Tamiya Humvee and LAV wheels

Years ago, there were problems with styrene and certain types of vinyl being chemically incompatible--early Airfix tank kits were dubbed "rot-a-tracks" for this reason. Italeri military truck kits sometimes had this problem in the 1970's, though it didn't affect all batches--the plastics in my own kits didn't react badly with each other (if you suspect a reaction may occur, you can wrap the styrene tire rim with Bare Metal foil to provide a chemical barrier between it and the vinyl tire). In any case, these reactions took quite a long time to occur, and the Tamiya kits you mention are virtually brand new. Did you paint or apply a wash to the rubber portions? If the soft plastic in the tires is similar to the stuff Tamiya uses in their newer tank tracks, it is destroyed by enamel thinner or white spirit paint thinners. It hardens and crumbles in a few days. The plastic in these tracks must be painted with acrylics only. There are aftermarket resin wheels for the Humvee (do a search on any large online retailer, like Squadron, Modelmecca or Great Models). Haven't seen any for the Japanese LAV armored car, though. You can try to get replacement parts from Tamiya, or just buy the Tamiya parts online through Rainbow Ten. Gerald Owens

Thanks for the reply, no I only use tamiya paints and Mig pigments. I'll try and get replacement parts.