Painting German WWII aircraft wheels.

most rims on luftwaffe aircraft were plain black, almost semi-gloss in appearance. I'm guessing the gray you mention is a result of wear and dust/dirt/mud. I paint mine semi gloss black, then drybrush with light gray, then after washes and gray and brown pigments it really doesn't matter what color they are to start out with anyway, lol!

Many thanks Nathan for your response. Here´s a picture of what I´m talking about:

www.hyperscale.com/.../fw190a8eduard48fcs_1.htm

Do you see the grayish color on the wheels/tires of the model?

You're wondering how to paint a good rubber/tire black color you mean? Add a little bit of red-brown to your black color, or try a rubber color right outa the bottle, such as Gunze's tire black H77. Its what I use, but like I said, don't fret so much as to the exact color because your washes and pastels will change the look anyway. Such as these:

The last pic the rims are painted RLM 02

Hubs, try for a satin black.  

The tires aim for off black.  If you don't have a jar of tire black, just add a little grey.  As Nathan suggested, you can add a hint of red/brown, particularly if you don't plan on any post weathering.  Also keep the finish as flat as possible on the tires.

regards,

Jack

I paint my tires Tamiya XF-63, an idea i got from a book on modelling German fighters. I find it much easier to get a better finish than when i started with black tires.