Painting truck tires idea -- will it work?

Modeling Subjects Armor
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(Cross posted from the Towed Gun group build – the GB’s seem to have disappeared from their forum of origin, so I doubt they will get much traffic any more.)

Last night I went to start painting my Mack OD, and then I realized, as I always do when working on something with tires, that I have to paint the tires first! Doh. So I shot the dark grey over all the tires, it dried almost immediately, and then I drybrushed with a mixture of black and white oils along the tire treads.

Realizing that the wheels are embedded pretty far into the tires, if you know what I mean, making it difficult to use a circle template to put the OD on the center wheel section, I puzzled over this for a while, but then had a brainstorm.

What if I create a tube using a circle template? Something tubelike to extend out from the circle? I tried using packing tape, a firm clear plastic stuff, by cutting a thin section and running it along the circle, sticky side out so that it adhered to the edge of the particular circle I was using (5/8"). This extends the circle template with a thin tube. It was frustrating, but I got it right after a few tries, and now when I put the tape circle, stuck inside the circle template, over the wheel, the plastic on the tape goes all the way down to the wheel, so the OD won’t shoot onto the tire as well.

Unfortunately, the opposite side of the wheels is wider than the outside facing. I may just say the heck with it, or I may create another tube extension for the circle template, which would be a pain.

Will it work? Who knows? But I’ll be trying it tonight, as I am going to lay the OD on the Mack this evening, including the wheels.

I’ll post the results tomorrow.

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Sounds interesting. I’d like to see a pict or two of just exactly how this is working out for you. Might solve some template problems I’ve faced in the past!! Good luck, Larry.

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Larry,
i have been busy trying to drive myself insane painting tires for the Quad,
gun carriage & limber. plus the spare.
i think i have made a nice mess w/ Ambroid’s EZ Mask.
but i had a tube thought the other day as well.

but a question first:
are you trying to paint the wheel inside the tube?
and how can one side of the wheel be a different diameter than the other?

meanwhile, here’s what i may do if i have to do my wheels over again:

  1. paint the wheels first and let the paint fall where it may.
  2. make a tube to mask the wheels using a rolled up sheet of paper.
  3. paint the rubber part.

i am hoping that it will be easy to adjust it to the diameter &
then put a piece of tape on it to hold it to size.
i am also hoping that a light ‘pressure fit’ (w/ my left hand) will be
adequate to keep the paint out (while i work the airbrush w/ my right.

(i am also hoping to win PowerBall soon, and that a night in the freezer
might let the masking peel off the wheels in less than 3,976 pieces per wheel.
i spent FORTY MINUTES picking that crap off of 2 sides of the first wheel
before i quit)

in fairness, i will say that my bottle of EZ Mask is years old.
and that multiple coats might have helped.
and that if i were not such a [censored][D)] i might have tested it a bit
before applying it to both sides of EIGHT WHEELS and one side of the spare.

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Ed, try putting a piece of masking tape on the EZ Mask to pull it off. Supposed to work!

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Bill,
thanks!
my buddy suggested that too.
i will give it a try when i get home!
so far after wheel one, between scraping at the wheel w/ toothpick,
picking at mask w/ Exacto, scalpel & 3 kinds of tweezers,
i will need to touch up wheel & tire (from bumping it w/ tool)
it was pretty ugly.
i had no problem calling it a night!

i also might try some hot water if none of these other approaches work.

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This may be a dumb question, but why do you have to paint the tires first?

M.

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Not a dumb question at all. Since I use a circle template, I have to paint the thing on the outside of the circle first.

Painting the tire first also allows me to drybrush the treads without getting any light grey paint on the wheel’s paint coat.

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Yup, spraying into the mini tube (it’s not very deep, just deep enough so that it’s perimeter mates with the edge of the wheel.

On the wheels, I’m no wheel expert, but that’s the story with this kit! The wheel face on the inside is a little bigger than the wheel face on the outside. As I said, though, I may use the same extended circle template for both sides.

As long as I don’t collapse my tube extenstion, that is! It’s a little fragile, and I’m a lot worried about that. I’m definitely doing the outside facings of the wheels firist, just in case I have a disaster. I’m no stranger to disasters.

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could you use paper instead of tape, or re-inforce it w/ paper to give it a bit more rigidity?

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Interesting idea. The very few cases I’ve had to worry about this, I just hand painted the rims. Let us know how it goes though.

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Ed, I feel like an idiot for not having thought of that much simpler method myself! [D)]

Ultimately, though, I think it still needs to go into a circle template so I can block the paint from going onto the tire.

By the way, I just have to ask – why is your username wildwilliam if your name is Ed? Shouldn’t it be “wilded?”

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LOL, being a “William”, I’ve often wondered that myself! I’ll be interested to hear the answer on this one!

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Those that live by spray, die by spray …

Those little Micro-Brushes are great for a quick run around the outer wheel rim to clean up things.

John
Who is doing his Long Tom wheels & tires.

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Wildwilliam, when useing the ez mask, I lay a thin bead around the edges of my mark then fill the center (done this succesfully on lots of a/c canopies, don’t tell anyone [:p] ) and build it to a thick coat from the center out as close to the edge as you can. When it dries, the thick coat will peel right off and lift the thin edge in most cases too. On my canopies I would fill with a large brush then use a fine brush to “push” it to the edges careful not to go too far. I’m sure it would work equally well on the tires. The thick part is also easy to lift initally with an x-acto or toothpick and then peel carefully along the edge. Try it out. I’ve also used old mask before with no problem.

Eric

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first, my apologies to Larry for having accidentally taken over his post!

next, since i have taken over the post anyway [:D] some followup:
freezing the wheels helped some, but not enough.
still took 20 minutes to remove the mask from one wheel.
i tried some hot water, and that made a nice gooey mess,
but did not release the masking.
at this point, i did not try the tape (because i am a [D)] ) and now had a somewhat gooey mess.
so i poured a good bit of ammonia int a plastic cup and dropped in the lot!
this did a fine job removing the Tamiya paint
(which i knew it would)
it also released the mask (by dissolving the paint it was stuck to?)
allowing it to come off in nice big, wheel shaped pieces.
then i washed off the wheels and went to bed.
thes morning before leaving for work, i repainted the wheels and two axles w/ Desert Yellow.
tonight after work, and possibly doing my laundry, i will try to paint the tires again.
but i am done w/ the EZ Mask for now.
i will probably try it again, but not on these wheels.
the project has been slowed enough.

also!
anyone looking for yet another masking idea, PLEASE check out the post by Rodolfo in the Pz IV build!!! he is using “plasticine” to great effect.

now on to the topic of my ‘william’
when i was in college, a guy on my floor called everybody Billy.
for no apparent reason.
this evolved into all possible derivatives (Bill, William, Willy, etc)
my roomate & i collectively became “the Willies”
(as in “you guys give me the willies”)
he (Scotsman on the aircraft forum, and Scot to most folks)
and i still (16 years after graduating!) call each other Bill, William, Willy, etc.
he recommended ‘wildwilliamwilly’ to me for my ebay username
when my first 400 ideas were already in use.
i shortened it for the FSM forum.

no disrespect is intended to any actual Williams,
not were any real Bills harmed in the typing of this post.

sorry it is not that exciting, as it involves no prison time, mercenary work in
foreign lands or my being secretly the heir to a great fortune.[:)]