again sideways.  Sprinkle a little baking soda (talcum powder could work better) on the bench, shows the contact really well.

Pet peeve fixed! ?

[PHPaul]

Nice!  It's the little details like that that make or break a model IMHO.

[StevenGuthmiller]

I've never tried this technique before, but I'm not above stealing other people's ideas.

 

Thanks Kurt.

I'm going to try that.

 

I think that I might start off by just taking a slice off of the bottom of each tire with a #11 blade first to save some grinding, and then refine them with a little sanding.

 

 

 

Steve

[High octane]

Great idea, however as I get older I'm trying to do LESS work in completing a model kit. Hopefully I'll get more done that way???

[Snake45]

3 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I think that I might start off by just taking a slice off of the bottom of each tire with a #11 blade first to save some grinding, and then refine them with a little sanding.

That sounds easy. Isn't. Isn't easy at all to take a slice off a vinyl tire and get it FLAT. 

I've thought of maybe trying to make a little clamp/jig of some sort that would hold the tire solidly, and you'd slide a razor blade or utility knife blade along the edge and just sort of plane the slice off in one shot , if you follow what I mean. Wouldn't be that hard with solid vinyl, dunno if it would work with hollow vinyl at all or not. 

I've flat-spotted probably hundreds of model airplane tires, using a file and sanding block on solid styrene. THAT is a challenge, to keep everything perfectly flat in two planes, but it can be done. I'm thinking it would be about 20 times harder to pull off with flexible vinyl. 

[89AKurt]

6 hours ago, PHPaul said:

Nice!  It's the little details like that that make or break a model IMHO.

As the saying goes, a few million here, a few million there, and soon you are talking about real money.

4 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I've never tried this technique before, but I'm not above stealing other people's ideas.

Thanks Kurt.

I'm going to try that.

[...]

Thought that is what this forum is about.

2 hours ago, High octane said:

Great idea, however as I get older I'm trying to do LESS work in completing a model kit. Hopefully I'll get more done that way???

Oh man, you are in the wrong place!  I think some of us egg each other one, as in raising the bar.  But now you are thinking about it, aren't you? ?

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

That sounds easy. Isn't. Isn't easy at all to take a slice off a vinyl tire and get it FLAT. 

I've thought of maybe trying to make a little clamp/jig of some sort that would hold the tire solidly, and you'd slide a razor blade or utility knife blade along the edge and just sort of plane the slice off in one shot , if you follow what I mean. Wouldn't be that hard with solid vinyl, dunno if it would work with hollow vinyl at all or not. 

I've flat-spotted probably hundreds of model airplane tires, using a file and sanding block on solid styrene. THAT is a challenge, to keep everything perfectly flat in two planes, but it can be done. I'm thinking it would be about 20 times harder to pull off with flexible vinyl. 

I also have a bench belt sander, could just hold and do it that way, and risk grinding some fingertips, but making a jig would alleviate that. ?  Truck tires are hollow, so this might not work.

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

That sounds easy. Isn't. Isn't easy at all to take a slice off a vinyl tire and get it FLAT. 

I've thought of maybe trying to make a little clamp/jig of some sort that would hold the tire solidly, and you'd slide a razor blade or utility knife blade along the edge and just sort of plane the slice off in one shot , if you follow what I mean. Wouldn't be that hard with solid vinyl, dunno if it would work with hollow vinyl at all or not. 

I've flat-spotted probably hundreds of model airplane tires, using a file and sanding block on solid styrene. THAT is a challenge, to keep everything perfectly flat in two planes, but it can be done. I'm thinking it would be about 20 times harder to pull off with flexible vinyl. 

It appears to be very easy, depending on the type of tire you're dealing with.

I just ran into my shop, grabbed my X-Acto knife and a little sand paper and completed this experiment in about 30 seconds.

 

This is an old AMT Firestone tire from a '49 Ford kit.

Harder and much easier to cut than a soft hollow tire.

I can understand how a soft tire would be more difficult.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

[bisc63]

I've done this before, using a single edge razor blade, and finishing with a coarse file to fine-tune. REALLY helps on those old Monogram 1/24 kit tires. There's also something oddly satisfying when you set the model down; it just feels more..sturdy? stable?

Edited January 23, 2020 by bisc63
typo

[BigTallDad]

Good tip! I've noticed that the flat spot also corresponds to a slight bulge in the tire...any thoughts on this?

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Very nice, very clean! Your Blade-Fu is obviously much stronger than mine! 

[Exotics_Builder]

Hmmm...

[89AKurt]

Who wants to experiment with bulging tires on a hot stove? ?  Liking the cutting techniques.

[StevenGuthmiller]

13 minutes ago, 89AKurt said:

Who wants to experiment with bulging tires on a hot stove? ?  Liking the cutting techniques.

As long as it's your stove and not mine!

 

 

 

Steve

[stitchdup]

I've done it on a stove using a hot frying pan and a bit of greaseproof paper on top of it. Just set the model on top then when your happy with the bulge/flat spot place it on a cold plate until it sets again. Just make sure your frying pan is flat

[89AKurt]

8 hours ago, stitchdup said:

I've done it on a stove using a hot frying pan and a bit of greaseproof paper on top of it. Just set the model on top then when your happy with the bulge/flat spot place it on a cold plate until it sets again. Just make sure your frying pan is flat

There is no way I'm putting the whole model on the stove (unless it's a Phoenix in July diorama)!  I could see putting all the tires on a wood dowel, spaced apart a little, and doing this.

[TarheelRick]

1 hour ago, 89AKurt said:

There is no way I'm putting the whole model on the stove (unless it's a Phoenix in July diorama)!  I could see putting all the tires on a wood dowel, spaced apart a little, and doing this.

I couldn't see doing it at all, especially in one of my wife's frying pans.  I really like sleeping inside, especially in January and February.  And my wife is a pretty awesome cook, so there is that.  Might consider a heat gun toward a piece of sheetmetal in the basement, that might work better.

[BigTallDad]

11 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Who wants to experiment with bulging tires on a hot stove? ?  Liking the cutting techniques.

Perhaps a soldering iron...

[89AKurt]

3 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

I couldn't see doing it at all, especially in one of my wife's frying pans.  I really like sleeping inside, especially in January and February.  And my wife is a pretty awesome cook, so there is that.  Might consider a heat gun toward a piece of sheetmetal in the basement, that might work better.

You *could* buy your own pan at a second hand store, and keep it out of the kitchen. ?

2 hours ago, BigTallDad said:

Perhaps a soldering iron...

I have a stained glass iron that could work.

[Vietnam Vet67]

I am old enough to remember when tubeless tires came out and after sitting overnight the tires would have a flat spot on them and it would take driving a few miles before it went away.

[stitchdup]

15 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

There is no way I'm putting the whole model on the stove (unless it's a Phoenix in July diorama)!  I could see putting all the tires on a wood dowel, spaced apart a little, and doing this.

that could be why i'm single, lol

[sbk]

I started sanding flat spots in tires a while back after taking some low angle outdoor photos of models, & I saw that the tires were barely contacting the ground surface. I sand them with coarse sanding sticks & gradually move to finer grits. These are both pretty subtle, but I didn't want to remove too much of the pie crust on the edges. Still, much better than perfectly round. The sidewall bulge would be the perfect touch, but until 3D printing resolution catches up with what I want to see, I'll do it this way.