Tires of Yore

[HO RacePro]

Going back to the Paleoslotting epoch, I remember hearing about 'Fish Tires' and 'Graupners'. My leaky memory seems to indicate the 'Fish' in 'Fish Tires' was inspired by their smell. That same unreliable source mutters something about 'Graupners' being tires from Germany. (At least the name sounds Germanic.)

Can anybody come forward with interesting, useful, and perhaps amusing information regarding same? It would be really interesting to learn if either of them are still available.

Ed Bianchi

[Aptosc6]

Fish are Parma foam tires for 1/24th scale commercial track cars. They smell like 3 day old fish. There are other manufacturers as well. Some years back I found the correct fish foam at McMaster Carr so it is an industrial product adopted by Slot Racers "back in the day".

[docdoom]

do you recall what it was called. looking to redo some claassic 1\24 cars tires and in need just what you were talking about

[chrisguyw]

"Fish" tires were around well before Ken McDowell (Parma founder), started selling them, and variations still exist today.

Docdoom,........if you are looking to replace some of your classic 1/24 tires/wheels, PCH Hobbies has a good selection of sponge Doughnuts, and complete wheel and tire packages.
Depending on the age of your "classics", any of the current sponge tires will perform better than the original formulations.

[Aptosc6]

Tuna is what Parma called them. JK and others still make them.

[Mickey thumbs]

As I recall, Graupner or”German rubber” tires were foam model aircraft tires cut and sanded flat for use in slot cars.

[chrisguyw]

You are correct Mickey...!!.......both Graupner and Veco model airplane tires were used by slotters in the early 60's. Out of the box they had a "skin" on them, and it was only once glued and trued (actually just sanded down) that the "skin" was removed to expose the open cell sponge underneath. For the time, they worked great,...especially with a bit of wintergreen oil applied.

[docdoom]

do you recall what it was called. looking to redo some claassic 1\24 cars tires and in need just what you were talking about

[olskoolslotz]

I recall "Fish Tires" being made from Ufra rubber, there are search results out there on the web mentioning the same. I think that I still have a few unused Ufra and natural rubber donuts in the dungeon.

Graupner is a brand name, I think here we're talking about German Formula rubber tires. I still see plenty of vintage NOS Dynamic, Mila Miglia and K&B Pit Stop brand German Formula tires available out there. I think this might be a type of Buna-N nitrile rubber.