ATOM Rubber and Tires colors Set

Tires are not black

The most common mistake on a finished vehicle model is right here: the rubber is painted in pure black and the wheel then looks like a hole in the picture. In daylight a real tire has a dark gray to gray-brown tone, because the soot-loaded compound fades and the surface is matte. The same goes for the rubber on bumper strips, hoses and on the tires of road wheels. On tracked vehicles those road wheel tires are the only soft element in an otherwise purely steel assembly.

The shades in the package follow that lead: the main color for rubber and tires, the dark gray of the German standard RAL 7021, a deep matte black to darken the gaps and a dust tone from the range that can be moistened and blended after it has dried.

The difference between a new and a worn wheel is visible too. A freshly fitted tire holds a deeper dark tone and carries traces of mold flash in its grooves, whereas after a few hundred kilometers the tread smooths out, lightens and the sidewalls take on a layer of spray from the road.

When to wash the dust off

That last property is what makes the job easy: the dust is applied over the whole wheel, left to set and then drawn off the tread and the raised areas with a damp brush, while it stays in the grooves and around the rim. If the result does not come off well, it can be removed completely with water and started again.

The dark gray is worth using on other parts of the vehicle too, on German equipment for example on the chassis and the undersides of the fenders. The same tone can also suggest the greasy grime around a gearbox.