S10XtremeSR Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Is there any kind of resin compound out there can make soft tires? I am thinking about taking the so real tires and making a mold. But I do not know of any kind of compound to make "rubber". I would like them to be hollow and flexy, just like a 1:1 tire. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 There is a rubber like resin out there, I think Micro Mark carries it. I've never used it so don't know how well it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davkin Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 I've used both Smooth-on Reoflex urethane rubber; http://www.smooth-on.com/index.php?cPath=1143 And Alumilite Flex; http://www.alumilite.com/ProdDetail.cfm?Ca...;Name=Flex%2030 Both work great. You'll need black dye as well. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDO Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 Why? Real car upholstery is soft. Do you want soft model car seats too? I don't get why everyone wants resin tires to be molded in black rubber. Years ago an overseas friend copied some 1/8 scale wide whitewalls in white resin. I took a few to a model club to see if anyone was interested. No one was because they weren't black rubber. This was before the internet really caught on. If you wanted wide whites in 1/8 scale back then, you put an ad in the back of Scale Auto Enthusiast and waited 3 months to find an original set. We paint everything. Nothing else on a model is molded in the same color and material as the 1/1, so why do tires have to be? I don't get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S10XtremeSR Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 Well I am actually making a 1/24 r/c rockcrawler. I actually need some really soft and flexy rubber tires in 1/24 scale, but they are not made yet. For my application, I would need black dye. Painting them would not work since they are actually going to be used on rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davkin Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 Smooth-on Reoflex 30 is what you want then. I actually used to cast and sell tires for Overland Mini-Z's and made them out of that stuff. The attached file shows a custom Overland I made with tires that I cast. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dencon Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 Why? Real car upholstery is soft. Do you want soft model car seats too? I don't get why everyone wants resin tires to be molded in black rubber. Years ago an overseas friend copied some 1/8 scale wide whitewalls in white resin. I took a few to a model club to see if anyone was interested. No one was because they weren't black rubber. This was before the internet really caught on. If you wanted wide whites in 1/8 scale back then, you put an ad in the back of Scale Auto Enthusiast and waited 3 months to find an original set. We paint everything. Nothing else on a model is molded in the same color and material as the 1/1, so why do tires have to be? I don't get it. I have to agree with you about 95%. I use to make and sell resin tires in hard resin. The soft resin just takes to darn long to set up and also to get all of the air bubbles out. So I did not like it for production. As for the hard resin tires. I would die them black. They looked great. Here is a pic of one I did and NO THESE ARE NOT FOR SALE!! I AM NOT GOING TO SELL THEM! I am posting these pics as examples. These were made with Alumilite Tan with a black die. They look rubber. Now this only thing that I would have liked on the side of them being a flexible , rubber like resin. Is that it would give you flex to get the wheels in. I find that hard resin tires that were cast from an original kit "Rubber" tire is getting wheels to fit. Model kit tires are designed to have a flex to them to fit on the wheel, snug. When they are hard. You have to do some grinding on them to get the wheels in. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davkin Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 The soft resin just takes to darn long to set up and also to get all of the air bubbles out. That's for sure. IIRC I had to wait about 4 hours before I could de-mold using the Reoflex. I think I had two molds of each type of tire I cast. As soon as I got home from work I'd cast up a pair of each type I wanted to cast so I could de-mold do it again before I went to bed. I was limted to doing about 5-10 sets/week of each type of tire, depending on my level of ambition that week and demand. As demand slowed down I decided it wasn't worth bothering with at all anymore and quit altogether. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S10XtremeSR Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 Smooth-on Reoflex 30 is what you want then. I actually used to cast and sell tires for Overland Mini-Z's and made them out of that stuff. The attached file shows a custom Overland I made with tires that I cast. David Now was your tires hollow in the center of the tire? I.E. like a real 1:1 tire? And I am not talking about where the rimes goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davkin Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 No, there were solid. It wouldn't be worth the hassle to make them hollow, besides I doubt they'd work well hollow, even for a rock crawler. Remember, 1:1 tires have steel belts in them, even rock crawler tires. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S10XtremeSR Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 Well I will post pics when I finally get them done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Why? Real car upholstery is soft. Do you want soft model car seats too? I don't get why everyone wants resin tires to be molded in black rubber. Years ago an overseas friend copied some 1/8 scale wide whitewalls in white resin. I took a few to a model club to see if anyone was interested. No one was because they weren't black rubber. This was before the internet really caught on. If you wanted wide whites in 1/8 scale back then, you put an ad in the back of Scale Auto Enthusiast and waited 3 months to find an original set. We paint everything. Nothing else on a model is molded in the same color and material as the 1/1, so why do tires have to be? I don't get it. I agree with you on the tires. I never understand the complaints about kits with plastic tires as long as they are well cast. Same goes with resin tires, its not like many of the soft tires in kits are all that great anyway, particularly on semi trucks. I can completely understand wanting rubber tires for an RC car because that is different, the tires have to actually work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron L Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 Both resin and urethane (flex, reo) tires suck! I wish there was a better method to cast them. Urethanes take forever to cure, and their viscosity does not lend itself to simple gate/vent systems you'd use in a resin mold. Urethanes coagulate a week after purchase and require heating to get them back to liquid state. However they are easy on your molds since they do not heat up. You can also mold them on the small side to allow them to fit on a variety of wheel diameters. Resin tires are fine unless they warp .001" because your mold's corner was sitting on a piece of lint, then the tire doesn't fit on the rim anymore. The exothermic curing process is also very tough on molds especially in the tread area. Here's a car using resin tires. It looks fine in pictures but closer inspection reveals uneven tread and the tire-to-wheel interface is bad due to the tire being out of round. I don't think I'll ever do resin tires again unless it was molded with the wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S10XtremeSR Posted June 15, 2009 Author Share Posted June 15, 2009 So this is the only way for me to get some tires. The flex stuff? Anyone use anything else?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnaind Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 So this is the only way for me to get some tires. The flex stuff? Anyone use anything else?? In case your want to see how I do it, check out my photos at http://public.fotki.com/cnaind/ I can explain how I do it or just make them for you. Thanx, Al Raab Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Zoom Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I have been told by my local supplier (The Engineer Guy) that adding 10% of Mold Max 30 to the Smooth Cast resin (all Smooth On products) would yield soft tires. Haven't tried it yet, did get some black pigment. Tires are a PITA, and I'm also thinking of doing tire/wheel combos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanSilva Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Good info Bob!! My mold max 20 is coming tomorrow from nelson,il try it with mold max 20..if it doesnt work..no biggie, Im gonna get some 30, the next time I order anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron L Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I have been told by my local supplier (The Engineer Guy) that adding 10% of Mold Max 30 to the Smooth Cast resin (all Smooth On products) would yield soft tires. Haven't tried it yet, did get some black pigment. Tires are a PITA, and I'm also thinking of doing tire/wheel combos. 10% Mold Max without the hardener or do you still have to mix the 10% in a 10:1 ratio? Even then you'd end up with a viscosity that's close to the Reo-flex (Smooth on) or Flex- (Alumilite), which would still cause problems with pouring into the mold and the cure times might even be slower. Any pigment also slows down the cure time of the urethane resins. Seems that it would be less of a hassle to just buy the correct materials. They do exist for a reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanSilva Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 True enough, But If I have it on hand..it wont hurt much to at least try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron L Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 True enough, But If I have it on hand..it wont hurt much to at least try it. Of course not, and do let us know how it works out. I just meant it would be a waste to try it if you were starting from scratch. I have some old Moldmax 30 but the activator has dried up. I don't know if the rubber part is still any good. I've got yet another mold in the making for tires. I've wasted so much RTV trying to get a clean cast out of low-profile tires but I gotta use that gallon somehow, right? "Big" tires like 60-series rubber is no problem. It's the super thin stuff that's hard to design a mold for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Zoom Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 10% Mold Max without the hardener or do you still have to mix the 10% in a 10:1 ratio? Even then you'd end up with a viscosity that's close to the Reo-flex (Smooth on) or Flex- (Alumilite), which would still cause problems with pouring into the mold and the cure times might even be slower. Any pigment also slows down the cure time of the urethane resins. Seems that it would be less of a hassle to just buy the correct materials. They do exist for a reason. Considering Nelson "The Engineer Guy" is quite experienced w/the products, I trust that his information is correct-so far he hasn't lead us wrong and his sense of humor is just as twisted as ours. Yes, I know the pigment affects cure time; I did some new combo wheel/tire molds and some other wheel molds tonight, tinted black. Came out quite nice. Next trick will be to try the Mold Max 30 in the resin mix. Just the rubber, no catalyst, mixed into one half of the resin before mixing the two halves together. Probably mixing the black in the A side, and the rubber in the B side. My wheels/tires combos in black look great; I can easily just mask & spray the wheels, leave the tires as-is. Smooth On's FastCat 30 is great to accelerate the demold time of Mold Max 30; using the FastCat in place of the MM30 catalyst made for a pot life of 10 mins and demold time of 1 hour. Mold is slightly less flexible than the 16 hour cure before 5 hours in a dehydrator cure of MM30. Half of FastCat and half MM30 catalyst gives 20 mins. pot life and 2 hours demold. I'll be trying that this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron L Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 OK I tried mixing in some old Moldmax 10 I had with Alumilite resin since my Smooth-on resin has gone sour. Every try mixing honey with water? Well that pretty much explains it. Once I did get it stirred there were still little balls of silicone suspended in the resin. Mixed it up with the other part anyway, added the black tint, and poured it into a tire mold. They do come out flexible, but not flexible enough to stretch onto a larger rim which is what I was shooting for. It'll stretch enough to allow a fudge factor of about 0.003" but forget using the same tire for, say, 15- through 17-inch rims. The little suspended bits of silicone is also a problem in the finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanSilva Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 (edited) Nice so there is a little stretch, just what I need. How much longer was the cure time? Edited July 14, 2009 by RyanSilva Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron L Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I didn't time it, I walked away and came back in an hour. I wouldn't really call it stretchy, more like deformable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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