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[Baldrick]

   
    Does anyone have a good way of weathering lorry tyre fenders . Sixteen brand new lorry donuts hanging on the bulwark looks pants.

[Howard]

Hi Baldrick,
 First I would say is never use black at the most a dark gray  with  more shades of gray odd touches of pale green and brown looking at photos of tugs would give you more info.
          Regards Howard.

[ballastanksian]

Many but not all tyre fenders are old tyres obtained by the ship's crew for the sole purpose of protecting their questionable paintwork :)


Looking at old tyres I notice they have the cracked surfaces from being exposed to brine and sunlight and that sometimes they have the green of moss on them and sometimes, if near rusting metal they will have the oxide stains. The latter can also occasionally have an odd shiny rea with a rainbow effect like oil on water.


So, if possible, I would take rough abrasive paper and scuff the surface on the sidewalls and other areas if very old tyres are desired to recreate the cracked surface. Then paint the tyre a dark grey, as while old and crusty, they are still rubber. You can add a thin wash to accentuate the cracking and then once dry you can dry brush parts with lighter grey (start dark and work lighter until you are happy with the lightness) Green can be drybrushed on in places as can any rust. The green algae will form in horizontal lines where it is immersed in the water for any time as found on bouys etc.


I looked up some images and found these:


Algae on tyres.


https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=0D887516C7ADE974E58FE2D36723AC5144960EFA&thid=OIP.juXHVGfsA_OQEizesu-B7wHaFc&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthumbs.dreamstime.com%2Fz%2Fbumpers-tire-old-tires-used-as-fenders-43688738.jpg&exph=957&expw=1300&q=tyre+fenders+on+boats&selectedindex=61&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6


Rust stains


https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=5AC4F097B63FE19911671FEDE1658D1787EC3283&thid=OIP.69pz_QdglaiO65I5je2fJgAAAA&
mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.australialisted.com%2Fnssmall%2Fmarine_tyre_fenders_21164337.jpg&exph=150&
expw=250&q=tyre+fenders+on+boats&selectedindex=137&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6


They will look lighter when dry and/or when it is sunny, think country lanes for the differing shades of grey!


Hope this helps.

[RST]

I ran out of tyres for my pilot boat the other week and ordered another 10 from cornwall model boats thinking they were the same caldercraft ones.  I got a pack of different ones this time, weathered, soft rubber with beautiful tyre tread!  After splitting up my others, and using these new "more realistic" ones -I then found another 3 packs of the original slightly shiny ones "what I always find usual ones" in my spares box!  Typical!!!

...One thing I would say though is if you have that slightly shiny type about 25-35mm diameter, I don't think paint works.  Sure I've tried it before and oil based paint ends up perpetually soft after!  I've still had sticky paint for 4/5 years after.

If it were me, I'd get a dark grey - rough, scotchbrite pad and thouroughy abrade each tyre.  It would probably only take a few mins each tyre.  It should have the desired effect.  You should be able to get scotchbrite from somewhere on-line if you can't get to a local industrial counter.  They're about 20p each or summit.

Rich

[malcolmfrary]

Holiday snap of tug/workboat coming home after a shift.  Note the variety and condition of the tyre fenders.