Tamiya 1/12 scale

Wow!!!   What is it with Tamiya's rubber?  I was going over models on the shelf that needed dusting, etc.  And what do I find?  Another 1/12th scale build turned into a real 'barnfind'.  The Jagermeister 934 Porsche with both rear tires flattened and rotting.






This isn't the first it happened either.  You may remember my Tyrell 6 wheel F1 car's tires.


And this is all that remains of the Martini Porsche 935 that I dashed against the ground when it's tires rotted.


Now granted, the wife was a smoker up until 15 years ago, but at that time the 934 was in good shape.  And since then we've even moved into a new home.  I'm not sure if I want to chance another 1/12th Tamiya kit again.  What do you have to do - enclose them in plastic and fill it with argon?

Has anyone else experienced this with their big scale kits?

Mike

The only 1/12 Tamiya I have Mike is my Brabham BT44 and it's only a couple of years old.

I remember you posting the Tyrrell tyres and they are well past it. But the Porsche tyres look perfect for a barn find. Have you thought of doing some work on the whole and turn it into just that.... a barn find.

As for the 934 engine, it looks perfect for a barn find. If you don't want it..... sling it my way. LOL

I think the Tamiya rubber is subject to heat and age-rot and other things, much like real rubber but faster. The tires on my 1/6 Harley are of a thicker grade but they show cracking and the start of some sag and this is despite the fact that they were in 'dry cool' storage for decades.

I like Al's suggestion of a barn find re-do (of course) but that's just my own bias towards non-showroom display builds.

The domestic (U.S.) model tires were usually thick vinyl. Occasionally, model companies issued styrene plastic ones we'd have to paint. I still remember white plastic "wrinkle slicks" I think came with the then cheap-o AMT AWB models (like the Nova "rat packer).
The Tamiyas, by contrast, were thin and soft, and I loved them. I guess it's no surprise they don't hold up so well. I'm afraid to dig out my beautiful 1/16th diorama of the "preying mantis" Revell (?) dragster model with similar soft rubber.

I was surprised to get an email from Tamiya-USA yesterday. I sent them the pictures shown here explaining the problem. They seemed to acknowledge it kind of saying "Well, the models are 30-40 years old". But they are going to replace them when they can get a set from the factory in Japan.

I'd rather they provided non-scale thickness rubber tires like other manufacturers than have them rot over the years.

I wonder if you put ArmorAll on them once a month and rotated the wheels occasionally if they would last longer?

If you let a real car just sit for years with no love, it would do the same... hence the "barn find" condition.