Need to stop tire melt

[my80malibu]

I have some kits, Mainly Revell that are destroying the wheels from the Tire's melting down, Chemically reacting in a negative way. Is there a way to stop this, or prevent this from happening, that has been found to be a success? 

[Tom Geiger]

There is a chemical reaction between the wheel and the tire. You can stop it by not allowing them to touch one another.  I saw one tip to BMF the wheel where they would mate.

Also, beware of that tire hitting the inner fender well. It will melt that too.  I have one of those!

[Art Anderson]

There is a chemical reaction between the wheel and the tire. You can stop it by not allowing them to touch one another.  I saw one tip to BMF the wheel where they would mate.

Also, beware of that tire hitting the inner fender well. It will melt that too.  I have one of those!

It's not any sort of chemical reaction--rather it's the result of excessive PVC Monomer (that's the stuff that makes PVC soft & flexible, as PVC normally is a hard plastic--think PVC pipe for example).  This used to be a serious problem, but not nearly so much if the proper PVC feed stock is used in molding model kit tires.  (Along these lines I once packaged some plated resin chrome parts with clear plastic cling-wrap--generic Saran Wrap if you will--and while the stuff didn't damage the resin itself, it sure did ruin the plating in a day or so, lesson learned!).  In short, the PVC Monomer softening agent can penetrate a paint job, and certainly scar the surface of unprotected polystyrene.

So, what to do?  any metal, regardless of how thin, will stop the offending plasticiser, simply because it's impenetrable, so a simply wrapping of the circumference of a styrene wheel with Bare Metal Foil before mounting the tires will protect the styrene wheel from this.  So will a thin wipe of epoxy glue (let it set up before mounting the tires. Even a thin layer of CA glue (hardened up with one of the sprayable CA setting agents will work as well.  I've done all three when I've been concerned about a particular set of PVC tires.

Art

[Snake45]

I've found that water-based acrylic paint or Future also makes a good barrier between wheel and tire. Enamel doesn't--the vinyl eats enamel even worse than plastic.