Unfortunately some of us don't live in the USA where it almost sounds like every shop has prenium HW's with Real Riders for a couple of dollars....the cheapest I have seen a Real Rider tired car is AU$9, and that's just too much to pay for just a set of wheels.

Today I was playing around to see what I could do to make the Mainline wheels more interesting, and came up with 2 things....

1. SAND THE SHINE OFF... I like this so much that I am going to do this to every set of Mainline wheels I use, basically, just use sandpaper to sand the shine off the tread part of the wheel, leaving the sidewall gloss, makes it look like a real slick tire.

http://thorftp.googlepages.com/mainline_wheels_Sanded.jpg

2. RUN THEM OVER A HOT FILE. heat up a file with a crosshatch pattern, I used a heatgun and it got the file hot enough to just soften the tire without totally melting it, so it left the file pattern marks on the tire. Take care to not overheat the file.

http://thorftp.googlepages.com/mainline_wheels_hotfile.jpg

Thorrr

(Mods... I would like to suggest a sub forum or a locked sticky with links to all the good tips and techniques posted by everyone would be a valuable addition to the forum)

Pretty cool Thorr. I have used the first method before but never even dreamed of your hot file application. Way to think outside the box. I will have to try that.

(Mods... I would like to suggest a sub forum or a locked sticky with links to all the good tips and techniques posted by everyone would be a valuable addition to the forum)[/QUOTE]

Thor,
You'll have to get in line to suggest that, a long long line. :wave:

Apparently there is some physical characteristic of the HT Customs Board that won't allow the addition of a Customs Library.

Seems easy enough but so far no Tips & Techniques Section and there are probably more here on HT than anywhere.

--CadillacPat the UnCustomizer--
Keeping the ZING in CustomiZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/CadillacPat/BulletProofWebcopy.jpg

WOW Pat... Good idea, I do that to the tires on my 1/24 scale models with a piece of sandpaper, but never thought to do it to the 1/64s... Thanks for the tip !!!

Hey Thorrr, cool idea!!! I'll give that a try. I'm making my own library. I just emailed this page to myself. Then saved it on my pc in my tips in tricks folder.

Actually guys, I am going to start archiving things like this to Hot World Customs. Pat and Gunn have a number of them out there and then we can keep literally everything in one spot. I will add a link to the top with a sticky. With the holiday in here, give me a little time to get this stuff rolled over - thanks guys!

i use a dremal with a sand barrel attachment. no need to remove wheels. fire up the dremal and touch tires at a 45 degree angle. slow speed or tires will melt on axle!
cool idea on the file. never thought about that one.

Leave it to our Aussie brother to find a simple yet effective solution. Absolutely brilliant, thanks for sharing. :)

OK, both look great, but the hot file idea is over the top! Super ides and thanks for sharing!

Looks great Thor!

Try giving it another light sanding over the crosshatch to smooth out any melted edges.