Plastic eating Revell tyres?

Came across a strange phenomena the other day and was wondering if anybody had the same thing happen to them.

Bought a Revell Jaguar XKSS kit over Christmas. Upon getting home I gave it the usual once over, including removing one of the rims from the sprue and fitting it to the tyre to see how it looked. The rim what chromed so when I trimmed the sprue back it left bare plastic exposed.

Now, a few month later, I opened the box back up again (to see if it is possible to convert to a short nose customer D-Type) and noticed a whitish liquid around the edge of the assembled rim and tyre. Closer inspection showed the exposed plastic was now liquified! The only areas affected were those where the chrome was trimmed back and was in contact with the tyres.

I was planning to strip the chrome off anyway, so the affected areas can easily be repaired. Guess I'd better prime and paint the wheels well so it doesn't happen again. In the end no lasting damage done, just wierd. Something to watch out for when storing Revell kits?

In have seen this happen a million times. its a chemical reaction. which melts the tires. it happened alot on old 1960's Vintage AMT and MPC kits. and still happens every once in a while today

ep, it's a well-known phonomenon whenthe manufacturer uses incompatible materials for rims and for tyres. Most of the time it's plastic rims that get damaged from the chemical reaction, btw. You're right, putting a coat of paint/primer between the two usually prevents this from happening.

yeah ive had this happen to me...but it unfortuneately ate thru the paint and the primer and pretty much f**ked the model.

It is always a good idea when you open up a new kit to put the tires in a separate bag. I have seen kits that the tires even left marks on decal sheets. It usually tires that are mostly vinyl that are a problem. Tamiya's tires are synthetic rubber and have never been a problem. The type that will cause problems are usually shiny and have an oily feel to them.