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#430090 Resin mullings, wheels and tires in-progress...
Posted by Mike K. on Monday Apr 21, 2014 at 01:03PM
Greetings,

Just a short update of sorts. Below may be seen (fuzzily at that) my first 1:18th tire project in process. The GMP Trans-Am Goodyear rain tires, barely discernible for size front to rear, beg replacement. What was isolated was a set of 1:18 ERTL Cobra 427 S/C Goodyear Blue Streaks that seemed a bit wide, albeit affording promise with regards to the sidewall bulge, serrated detail nearest the transition nearest the tread, and not strictly hateful with regards to tread pattern. Judged unworkable and unwieldy to simply cut the vinyl and narrow each tire, two hard resin castings was taken of each tire, with the larger of each castings shorn of one and two tread 'ribs'. As for the other hard resin casting, these were employed to come up with a duplicate sidewall to mate to the now-narrower tire master(s).

Other stuff done includes removing the inner lip of the resultant masters (front and rear then) to allow for the fitting of the resin Minilites I'd worked up before. Note the difference between the peg-like spokes of the original tool (see the yellow-painted rims nearest you as you peruse the image) and the soft contour of the white resin spokes witnessed on the rearmost example. The GMP wheels never featured much of a taper on the outer rim, hence these had been replaced before with modified 1:18 ERTL Trans Am Firebird 'stamped steel' Rallye II's outer rims cut clear of the inner rim of the old ERTL tool. Happily the ERTL tool has an additional lip that works well to reproduce a '69 and earlier Minilite, whereas the same additional lip can easily be sanded retaining the underlying taper detail to accurately reproduce a '70 and later Minilite.

In addition, the strangely slanted and more or less contemporary 'GOODYEAR' identification on the tires (the characters of the same leaning first to the left, then straight, then to the right - UGH!) have been removed in anticipation of applying markings from IndyCals. The material sample pucks telegraph to the reader what choices exist concerning the relative hardness but also softness compound I can employ or specify, whereas I expect these to come out pretty well. The last image is a bit older now, but communicates the effort underway to isolate better parts and subassemblies for possible casting, modification and scratchbuilding as necessary. Matters are coming along. Thanks for the kind interest displayed thus far.

Mike K.







M.K.

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