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Painted tires


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OK, so years ago I "finished" a Monogram Dale Earnhardt kit. Being without the net at the time, I was unable to determine how to paint the yellow Goodyear on the tires and thus left them black. It's always bothered me with this model, because everything else turned out great. In the past I've tried free hand painting the raised portions without good results of various other tires. Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.

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It's the Monogram kit from around 97 I think. The letters are barely raised from the rest of the tire. I'll give it a shot though as I have a huuuge box of 1/24 tires to practice with. Thank you very much for the tip, as maybe I used too much paint before.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Get an old cd, put a thin coat of paint on it and lightly press it into the paint. LIGHTLY. It works kind of like a stamp pad. For a realistic effect, ding up the paint a little bit. Real tires never have perfect lettering.

An old CD works perfect . And you have to use acrylic paint ! Go to Michaels and by a small bottle of artist's acrylic paint for about $2 bucks and use very thin coats on the CD . If it doesn't look right on your tire just wipe it off with a wet cloth and try again . Sometimes I'll do a tire 5 or 6 times before I like it . Practice , practice , practice !!! :D

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At your local hobby/arts crafts store should have a section with acrylic/enamel felt tip pens for drawing or painting. I use a fine tip water base acrylic paint pen to do my raised lettering in white. Most times I get a one coat coverage with little or no bleed over the raised letter. If I do, a trip to the sink or wet paper towel to wipe off and try, try again.

If an acrylic ink pen is unavailable you should be able to find any small bottle or jar of white/yellow acrylic water based paint. Use a toothpick, I usually sharpened mine to a finer point (before I started using the pen), dab a little onto the toothpick and go to lettering.

Acrylic water based paint will work better the enamel or other. With enamel or other the paint will react with the rubber tire and never dry/cure leaving the possibility of smearing/smudging and making a general mess. The acrylic will dry shortly after application and then you can "paint" the tire sidewall with a acrylic (water base) flat clear to tone down the tire/letter shine. It's worked for me and I hope this helps....Chuck

Edited by satterwhite78
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I always sharpened a toothpick, and dipped it in to a puddle of paint that I put in a testors paint cap that I use specifically for detailing, so I removed the cardboard seal at the top so its bare metal on the cap. Then I clean it out every time. But thats how I do it. I dip the sharpened toothpick in the paint, then wipe one side of it on the instruction sheet that way it doesnt glob on there. Had pretty good results with that.

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I've used the sharpened toothpick method too. In the last few years I simply buy aftermarket tire lettering decals and lay them on the flat side of the tire and mount that way. They paint on the tires never seem to dry to my liking.

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