As most of you already know, I am in the process of designing custom tires for the OL. My line of tires, the brand if you will, is called Canthus (Latin for "tire").
I am working on several tire designs. The easiest one to produce I'm calling "Tracker." It's a Chevron pattern with thin treads like the WM/RTS, but the treads are closer together and not so rounded. The prototype to be used for making the mold is actually two tires cut in half and glued together, since the inside/back of the tires are open (no facing or sidewall).
I rough cut two to make a prototype and it fits great with the Racer rims. The fit is tighter than the Lego Racer tires, which will keep them on the wheel better. I plan on using my Dremel cutoff wheel to make the final prototype so I can get a nice clean cut to glue.
The Tracker measures 37.00 mm tall, 16.00 mm wide (1.46 x .63 for those who understand US measurements LOL)
I test-fitted one tire to see how it would look and all that. Looks awesome. The tires will rub when turning if using the shortest (Pajero) wheelbase. One notch longer should work, but if not, two will definitely work. They should look great with a Hummer body. I got one of those Revell snap Hummers, 1:24 or 1:25, and the tire fills the wheel well perfectly. The extra-wide tire makes the body look right on the OL too.
My next design is actually the first I started working on but will be more difficult to produce due to having to make a prototype from scratch. This process involved designed the tread pattern in CAD, having the treads reverse cut out of neoprene rubber, glueing the tread negative to solid backing material, sticking it in a mold base, casting the tire, and then making a mold from the tire prototype.
You can check out the mold base I have custom machined here.
I'm calling this tire "Aggressor." It measures 34.89 mm tall, 11.00 mm wide (1.46 x .63 US) and will fit perfectly on GPM wide OL rims. This means it will have the inner tire profile that GPM wides have, courtesy of the inserts I'm using in the mold base (as shown in the pictures at the link above...)
The Aggressor is patterned after the 1:10 scale Imex J-Hawgs I have on my E-Maxx, but the treads use straight lines to form the "J" rather than curved lines that the big tire has. I do not have a prototype, but from looking at the tread negatives, this tire will be very aggressive with lots of gripping ability.
I have a few other designs I'm working on, but these two tire will be my first offerings. No timeframe on production yet. Stay tuned to this thread for all updates.
COOl I can't wait to see the finished product
One day prototyping tires for your own use next the biggest aftermaket tire company for mini-z's. You never know.
Anyways keep up the good work.
Oh yeah if you need any other people to do the testing (wink wink) I'll gladly help. My back yard has a huge rock garden with overland sized boulders. Too bad I only have stock tires
I call first dibs
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There is one other person I've put first in line if I need testers. But you are #2 on the list now!
I'm excited about this venture, as my goal isn't simply to make tires for myself, but rather to offer them to my fellow OL enthusiasts. It would be awesome to see it turn into a full-fledged business!
whilke your process is a littel above my understanding, it is none the less impressive and i wish you the best of luck. i look forward to seeing waht you come up with.
Put us on your list of contacts ,if you decide to sell wholesale, contact us immediatley so we can stock them at our track.
Dean ... RC-crazy.com RC-Crazy.com
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