How do you do tire treads?

[Sakrison]

I have GPM's Panhard armored car, and I want to build it.
Is there a way to do the tire treads that doesn't require placing all those %$#@! greeblies one by one?

[Texman]

Not without losing scale fidelity or visual acceptance
at that scale. AFAIK

[Sakrison]

I was afraid of that. I'll have to work on my obsessive-compulsive side.
(One greeblie, two greeblies, three greeblies . . . 495 greeblies!!)

[Siwi]

Depends what scale. On 72 and 48 scale aircraft tyres I can usually just carve it with a knife. Simple band treads as found on some WW2 German tyres can be made from copy paper strips. Maybe you could simplify the tyre tread here into a single strip that has the individual kobbles as printed detail?

[modelperry]

I was gifted this model several years ago and it had the laser cut set with it. This is the only way I know to make the tread blocks easy to deal with.

Greg

[twg48]

Do the following:

1. Figure out the width of the tire and the circumference. You can over size the circumference a bit when it comes time to fit you'll have some extra length

2. Make one set of treads on a flat surfece glued down to a peice of foam core. Fit a foam core frame around this to contain the silicon when it is poured. Make sure you make the frame high enough to enlcose the tread. Also tape around all exterior joints so the silcon doesn't leak out

3. Go to Ebay or Amazon and purchase RTV silicon molding compound. It is a 2 part medium that you mix together and it will vulcanize at room temperature overnight hence the name RTV ( room temperature vulcanize). VERY easy to use and no real items needed other than a measuring cup to ge the equal parts of silcon and hardener, some sort of mixing stick like a tongue depressor is perfect. No real oder either so no worries there.

4. When the silicon is set it will be very pliable yet firm. You can then fill itwith either epoxy resin ( it will be ridgid when hard but can be made pliable by dipping in boiling water for a few seconds too). You could also use paper mache also ridgid when dry but can me made pliable with a little water on the back side.

5. Create the tire out of whatever you are useing minus the "tread" then take the molded tire tread and simply glue it aroound the tire form. Just like buying an actual retread tire.

This may sound comlicated but it is very straight forward and you'll be surprised at just how easy it can be, and not nearly as tedious as cuting all those little tread pieces plus all four tires will be exactly the same too.

[John Wagenseil]

I have never done this, but this is a relatively inexpensive variation of twg48's suggestion, and also a low cost, low effort experiment.

Make one linear or unrolled tire. Perhaps you could make it by applying balsa wood diagonal strips to a long piece of balsa or foam board, and then groove the diagonal strips into bumps with a few passes with a grinding wheel on a Dremel (please wear eye protection).
Coat this master piece with floor wax or varnish. Glue handles to its back.
Push it into wet plaster of paris or Durhams Rock hard water putty (either one should be available at most hardware stores) and let the negative mold set.
Coat the negative mold with floor wax, varnish or some other release agent.
Press paper mache mash into the mold, let it dry, peel it off, paint the paper mache strip with dilute white glue, then wrap the nubbled paper mache strip around a wheel blank.
Basically the same process as above, but using water based materials that you might even have about the house, and which don't have a nasty smell.
You might even give making your own paper mache a try by putting water and newspaper or non glossy scrap paper along with a little white glue or starch into the kitchen blender or food processor , when your SO is not watching.
Results not guaranteed, but if it works your model will be an all paper model, and if it does not work your only cash outlay might be a few dollars for a small can of Water Putty or small bag of plaster of Paris, and some minor kitchen clean up.

[John Wagenseil]

Another suggestion is to make a short section of tire out of laminated paper and card stock/foam board, or carved wood, or Sculpey; and then use this as a stamp on clay, Sculpey or wet plaster to create the longer master mold for your tire strip.
Best Polymer Clay | For All Ages & Skill Level | Sculpey.com


( Maybe using a mold and Sculpey might also be a way of reducing some of the pain of making treads for a tank model. I have not done any of this myself, but perhaps someone adventurous can give it a try and let us know if it is a workable way of making repetitive assemblies.)

[Sakrison]

Great ideas! Thank you!