Help - Gelly Never Dries

[sdbos777]

I got a red Gelly pen and a circle template to make the plain tires in the AMT 1967  Oldsmobile 442 kit into redline tires.  The red lines came out great, but - THEY AREN'T DRYING.  Even after a week the red lines are wet.  I've tried sitting them in front of a space heater, blowing warm dry air over them for hours, but they're still wet.  Has anyone else had this problem?  How did you deal with it?  does Gelly EVER dry?!

 

[cobraman]

Maybe it just won't dry on rubber ???

[sdbos777]

Maybe, but the reason that I got a Gelly pen for the redline tires is that others in the forums were recommending Gelly pens for whitewalls and such.  

[StockBoresMe]

I've seen the same recommendations about the red gelly pen. I haven't tried it but I do know regular flat white testors enamel will not dry on rubber. Again I've never tried this method but I hear acrylic paints dry on rubber

[IceMan Collections]

Maybe a flat/dull coat on top of it all?

[sdbos777]

Well, after some more googling I found threads about how enamel and oil-based paints won't dry on rubber, or really on any glossy surface.  No idea why that didn't come up during my initial "which pen do i need" search.  Anyway, I've ordered a could of red pens that are acrylic based, from JetPens:

https://www.jetpens.com/Sakura-Pen-Touch-Paint-Marker-Medium-Point-2.0-mm-Red/pd/14161

https://www.jetpens.com/Molotow-ONE4ALL-Acrylic-Paint-Marker-127HS-1.5-mm-Traffic-Red-013/pd/16014

Together they were $16.  Hopefully they'll do.  

Now I'm going to scrub the useless red gelly ink off my tires.

[Can-Con]

First thing is, those tires are not rubber, they're vinyl, as most kit tires are. I have a set of tires on a Corvette I used white testors paint on that I built in the early '80s that are still sticky.

Lacquer and acrylics will dry just fine on those tires. You could try spraying the tires with a couple coats of lacquer or acrylic dullcoat first, then the jell pen should work fine,, but I'd try it first because different brands may work differently.

Or just use an acrylic. I did these white walls with acrylic and they worked just fine.

[Slotto]

Very informative. Thanks for the tip.

[mod3l Lover]

   I found some Molotow white refill made for their re-fillable

markers that are available. (I have some of those also)

  My curious nature made me try it by just brushing a bit

into the hollow of the outline letters of these big Pro-street

Firestone tires.  It laid in the letters with little effort!!

  But best of all, it dried completely and quickly!

[sdbos777]

I ordered a Molotow acrylic pen, and it worked great.

 

[El Caballo]

I like the detail on that Olds, I may have to get one.

[sdbos777]

El Caballo - I highly recommend this kit.  It is nicely detailed, well molded, and well designed.  There are positive contacts for nearly all parts, and everything fits together as it should.  Well, mostly - the front-end bumper/grill assembly does not fit well and took much finagling, and I still did not get it quite right.  But everything else all went together perfectly and easily.  This kit was a joy to build.

 

Edited October 18, 2017 by sdbos777

[Art Anderson]

Maybe it just won't dry on rubber ???

For starters, the tires in question (shown in the picture) are not rubber, but a soft PVC (Vinyl).  Gel pens aren't "ink", but rather an oil-based paint.   It's the old syndrome that we older modelers discovered way back in the 60's--enamel paint (Pactra or Testors were our choices back then) simply would NOT dry hard on PVC tires, when we tried to whitewall them.  This was, and is, for the same reason that occasionally, PVC tires in model car kits, if they laid in direct contact with say, the body shell or the clear styrene windshield glass would eventually "attack" those parts, leaving a softened, but nagging imprint of their tread or sidewall behind.

Water-borne acrylic paint does not have this problem, be it from a bottle, or from the recently available Molotow acrylic paint pens.

Art

[Art Anderson]

For starters, the tires in question (shown in the picture) are not rubber, but a soft PVC (Vinyl).  Gel pens aren't "ink", but rather an oil-based paint.   It's the old syndrome that we older modelers discovered way back in the 60's--enamel paint (Pactra or Testors were our choices back then) simply would NOT dry hard on PVC tires, when we tried to whitewall them.  This was, and is, for the same reason that occasionally, PVC tires in model car kits, if they laid in direct contact with say, the body shell or the clear styrene windshield glass would eventually "attack" those parts, leaving a softened, but nagging imprint of their tread or sidewall behind.

Water-borne acrylic paint does not have this problem, be it from a bottle, or from the recently available Molotow acrylic paint pens.  The same is generally true of lacquer-based paint.

Art