Painting Road Wheels

Many thanks to all who resonded to my cry for help. Your responses were quite helpful as was the discussion of the same topic on the "Armor" forum. If I can't get the job done to my satisfaction now, it's strictly my fault. Sounds like it's time to do a bit of experimentation to come up with my personal favorite.

Great forum and a great bunch of folks. Thanks again.

John

PS: I ordered a couple of Tamiya paint pens to put in the "experimental" mix.

I usually paint the rubber first seeing how that would get cover up with mud anyways . then I paint the inside . After that I splash mud coloring all over the road wheels . remember no matter how many time a tank has been to the wash racks the rubber will never come totally clean and return to black it will always be a dirty color

I just built a Paladin as a change of pace, and to tackle the poorly defined road wheels I used a variation of the circle template/airbrush technique - I made my own template out of thin styrene, and the using strip styrene on the back, made a centering and holding jig for the roadwheel while it was being painted. You paint the tire first, let it dry overnight, and then do the hubs with the template. It helps to wipe the edge after each spray to prevent ragged edges. Also make sure the roadwheel is tight against the edge of the template, and spray directly onto the wheel - avoid spraying at an angle which might force paint under the edge. Using light coats and letting them dry a bit between each will also prevent seepage.

HTH

Kurt

Try a broad tipped permanent marker pen, Sanford (USA) do a double ended one. Use the cocktail stick tip above. When the ink is dry, weather the wheel & Use matt varnish and you can't tell it's not paint. I use these and other markers all the time, saves opening a tin/bottle of paint just to touch up a piece and no brush cleaning, bargain!

Masking the roadwheels would probably rank up there somewhere with kicking back and chewing on a piece of tinfoil (sure it sounds good but is really a pain).
I use a 3-0 brush and a slightly stready hand for painting my roadwheels. I have heard of other modellers using a circle template to mask off the areas and then airbrush each and every one. I tried it once but did not think the results were any better than what I could achieve by hand. These templates are available at any arts & crafts stores or drafting supply house if you want to give it a try.

I use a steady hand and a small brush. Toothpicks attached to the center hole help me rotate the wheel. Thin you paint about 50%, and let capolary action help.

I've thought about making a template, but each vehicles road wheels are a different size. Besides, unless you make a bunch of templates it's going to get messy.

Masking off? The time it takes to mask them is as long as it takes to paint them by hand.

After a good wash and weathering any small errors will never be seen.

I'm sure there are other ways of doing this but this has always worked best for me.- Mic