Back in April, I made up an old whitemetal kit for a Ford van. At the time I expresses suprise at the inclusion of rubber tyres. It's not a feature I've seen before in kits and seemed a bit pointless.
How right I was. In the few months since I made the model up, the tyres have given up the ghost. Being stretched over the wheel rims obviously was too much for them. Presumably temperature changes stressed the material too much and it snapped.
All is not lost though. I'd always planned this model as a semi-derelict item parked up on the railway somewhere and abandoned. The dereliction just needs to be emphasised a bit more now. Plenty of long grass growing up around the axles should make a battered tyres look a lot better. I'll try and tuck the breaks behind the wheels - real tyre don't snap like this but they do deflate and come off the rim if the vehicle is dragged around. Some extra dirt and rust and I think it will still look good.
Besides, I can't bear to throw it away now. Other modellers would never forgive me.
Rubber tyres like the ones here used to be a feature of bus kits - often accompanied by rather unrealistic turned hubs. It meant your carefully assembled kit could be moved up and down the road just like a toy - why you'd want to do this I'm not sure, after all if that's all you wanted, you'd have bought a toy instead, wouldn't you?
ReplyDelete