# Anyone make a tire wall?



## moondoggy (Feb 9, 2009)

what'd ya use?
I was looking to make a tire wall/barrier in a few spots.
i figured i could use some foam tubing... shrink wrap, even plastic tubing.
i walked through HDepot, not finding anything.

i found online some guy who used painted lifesavers for larger scale cars..came out cool) but for HO/AFX I'm not finding any info.

suggestions?


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## mmheyho (Jan 3, 2008)

*Seen on hobby talk*

I once saw a member make a tire wall out of _Cheerios_ or some other 
type of breakfast cereal. They looked good as I recall. I apologize to the 
exact member for not remembering his name. But the particular way he stacked the "tires" had alot to do with why they looked so good. 

Mike


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Make a functioning tire wall!!!!

Try some appropriatly sized fuel hose or vacuum line from the auto parts store. For realism chuck it into your cordless drill and spin it on some 80 grit to weather the outer surface. Slice it up like beenie weenies with a fresh blade. Age them once installed with some dullcoat or a flat wash.


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## Ligier Runner (Nov 29, 2004)

Just throwing another idea out there...

Couldn't you just take some old used spongie tires from old AFX cars, glue them together in whatever configuration one preferred, wrap that in tool material and spray paint the whole assembly flat black? I've seen many tire barriers wrapped in some kind of netting so they don't scatter upon any impact.


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## moondoggy (Feb 9, 2009)

mmheyyo- cheerio's.. thats awesome.

Ligier- I dont have any old spare tires.. saw that link about ____ (maybe wild) jack guy used to sell bulk old mistakes but i cant find his ebay store.
and making is always better then paying... esp since i'd want a lot.

Bill Hall -"fuel hose or vacuum line from the auto parts store" damn it man... good idea.
gotta try the auto parts store.


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## yankee_3b (Dec 14, 2008)

Ligier Runner said:


> Just throwing another idea out there...
> 
> Couldn't you just take some old used spongie tires from old AFX cars, glue them together in whatever configuration one preferred, wrap that in tool material and spray paint the whole assembly flat black? I've seen many tire barriers wrapped in some kind of netting so they don't scatter upon any impact.


That's what I did. They look good, but it can get very expensive replacing those tires trying to get enough tires for your tire-wall especially if you use them throughout your layout like they do at Watkins Glen. I only used them in a small area (see pic) Maybe someone out there has a bunch of old rear tires they want to get rid of and you can pick them at a reasonable price. Since you are planning to cover them with netting which will hide the tires somewhat, you could fabricate your tires using other materials and place a spongie on the top of each tire column to give it a real tire look. Just a thought?


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## airdave (Feb 4, 2009)

many "tire walls" are now wrapped in plastic.

because the tires are ugly, and various types, colours, etc.
clean white barriers look better.
and it keeps the tires in place better.

so find the right size rubber tubing, cut multiple donuts (for your tires),
stack 'em, glue'em 
and then heat-shrink wrap in a plastic wrapping (hopefully a white plastic).

if you are careful, you could use imprinted plastic (with logos, slogans, etc)
and carefully position the shrink wrapping to show the logos.


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

*Beads*

The picture shows test stacks made from two kinds of wooden beads I got from Hobby Lobby last week with just this use in mind. Since I don't have a layout up most of the time, it's back to working on small bits to use on the next temporary track I build. 

Included for scale are an AFX and a T-jet car with 1:72 (left) and 1:87 (HO) figures.

The top tire in each stack is drilled out for a larger center hole - you should resist the urge to hold them in your fingers while you do this. The tires are painted dark grey with craft acrylic paints. 

The beads are cheap - somewhere around 1.50 a package of 40 or so. And every couple of weeks, Hobby Lobby runs a special on some kind of beads at 30-50% off. Check the HL weekly specials page. Note that 40 beads only builds ten stacks of 4 tires, so once you decide which ones you want, stock up on them. You can't count on that style still being there in a year or even a month.

I'll have to try Bill's idea about winding coils of black tubing or insulated wire and cutting them. That's pretty neat.

-- D


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

I built a tire wall out of extra tires I had laying around. The fuel line/vacuum tubing idea would work well too, as Bill pointed out. To build the wall I actually drove some thin wire nails into the table and then stacked the tires on top of the nail. I then filled the inside hole of the stack with paintable caulk. When it dried I painted the exposed caulk black. These have stood up to some pretty good hits but they still have a little give so your bodies don't take too bad of a beating. 

For something softer, you could use a round foam tubing. McMaster-Carr sells this in a variety of diameters. Do a search for "EPDM Foam Tubing" to see all the different sizes. The item number 4339T11 looks to be about the right size. It's around $6.00 for six feet, which would make a lot of tires. You could paint the whole tube ahead of time, say one third black, one third red, and one third white (or any other color scheme) before cutting it up with an Xacto or razor knife. Then you could build stacks with alternating colors. After the wall is built you just need to touch up the exposed areas. You can then use whatever method you want to form the walls, whether the nail trick that I used or something a bit more resilient, like plastic tubing or a fine spring steel, to hold the stacks together. If you wanted to get really fancy and have a curved wall as a unit, you could cut a piece of 1/8" hardboard or luan in the shape you want, drill some evenly spaced holes along the shape (spaced at the proper distance), push some wire nails up through the holes in bottom of the shape, and glue stacked "tires" on the nails. If you used a curved track piece as a template for the shape (or form) it would be a nice little modular addition to your track. You could build these at the workbench.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

The cheerios was me. At the old Laguna Seca I had some that I had dipped in black primer. I used white glue to put them together, then painted them. It looked great, they were pretty durable but some of them crumbled when hit pretty hard. I found that the generic cereal worked best. 




























Later we made a casting of the tires in plaster and began making black RTV molds from it. We did that for a while before the molds broke. It was messy at first until we learned to use Vasoline as a release agent.


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## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

nice layout there pete!what track is it modelled after?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Slot, that's the original layout for Laguna Seca, I modeled mine for about the mid 1960's. There was an 11" elevation change, through the cork screw there was about 5" of very rapid downhill. It proved very hard to drive, too hard for some who accused me of cheating because I won just about every race held there. We raced T-Jets mostly but also had one aborted series with Tomy Turbo's. 

Unfortunately the track only existed for 2 1/2 months, one month of that was it's construction. It was 6'X6' and wouldn't fit into my spare bedroom even though it was designed to make it through the doorway. I missed by about 3" making the corner. It also weighed more than 100 lbs, about 25 lbs more than I had planned.


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## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

sorry to hear it!looks like a fun course!


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

I think I'll go with the beads. Since I'm planning for tirewalls only on the _inside_ of curves, the shock absorbing feature doesn't seem important.

On Hobbylobby.com's Weekly Specials page, I discovered the beads are on sale for 50% off until tomorrow (Saturday). So a pack of 40 beads is $1 instead of $1.99. I stocked up on TRADITIONS BEADS *12*4mm Wafer Beads* and *10*5mm Wooden Beads*. 

My store had Wafer Beads in two color mixes, Earth Multi, and Fashion Multi. I like Earth Multi - the offwhite beads could be used as white tirewalls without painting, and the dark browns as unpainted tirewalls (maybe). The Fashion Multi is all bright colors that need painting. 

The 5mm beads are smaller diameter and thicker, like Tjet drag slicks might be. they come in only Dark Brown.

I built test stacks of three tires - see the pictures. The first two are the 4mm Wafer Beads. They're clearly too large for Tjets, but I doubt many people would mind or even notice unless the car is parked right next to them for a photo. They look okay with AFX and larger cars. The last picture shows the 5mm beads, with a Tjet for comparison. Good diameter, but I wish they were thinner.

I drill out the center hole to a larger size on 1/3 of the beads. Then I stack two normal beads and top the stack with an overdrilled bead, and glue with Aleen's Tacky Glue (a thickened white glue). For painting, I prime with flat white Krylon and paint with cheap craft acrylics (Ceramcoat 203o Ivory Opaque is a good match for the off-white wafer beads). 

Since my layouts are all temporary I'll probably glue the stacks together in pairs (one white one colored) for easy placement and takedown. I discovered it takes 9 stacks to do the inside of one 6"R 1/4-circle track piece, 19 stacks (almost a pack and a half of beads) to do the _inside_ of one 9"R 1/4-circle track piece, - and thats the larger wafer beads. To do the outside of a 9"R with an apron would take a _heck_ of a lot of beads (o-rings, tubing slices, Cheerios, or whatever). So stock up; I think I'll go back and buy them out. 

The Cheerios are suddenly starting to sound good ...

-- D


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## Mexkilbee (Apr 17, 2008)

I have never done it, but I think a fast way would be the right size (Dia.) of wood dowel or plastic dowel. Instead of slicing them off for individual tires you could carve a groove deep enough to simulate the different tires in a stack. Most dowels are 36" long, that would give you 9 "Stacks" of tires 4" tall. You could very the hieghts, and slice a few tires off the throw around. The bad part as mentioned earlier would be that they would not be soft like individual tires.


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

Mexkilbee said:


> ... a fast way would be the right size (Dia.) of wood dowel or plastic dowel ... you could carve a groove deep enough to simulate the different tires in a stack. ... The bad part as mentioned earlier would be that they would not be soft like individual tires.


I tried this method semi-freehand with a dowel in an electric drill, using a triangular file as a cutting tool, but it looked bad. I may have to dig into storage for my old first-generation Unimat, and try it on Plastruct tubing. Actually, with a lathe and a reeeeely sharp, properly-angled tool, you _might_ be able to turn grooves in the rubber tubing - if you stiffened it first with a dowel that snugly fits the inside diameter of the tubing.

-- D


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

They look really good D-slot!! Don't think of them as car tires... think of them as truck tires and then they're the perfect size!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## oddrods (Feb 6, 2007)

Dslot said:


> I tried this method semi-freehand with a dowel in an electric drill, using a triangular file as a cutting tool, but it looked bad. I may have to dig into storage for my old first-generation Unimat, and try it on Plastruct tubing. Actually, with a lathe and a reeeeely sharp, properly-angled tool, you _might_ be able to turn grooves in the rubber tubing - if you stiffened it first with a dowel that snugly fits the inside diameter of the tubing.
> 
> -- D


Owning a Unimat myself I can tell you that you wont be able to turn soft rubber no matter how sharp the tool. you could howeever grind or sand the rubber with little problems. Rob


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## Tycoarm (Jan 7, 2006)

Here's the tire walls I made a couple of years back for my 1/32 setup.

I started with some wooden dowel. Next I made some cuts into the dowel to give it the stacked tire look. 









I then cut them into smaller stacks.










Next up on the drill press I used a hole bit to remove some material from the top of the stack.









I then used the bench grinder to round out the cuts for a more realistic look.









here they are before paint.









The finished product.


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## T-jetjim (Sep 12, 2005)

Great work Tycoarm. The finished product is outstanding.

Jim


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## SCJ (Jul 15, 1999)

We use a drywall screw and old slot car tires....the screw looks like a mag wheel and the old tires are free! Not to mention the screw holds them in place so they don't go flying when the inevitable hit comes.

-------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com


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## redwog (Jan 3, 2004)

Hey guys Bill Hall had the right idea as usual! I too have used vacuum hose cut with a utility balde they look Great and you can stack them in any confrigution you want. Homer Stillwell - in Atlanta used this type of wall on his road course about 8 years ago Still Looks Great! The tubing is cheap, can be painted, glued and the wall will be somewhat soft! I like AfxTOO's Idea about securing them to the track. All my landscaping is 'blue board foam' so anytime I can use a pin to secure something I like it!


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## Dyno (Jan 26, 2009)

I recently built a tire wall with about 75 spare tires I got from a friend. I actually made it modular. I made a base out of 1/4 inch foam board with an elevated rumblestrip painted red and white. I have it elevated to act as a small curb, then there is a gap, that I am planning to fill with sand and make a sand trap that I will try to seal with some stuff that I found at the hobby shop. I then built a curved tire wall beyond that. I just glued the tires to the board and stacked to the height that I wanted. I staggered the tires on top of each other. I made the section modular so that if I didnt like it, I can easily remove it and just put in a guard rail or wall or something. I really like the tubing idea however, and might use it to make some more walls.:thumbsup:


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## weirdjack (Apr 11, 2007)

> I dont have any old spare tires.. saw that link about ____ (maybe wild) jack guy used to sell bulk old mistakes but i cant find his ebay store.


You may be referring to that "weirdjack" guy and the Bag-O-Blems? 
Cheerios, sliced rubber tubing, etc.....all good inexpensive ways to get the basic tire stack look. 
Silicone hay bales help keep cars safe also.

Weird Jack
http://www.weirdjack.com


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## moondoggy (Feb 9, 2009)

weirdjack said:


> You may be referring to that "weirdjack" guy and the Bag-O-Blems?
> Cheerios, sliced rubber tubing, etc.....all good inexpensive ways to get the basic tire stack look.
> Silicone hay bales help keep cars safe also.
> 
> ...


YES!.. sorry man.....been reading soo much here, hopeing something sticks.
awesome ideas all.... love the options, love the pics.. mine will come in time... still waiting for spackle to dry.


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## weirdjack (Apr 11, 2007)

moondoggy said:


> still waiting for spackle to dry.


Years ago I learned a technique called "rubber rocks" from a model railroading scenery book (called something like _222 Scenery Techniques_). I adapted the concept to be used all the terrain, instead of plaster. 
Layout hills, rocks, and such are formed of foam rubber coated with a thin layer of latex caulking (worked in by hand). The caulking coated foam is very slot car friendly. Then you just finish off the caulking as you would plaster...with ground foam grass, paint washes, etc. I use gray caulking with acrylic paint washes for rocks and cliff faces, brown caulking for dirt & grassy areas. 
So essentially, the whole layout is coated in rubber. It matches the room they keep me in.
Weird Jack


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

Hey Jack... Any pics?? nd


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## weirdjack (Apr 11, 2007)

tjd241 said:


> Hey Jack... Any pics?? nd


Sorry. I used to have a step-by-step with photos of this process on my website...but that was four URLs, 3 computers, and several years ago. I can't find the photos now. I'll be doing it all again soon though and will take shots of the process.
Now that we are permanently settled and I'm tired of a temporary tire testing track, I am designing the new layout. As it gets built, it will get the caulking landscaping technique done to it. I'll try to document the process.
Jack


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

> _Weird Jack sez_:
> Silicone hay bales help keep cars safe also.


Hey, Jack,
I got some of your silicone hay bales a while back when I ordered tires from you. Have you considered making silicone tire-walls? You could do a flexible strip of tire-stacks, say 9" long, and also a piece consisting of just a single pair of stacks for tight curves where bending the long strip might distort the circular shape of the tire stacks. And I guess a single stack of tires for pits or odd locations might be a good idea. Available in black, off-white, and red, with other colors by special order, maybe?

As long as we're brainstorming, how 'bout a strip of those white half-buried vertical tires that local tracks used to put along the pavement edges?

Thanks for the great service on the order, by the way.:wave:

-- D


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## weirdjack (Apr 11, 2007)

Dslot said:


> Have you considered making silicone tire-walls? You could do a flexible strip of tire-stacks


Yep.....I considered it for 1/32 scale first. I was going to produce a sort of mat of "tire facings" which could be placed against a wall or embankment. It's just one of those "never got around to it" sorta things. The same reason I no longer offer over 200 types of 1/32 & 1/24 tires and why I limit what HO stuff I do offer....there just are not enough hours in the day for everything I would like to do. 




Dslot said:


> As long as we're brainstorming, how 'bout a strip of those white half-buried vertical tires that local tracks used to put along the pavement edges?


Actually, those ARE on my list to do. I'm about to begin construction on the new layout. It will be set in 1967 and will have buried white "half-tires". I'm just not sure whether they will be resin or silicone though.




Dslot said:


> Thanks for the great service on the order, by the way.


You are most welcome....THANK YOU for the support! 
Jack


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

weirdjack said:


> It will be set in 1967 and will have buried white "half-tires".  Jack


...

Been saving up old hard and crispy hot rod tires for a stretch of road like this myself. nd


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