aircraft tire color?

[tdpatt]

Last night i was looking over an Eduard 1/72 scale DR1 that i just received,and i noticed in the instructions for the wheel mask a note which said never paint the tires black.It went on to say that ww1 tire were never black,they were tans or grays.Ithought this was very interesting,and something i'd never thought about.So here i go again asking more questions.Was there a predominate color for tires?Was the statement in the instructions even correct?

[silverback]

Vulcanized natural rubber is a semi-transluscent tan color with a distinctly pinkish hue. Under sunlight, this degenerates to a darker yellow tan (see an art gum eraser), a dusty yellow gray, then ultimately crumbles into gray powder. For tyres, various amounts of carbon black and/or zink oxide white were added to counter the effects of sunlight. Since weight is not the aircraft's friend, these (heavy) pigments were used sparingly.
So, WWI aircraft tyres could be any shade from pinkish tan to a dark yellowish gray, pretty much depending on nationality, manufacturer and date.

Phil

[tdpatt]

Thank you for the response,i guess i've got alot of repainting to do!Its funny i never really thought about it before,always painted them black without thinking.Thanks again

[RED BARON RETURNS]

Yes i have heard the same as silverback was saying...All of my Dr.1's models have a light dirty grey look to them.
JP