Tank wheel painting question

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Techniques
1

Just have a quick question on painting wheels?

Any ideas you guys can recomned for painting the outer rim, or I guess the rubber part of the wheel on tanks? I tried brushing many times but the always seems to run.

Thanks.

Jake

2

Simplest way to do this effectively.

GO to Staples or other office store. Find a circle template, Should only cost a cuple bucks.

Spray the wheel the rubber color and let dry. Place the wheel in a matching hole and spray the expose rim the tank’s base color.

It just that simple.

3

What type of paint are you using? Sounds like you have thinned it too much. I airbrush my road wheels, including the tires, with the base color. I hand brush the tires with Testors rubber, usually straight from the bottle.

I’ve tried the circle template method mentioned by ajlafleche with mixed results. Brush painting them works best for me.

[:)]

4

Maybe it’s me but I couldnt get that template method to work,the wheels from any kit I ever built never fit properly,either too big or too small letting in overspray,so I end up brush painting but it is a pain and tedious.

5

Another easy method:

  1. Spray the entire wheel/tire flat black.

  2. Spray the wheel the base color: Dial down the airbrush until it makes a really small circle (dot), and then “dot-in” the base color into the wheel (sort of like spraying overlapping polka-dots). This allows a little of the black to show through, and provides the base for a nice mottled-weathered look. Try to keep overspray at a minimum but don’t worry about a little overspray onto the tire…

  3. …because putting a black or other grungy wash around the rim/tire joint will usually take care of any overspray. And you’re done! (You’ll need to let the paint dry pretty thoroughly before putting on the wash.)

Gip

6

one easy method (though time consuming) is to color in the rim with a black sharpie then use a matte-finish spray to tone down the gloss