Bah..."melting" paint on UT rims

StygianMax · Mar 29, 2004

This past Saturday, I discovered my UT Opel Calibra is suffering from the "mushy rim syndrome". The paint is so soft that it's got a sticky feel to it. One of my McLarens (#40 EMI longtail) also has this issue so I dare not touch the rims any more.

Does anyone recall of sny solutions to this problem? :feedback

allanmodel · Mar 29, 2004

Haha....it's normal for all UT models :ranting

I've few of them having this problem too :nutkick

Guest · Mar 29, 2004

Felix,

Try painting the wheel in its current condition using the same color enamel paint. Maybe it will then harden up.

Roadtrip · Mar 30, 2004

DiecastX said:
Felix,

Try painting the wheel in its current condition using the same color enamel paint. Maybe it will then harden up.

I'm not entirely sure thats a very good idea. It may blister if you paint over a sticky surface.

Are they painted or molded/casted in the color?

StygianMax · Mar 30, 2004

Roadtrip said:
DiecastX said:

Felix,

Try painting the wheel in its current condition using the same color enamel paint. Maybe it will then harden up.

Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure thats a very good idea. It may blister if you paint over a sticky surface.

Are they painted or molded/casted in the color?

As far as I can tell, the wheels are molded, then painted. That blister thought came to my mind as well.

Guest · Mar 30, 2004

Enamel paint will blister on molded wheels.

Enamels will blister if there is a chemical agent sprayed on the wheel.

To be sure, just paint a patch and see what it does.

gafotes · Mar 31, 2004

I vote for sanding all the paint off of the rim (or just the face) and making it nice an smooth with some 2000 grti then repainting with a nice acrylic laquer. From my expierence enamel paint blows. It takes longer to dry, produces poorer finishes and cannot be polished to a high gloss. All good autopaints are laquers and I reccomend the autopaint you can buy from wal-mart, advance auto, etc. Of course finding a matching color will be difficult if you don't want to repaint the whole wheel.

StygianMax · Mar 31, 2004

gafotes said:
I vote for sanding all the paint off of the rim (or just the face) and making it nice an smooth with some 2000 grti then repainting with a nice acrylic laquer. From my expierence enamel paint blows. It takes longer to dry, produces poorer finishes and cannot be polished to a high gloss. All good autopaints are laquers and I reccomend the autopaint you can buy from wal-mart, advance auto, etc. Of course finding a matching color will be difficult if you don't want to repaint the whole wheel.

Thanks for that advice gafotes. :cheers Are there non-laquer acrylic paints vs. laquer acrylic?

MockingBird · Mar 31, 2004

i tihnk the problem wif repainting is that the decal on the wheel covers wld be gone

StygianMax · Mar 31, 2004

MockingBird said:
i tihnk the problem wif repainting is that the decal on the wheel covers wld be gone

On my #44 Opel "McDonalds" version, there are no decal on the wheels to worry about. The wheel itself is just painted silver.

Guest · Mar 31, 2004

Has the Opel been out on open display or in it's box? I find that if I take the UTs out of their boxes they are less likely to suffer from this problem. Not sure why that is.

gollum · Mar 31, 2004

TMD96 said:
Has the Opel been out on open display or in it's box? I find that if I take the UTs out of their boxes they are less likely to suffer from this problem. Not sure why that is.

I that case I think I better not touch my UTs, they have been their boxes for years. . . .

LUW · Mar 31, 2004

Ah crap!!!!!! :ranting :ranting :ranting :ranting :ranting :ranting
Just found out that it's happening to my #39 Gulf longtail.

scale18 · Mar 31, 2004

same story with my #40 EMI longtail - just don't touch it and that is it...

btw my friend here also has #40 EMI longtail and he has the same problem with rims too...

StygianMax · Mar 31, 2004

scale18 said:
same story with my #40 EMI longtail - just don't touch it and that is it...

btw my friend here also has #40 EMI longtail and he has the same problem with rims too...

Add my #40 to the list of casualties too. :crying For now, it's only on one wheel.

By the way, my Opel Calibra had been on display out of the box from the time I got it. Whether it was in the box for a long time before that, I can't say. :confused

McLaren F1 Guy · Mar 31, 2004

It's just melting? Like it's not in the sun or anything? Very very strange...

scale18 · Mar 31, 2004

StygianMax said:
scale18 said:

same story with my #40 EMI longtail - just don't touch it and that is it...

btw my friend here also has #40 EMI longtail and he has the same problem with rims too...

Click to expand...

Add my #40 to the list of casualties too. :crying For now, it's only on one wheel.

By the way, my Opel Calibra had been on display out of the box from the time I got it. Whether it was in the box for a long time before that, I can't say. :confused

i don't think that rim's melting depends on how you keep models - i guees that the problem is how well these rims were painted... :confused

Guest · Mar 31, 2004

here's a thought guys. not that I've tried this yet, but it sounds like a re-paint is required. I've been told by a freind(who I consider to be one of the best in the conversion bus) that removing paint from plastic is as easy as soaking the piece(s) in "Easy Off" oven cleaner, wash, prime and paint. I'm hoping to try and remove some paint this weekend so I'll let you know.

the hardest part for you guys is finding an exact match on the paint. for silver on the wheels, at least for my 333SP's, I use Tamiya's TS-17(aluminum silver).

http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/list/spray.htm

gollum · Mar 31, 2004

mwrmt said:
here's a thought guys. not that I've tried this yet, but it sounds like a re-paint is required. I've been told by a freind(who I consider to be one of the best in the conversion bus) that removing paint from plastic is as easy as soaking the piece(s) in "Easy Off" oven cleaner, wash, prime and paint. I'm hoping to try and remove some paint this weekend so I'll let you know.

the hardest part for you guys is finding an exact match on the paint. for silver on the wheels, at least for my 333SP's, I use Tamiya's TS-17(aluminum silver).

http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/list/spray.htm

Easy-Off works. . . I used it to remove many a botched paint job during my plastic model building days. Just spray on, leave it in a little tub to soak a bit. Then use a toothbrush to remove the paint.

You got to remove the wheel though. Don't want that stuff touching any other painted parts. . . and use gloves, that stuff can be caustic :cheers

LUW · Mar 31, 2004

scale18 said:
StygianMax said:

scale18 said:

same story with my #40 EMI longtail - just don't touch it and that is it...

btw my friend here also has #40 EMI longtail and he has the same problem with rims too...

Click to expand...

Add my #40 to the list of casualties too. :crying For now, it's only on one wheel.

By the way, my Opel Calibra had been on display out of the box from the time I got it. Whether it was in the box for a long time before that, I can't say. :confused

Click to expand...

i don't think that rim's melting depends on how you keep models - i guees that the problem is how well these rims were painted... :confused

My sentiments exactly.

Bah..."melting" paint on UT rims

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