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DeadMeat666

Flat spots on RC tires

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After having seen many people's collections, and having been reminded of this curiosity when I saw the thread of "show us where you work on RC" or something similar, I have a question:

How do people display all their finished RC cars on shelves, sitting on their wheels for extended periods of time? All my RCs are on little stands because I'm petrified that the tires will develop flat spots (happened to one car, so I learned my lesson).

For those of you who display your cars/buggies/trucks on their tires, do you go around rotating ALL of them on a regular basis? Do you only put them on their tires for the photo and place them back up on stands/boxes?

I'm curious.

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If Tamiya produces an anti-gravity RC car hovering display device, I will definitely buy a few (each will have to cost less than 19.99 including tax). :P

Until then, I always keep my cars raised by one of the Futaba plastic boxes where their receivers are packaged. They fit nicely under the belly, lift the cars just the right amount and are hardly noticeable.

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The lids of Tamiya spray cans can be used to keep the cars raised.

I’m mainly using some old IKEA boxes…

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When I had mine out on display, I used to put them on food storage boxes, the kind you get with a take-away Chinese. I think I bought them in Wilkinsons or somewhere like that, about £3 for 3. The other bonus is you can use the boxes to store spares!

 

 

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@OoALEJOoO, @kiasukid, @lupogtiboy thanks for the tips.

My original question was not what to use, but how some people do NOT seem to use any stands or boxes for their (sometimes many) kits when displaying them.

How do they manage to not damage all their tires?

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TBH it was thanks to this site that I eventually got round to raising them off the shelves, I had a lot of tyres that split and used to wonder why. Maybe these people are just lucky or have the right conditions in their hobby rooms, or they are OCD about rotating the tyres on a regular basis? For the small outlay of plastic boxes/lids etc... to the cost of replacement tyres (especially on a Clod!), it's a no-brainer!

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I even raise my static models...

...some of the tire materials in old mpc and amt kits go beyond getting flat but actually creep under load. Over a few years, you end up with a tire that looks the way silly putty does after a few hours. The load also seems to affect the plastic they are in contact with.

Switching back to RC, some types of tire rubber, like Blitzer Beetle's rears, seem to dissolve wood lacquer. I had them sitting on a nice wooden cabinet for 2 days and the lacquer was dissolved, turned to goo underneath the tire, leaving a mark. The tire was intact. Have had some static model tires do the same to acrylic cases.

39 minutes ago, DeadMeat666 said:

My original question was not what to use, but how some people do NOT seem to use any stands or boxes for their (sometimes many) kits when displaying them.

How do they manage to not damage all their tires?

Are you positive they are indeed not damaging the tires, or maybe they just don't know they are? :o I am curious as well, maybe they know something we don't :)

The cost & effort of raising them is so trivial, it's not worth the risk.

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I use worn tires and wheels as supports for my RCs; a pair under the chassis is just enough to keep the tires off the shelf.  Spray paint caps are useful, too.

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2 hours ago, kiasukid said:

The lids of Tamiya spray cans can be used to keep the cars raised.

Fantastic idea to reuse plastic for longer-term use.

I've used the spray caps as a poor-man's drift tire before. Drill a hole as close to the center as possible, fit the cap top against the hex and tighten the wheel nut hard. The friction with the wheel nut is sufficient given the low traction the caps have, especially on a fairly smooth floor. Good for some laughs fooling around with the car :)

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@DeadMeat666 I'm a bit late to the party as I did not see this thread..On my M38's I made stands so that the weight of the car is off the tires, but in a way they aren't obvious and the cars appear as if they are on the ground.

For my other cars I made stands out of wooden blocks with foam sheet shaped to the bottom of the car's belly.. and for my GF01's I use WR02 tires I no longer use. They not only look good, they shape to the bottom of the non-flat chassis well.  

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With my main RC obsession being monster trucks, flat tires are a very real (and expensive) concern.  For every vehicle I complete I build a very simple stand that keeps it off the ground using 1x3 or 1x4 scrap lumber with 2x3 or 2x4 middle sections.  Basically just keeps the suspension loaded and tires off the ground to avoid any issues.  Definitley worth the few minutes and low cost it takes to build them.  For smaller buggies I typically hang them by the bumper if they have one, saves me from having to build a span and taking up valuable shelf space.

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3 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Impressive collection/stable, @87lc2!!

Thanks Willy!  Just trying to catch up to you...

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On 10/25/2021 at 3:25 AM, DeadMeat666 said:

(happened to one car, so I learned my lesson)

I think that happens to everybody... eventually.

Even tanks are kept on stands!  Though I doubt that any of these steel wheels would go flat...

6KO5p84.png
 

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