70 replies to this topic

[Phil Smith]

I have a thing for Candies tires. There were two things I drooled over in the counter at the track when I was very young. One was the Russkit Black Widow they had, and the other was swirl Candies.

 

So I watch for them on eBay. Most are not very uniform and don't look all that great. This pair was was pretty darn nice! And I wanted them! But my bid didn't even come close. $38 plus tax for a used pair. Yikes!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353082110202

[Martin]

I like them, too.

 

At one point I thought I could collect one of every color. That was never going to happen, just too many variations.

Have not looked for any for some time. I have enough colors, not so many swirls. They are probably rarer I guess.

 

Would be fun to make a display at some point.

[Dave Crevie]

Very popular just before I quit slot racing. I stuck with black AJ's, I like my tires to look like tires. 

[Allan Feldman]

Last year at one of the slot car fairs I attended got some blue swirls and solid red pair I think they were £8 a pair. Funnily enough when I "raced" in the early 1970s I bought a pair and they were grey. I still have them. I think I picked up a white pair and green swirls. I still like them for their colours Silicone Slicks.

 

Stay safe,

 

Allan

[Martin]

I do remember using grey silicones on my Dynamic Ferrari while driving at Hammersmith and Hounslow.

 

They worked great as long as you pitted every few laps to clean them.

[Phil Smith]

I have some solid color ones. They're nice but the swirls are tha bomb to me. 

 

I do have one pair. I bought them off eBay new in the tube. I couldn't tell what they looked like. Turned out to a be nicely-mixed pair. I'll try to find them and post a pic.

[Martin]

Laid out my collection to add a little color to this subject.

 

[SpeedyNH]

Sweet! I ran them briefly in the middle '60s (reds, I think?) They must be around somewhere), but i remember that i only got a couple months out of them before spongies took over for good.

 

Man, were those things hard, but if you got a good set they rocked. Then they also became too large in diameter. 

[Phil Smith]

Laid out my collection to add a little color to this subject.

 

Wow! I am in awe. I bow to the Candies King!

[Rotorranch]

I love the yellow and black tiger stripes.

 

Rotor

[Phil Smith]

Me, too. I think that's the best pair I've ever seen. By far.

[Martin]

For your viewing pleasure.

 

[Phil Smith]

I didn't know some of them came with aluminum hubs. Your best pair has them.

[don.siegel]

Yep, very surprising to me too. Are those original Martin? 

 

The tires are great, even 50 years later, but the plastic hubs don't always stay locked very well - had that sad experience during a big race! 

 

Don 

[Allan Feldman]

Martin, I like the orange blue ones. My green ones are white and green swirls.

 

Allan

[bradblohm]

The ones with the metal hubs aren't Candies, they are Twinn-K "Twinkies."

 

[Phil Smith]

Very cool! I wasn't aware of them. Is that a photo you found or do you own those, Brad?

[Martin]

Guys, I was just about to show an add for AJ's Twinkies, The ad is in the Technical Journal MCR, page 175.

[bradblohm]

That card is mine. I got it a few years ago at the Midwest Slot Car Swap Meet in Highland, IN. I had to pay a bit, but I couldn't pass it up. I keep looking for a mint packaged pair that doesn't match the 5 on the card.  I need to find that black/yellow swirl pair, but not many around I'm afraid!

 

I have an extra blue/white swirl mint carded I could trade for black/yellow, or another pair that doesn't match?!?

[Jesse Gonzales]

Hi all, as I raced in the Phoenix area in the early 60's all the tracks were either American Racing, Miniature GP, Revell etc. all I ever saw was cut down german rubber foam or cut thong tires until Tiny's showed up. Never saw sillies, what kind of tracks were you running these on? I did try coating some old vecco foam tires with ge silicone seal to see if they showed any promise but zip. curious why so many of these were midwest or east coast tires that you all have good memories of.

 

Jess Gonzales

[bradblohm]

I don't think they were ever used for racing as they are too heavy (rotational mass!).  In this area people did use the silicone coated foams from White Circle, but as soon as glue started being used it was foam and glue.  The silicones work very well on home set plastic track.  Candies (and Twinn-K) just look cool!  I know purists who hate anything that is not black or dark gray, but some thingies just look better with colorful tires!  Fun for running, not racing.

[MattD]

Jess,    if you have a clean track silicone  grips fantastic.    The track stays clean except for a rubber buildup, which is good.     Much easier for track maintenance then cleaning and spraying glue.   

 

Permatex Flowable Windshield Sealer is a great air cured tire coating.   You can apply with a finger but a slow turning lathe or motorized setup works best.   You can spin the tire, squeeze silicone on it and use a stick to shape it.    Cures in 4-5 hours.

 

 

[don.siegel]

They were pretty widely used in 1966, but on slicker tracks, so maybe not appropriate for the American tracks. 

 

Our local track in Chicago had a formica surface, so silicones were about the only tires that really worked, until the microcell tires with glue came along. I still remember getting a Cox Lotus 40 and it would barely make it around the track until I laid out an extra 3 bucks for AJ's silicones. 

 

Reading through the Coast to Coast columns in Car Model, you do hear about a fair number of tracks using silicones. As Matt points out, the advantage is that they work on a clean track. Some tracks had banned glue, so it was the go-to tire. 

 

Don 

[Dave Crevie]

Silicones became popular because they worked better on formica surfaced tracks. That surface was too slick for foams, even with additive.

Builders hadn't gone to small dia. tires yet, so the size and weight had not become an issue. 

[MattD]

I always kind of thought another reason for silicones was so the track owner could sell a new pair of tires  to all the kids that bought a car and with a Cox car they also were able to sell an axle and axle nuts.     That was standard at the little track where I raced.    The track owner sold a pair of Walts or AJ's silicones  for every car that ran on the track.     That was an extra bit of profit to every sale.      It really did make track cleaning easy.