Fireball Red Line Tire

[TransAmMike]

As anyone on here that has bought these tires from Joseph at Fireballmodelworks knows, the red line (or white stripe) has to be painted on.  Josephs instructions say for the red line, paint the groove with white acrylic then after drying red over that.  My question is how in the world do you get the paint in the tiny groove without getting it on the sidewall?  Or does it matter, considering any paint on the sidewall likely could be wiped off.

Just wondering if anyone has worked on these.

 

[Plowboy]

You should be able to do it just as you described Mike. I've painted the blue line on the Good Year Blue Streak Sports Car Special tires and did it that exact way. 

[Nacho Z]

I hope this works, Mike.  On my Chaparral build I tried the gold ring decals that came with the kit. Epic fail.  The tires had a small groove in them.  I thinned some gold paint and kinda loaded the paintbrush.  I put the tip of the paintbrush in the groove and capillary action did the rest.  Really, it was just like a panel liner.  The few spots where I touched the brush to the tire were easily cleaned up once the paint in the groove dried.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Nacho Z
Removed duplicate photo

[StevenGuthmiller]

You can just wipe off any excess outside of the groove with a little mineral spirits on a swab.

It works very well.

 

These are the Fireball red lines done exactly as Joseph describes using Mr. Hobby acrylics.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

[Mike 1017]

I thin down the acrylic paint down to the point that it just runs around (can't think of that word) that grove. Sort of like using a panel line wash. 

Mike

[TransAmMike]

13 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

I hope this works, Mike.  On my Chaparral build I tried the gold ring decals that came with the kit. Epic fail.  The tires had a small groove in them.  I thinned some gold paint and kinda loaded the paintbrush.  I put the tip of the paintbrush in the groove and capillary action did the rest.  Really, it was just like a panel liner.  The few spots where I touched the brush to the tire were easily cleaned up once the paint in the groove dried.

Thanks John...Joseph says to use acrylic, looks like you used enamel. They did come out great!

[TransAmMike]

51 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

You can just wipe off any excess outside of the groove with a little mineral spirits on a swab.

It works very well.

 

These are the Fireball red lines done exactly as Joseph describes using Mr. Hobby acrylics.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

Thanks Steven, they do look great.

[TransAmMike]

13 hours ago, Plowboy said:

You should be able to do it just as you described Mike. I've painted the blue line on the Good Year Blue Streak Sports Car Special tires and did it that exact way. 

Thanks Roger, good to know.

[StevenGuthmiller]

29 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

Thanks John...Joseph says to use acrylic, looks like you used enamel. They did come out great!

Be careful using enamel.

I can’t say what the results will be on these resin tires, but I have kit tires that I painted white walls on 20 years ago that still haven’t dried properly.

Some kind of weird reaction between the enamel and the tire.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

23 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Be careful using enamel.

I can’t say what the results will be on these resin tires, but I have kit tires that I painted white walls on 20 years ago that still haven’t dried properly.

Some kind of weird reaction between the enamel and the tire.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Thanks Steve, oh yeah, definately acrylic, maybe my Createx opaque red.

[Mike 1017]

3 hours ago, Mike 1017 said:

I thin down the acrylic paint down to the point that it just runs around (can't think of that word) that grove. Sort of like using a panel line wash. 

Mike

Capillary action

[TransAmMike]

Hmmm. first 2 attempts = total failure?

[TransAmMike]

23 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Be careful using enamel.

I can’t say what the results will be on these resin tires, but I have kit tires that I painted white walls on 20 years ago that still haven’t dried properly.

Some kind of weird reaction between the enamel and the tire.

 

 

 

 

Steve

As I have said, my first few attempts at get the paint into the grooves failed.  

Would you mind letting me know which of the Mr. Hobby paints you used?

Thanks Steven

[StevenGuthmiller]

38 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

As I have said, my first few attempts at get the paint into the grooves failed.  

Would you mind letting me know which of the Mr. Hobby paints you used?

Thanks Steven

These are the one's that I used, but I don't think the brand of paint should matter much, as long as it's a good acrylic paint.

The technique is much more important than the brand of paint.

 

I didn't thin it, I just used a small brush and flowed the paint into the groove as well as possible, let it dry for a short time, and then went around the edges of the groove lightly with a Tamiya swab dipped in mineral spirits.

I put a coat of white on each tire, then went back and cleaned each one between each coat.

I used 2 coats of white, followed by 2 coats of red.

 

It worked very well for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

36 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

These are the one's that I used, but I don't think the brand of paint should matter much, as long as it's a good acrylic paint.

The technique is much more important than the brand of paint.

 

I didn't thin it, I just used a small brush and flowed the paint into the groove as well as possible, let it dry for a short time, and then went around the edges of the groove lightly with a Tamiya swab dipped in mineral spirits.

I put a coat of white on each tire, then went back and cleaned each one between each coat.

I used 2 coats of white, followed by 2 coats of red.

 

It worked very well for me.

 

 

 

Thanks so much Steve. Huh, I very seldom use white paint so all I have on hand is the small enamel Testors bottle. 

I do have some of those swabs. As some have said they thin the paint. 

I'm gonna give it another try as a test with some very pale gray craft paint I have. 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

[stavanzer]

On 8/31/2022 at 7:52 AM, StevenGuthmiller said:

You can just wipe off any excess outside of the groove with a little mineral spirits on a swab.

It works very well.

 

These are the Fireball red lines done exactly as Joseph describes using Mr. Hobby acrylics.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

Wow! What a great build!

[Mopar maniac 74]

I always used an old semi truck rim that I dipped the paint onto then pressed onto the tire.  The size was perfect.  If I did get any excess a toothpick will clean up the line.  The good thing is using acrylic if you don't like it wipe with water dry and go again.

[TonyW]

The whitewalls on this MPC Corvette were done by thinning Tamiya white acrylic with Tamiya thinner, about 50/50.

The mixed color needs to be like water. Using a small, pointed brush I touched the tip against the groove in the tire. The thinned paint runs around the groove like a slot racer. Let it dry, then do it again until you are happy with the look. Two coats got the Corvette done.

 

 

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, TransAmMike said:

 

The only reason for the white paint is to make the red brighter.

My guess is that if you have a hood opaque red acrylic, the white might not be necessary.

An extra coat of red might do just fine.

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, stavanzer said:

Wow! What a great build!

Thank you Alan.

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

By the way, the Mr. Hobby paints pictured above were relatively thin, so the “capillary” action mentioned above does apply, just not necessarily all of the way around the tire in one shot.

I didn’t thin the paint because I didn’t want to adversely affect the coverage, but I’m sure that thinning slightly might help with that.

I just prefer to use paint directly from the jar if possible.

Less messing around. ?

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

No pics yet, but I finally got the hang of it. Thinned red craft paint probably 60/40 water to paint. Used 20/0 fine brush and basically did the capillary method, wetting the brush pretty good, touch in the groove and kind of drag the paint around. 

Still wanna get a few more coats on (already likely 8 to 10 coats to get it red enough) . Did not use white base, just the red in the groove. 

Again thanks for all the advise. 

[Zippi]

2 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

No pics yet, but I finally got the hang of it. Thinned red craft paint probably 60/40 water to paint. Used 20/0 fine brush and basically did the capillary method, wetting the brush pretty good, touch in the groove and kind of drag the paint around. 

Still wanna get a few more coats on (already likely 8 to 10 coats to get it red enough) . Did not use white base, just the red in the groove. 

Again thanks for all the advise. 

I knew you would get it Buddy.

[Brutalform]

Glad it’s working out for you. These were painted Vallejo white first, and followed by Vallejo red. Since they are water based, a Tamiya pointed swab with a bit of water wipes any excess off. It definitely helps to thin the paint a bit, so it will flow into the grooves easier. 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Brutalform

[Jantrix]

Acrylic gel pens maybe?