Need Some Panzer IV Wheel Masking Ideas.

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I have the older Tamiya Panzer IV kit and would really like to mask the wheels for painting.

I have the rubber portion painted and am ready to paint the metal part. I have used a circle template in the past, but that can get tedious and time consuming. I have thought about cutting my own masks from tape, but not sure how to approach it. I would even consider buying pre-cut masks, especially if they are reusable.

I am open for suggestions.

2

I’ve made my own wheel masks from a sheet of scrap packaging plastic using a tapered reaming tool to cut the hole.

I am curious to know why you find the circle template method tedious and time consuming. Surely it would be a lot quicker then aligning and applying an adhesive mask to each wheel.

3

Have a look at the lilnk below

quickwheelstore.com/…/1-35-quickwheel-qw-024-panzer-iv-flakpanzer-iv-tamiya.html

I’ve used a couple of these masks and they are very fast and easy to work with, just not cheap

Phil

4

Phil, Just holding a template on the wheel while I paint, do one wheel at a time, is what I am talking about. I have done it in the past and I have discovered that I am a little more shakey that I was at 25. The way I overcame that on my last tank was tape the wheel in place on the template while I sprayed it, hence the time consuming part.

P mitch, that looks like the ticket. It looks like multiple wheels can be done at a time, and they kind of stick in place.

Thanks for the responses.

5

The Quickwheel works like a charm. Since many German AFVs use Panzer IV wheels, the Pz IV QW isn’t too expensive if you are into German armor.

6

You think QW for the M4 Sherman would work on both the Sherman and M7 Priest models? I have M4 Sherman Jumbos from Tamiya and Dragon along with a M7 Kangroo (Defrock Priest)) from Italeri. It would be good purchase if I could use the one QW on all three kits. All models have the VVSS suspension and wheels. The don’t mention the diameters of the openings on the template.

7

IME, the Tamiya Pz IV QW had no issue with Tamiya models based on the Pz IV (e.g., Jagdpanzer, Nashorn) but was very tight for the Academy Pz IV, scrapping a little bit of black paint on the edge of a few wheels. That required some minor touch-ups. No big deal for me, given how easy it was to paint multiple wheels simultaneously.

8

Micromark sells a circle-cutting compass that you could use. The problem with a template is that you have to do it a couple of times to get good coverage on the wheels.