I am at the step in the Tamiya 251/1 instructions where I put the wheels on the vehicle, but I have not painted them yet. I want ot know if I should leave the wheels off the vehicle and paint them. My problem is the rubber part. If I paint the black on now, wont it be covered up when I do the camo colors? If I wait to paint the wheels till after they are glued in place (these dont turn) then painting the rubber will be a major pain. Whats the best sequence to use?
Thanks
Miller41 you can do it either way and it really comes down to a matter of preference. Some will paint the body with the wheels off then go back and paint the rubber part by hand, some people paint with the wheels glued on then paint the rubber by hand on the vehicle. Some people use a wash for the rubber part so it’s not really painted. If you’re going to make them dusty and dirty I think it would be easiest to do them on the vehicle because you’ll cover the rubber with weathering anyway.
I haven’t decided what I like best yet myself so just try something and see how it goes and try something else next time if you don’t like it.
Now that I think about it…that was really wishy-washy wasn’t it. [:p]
I’m sure some more folks will give you their prefered method.
Eric
Try painting them afterwards. A lot of what you paint would otherwise be covered up when you have the fenders and track on.
good luck, have fun,
How would you make them look dirty and dusty?
I paint mine the main body color while still attached to the sprues. After they dry, cut them off the sprues, clean the attachment points, use a toothpick, or whatever (I’m going to try pipe cleaners next time) to hold them, and use a microbrush to paint the rims. After it’s all assembled, I airbrush the camo pattern on the vehicle, including the wheels (this could be done before taking them off the sprues, but the rims are so dark, you can’t really tell if the camo gets on them anyway). Weather it up and away you go.
Or you could install just the inner wheels, paint and weather the vehicle with the outer wheels off (paint and weather them seperately), then install the outer wheels and tracks as the last step.
Thanks as always for all your help, this place is great[:)]