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Hi all,

In the middle of a 1/48 Ju-88, and are at the stage of painting the wheels. What is the best method of painting them to give you crisp, accurate edges where the rubber meets the rim? I've heard numerous ways (paint pens, masking tape, blue tac etc) but I never seem to be able to achieve the 'perfect circle' :wave:

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I've had good result with shooting the entire assembly the rim colour...then after drying, use liquid mask on the rim/wheel.....apply with a toothpick.......shoot the tire your favorite colour....let it all dry overnight....simply prick the dried masking agent with the tip of an Exacto knife & lift it off...VIOLA'!

If I can do it, anyone can....;)

Good to go,

Jim

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Try to purchase those plastic circle templates in school supplies section. They're cool to use for different wheel hubs.

That's what I do also. Sometimes it takes a little touching up afterwards but the results are pretty predictable.

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Hi, What I find works really well is to shoot everything the hub color first. Then take an old fashion split nib ink pen using black ink and touch the tip to the edge of the tire portion. The ink will flow right around the hub to give you a nice demarcation line. Then paint the rest of the tire the color of your choice. This also gives you a very dark are next to the rim to give a 3D appearance. The ink flows much better than paint.

Bob

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I either paint them freehand, or paint the hub color first, then mask it with tape and spray the tire.

I use regular masking tape, press it down onto the hub, then take a toothpick and run it in the gap between the hub and tire, then take a sharp blade and cut the tape, using the edge of the hub as a guide for the blade.

Ken

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I have used a lot of systems without a total success!!!!

The my last system/effort was this: I did painted the rim then covered the rim's surface with the "BLU TACK" adhesive gum and I sprayed the wheel with the black.

I was obliged to re-touch the border of the rim because Blu Tack do not guarantee a tight & precise seal for the paint.

I'm interested to develop more this system in the future before of to trash it; it require a careful and annoying procedure of alignment of the rim's borders to the Blue Tack's mass but the I'm curious of to see if it's all lost time or not.

Remember that this system should to be RISKY since that I use the enamels and they adhere well to the surfaces, so I have never had the paint on the rim lifted away by the Blue Tack but I can't suggest the same results using the ACRYLICS because is said that sometimes these colors have not the same factor od adhesion of the enamels.

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Hi, What I find works really well is to shoot everything the hub color first. Then take an old fashion split nib ink pen using black ink and touch the tip to the edge of the tire portion. The ink will flow right around the hub to give you a nice demarcation line. Then paint the rest of the tire the color of your choice. This also gives you a very dark are next to the rim to give a 3D appearance. The ink flows much better than paint.

Bob

I just tried this technique and ran into a few glitches. Even thou the ink saturated the space around the hub, as it dried, it left behind very minimal coverage as the ink is mostly carrier and little pigment. May I ask, what ink do you use? What size nib?

I would love to get this technique to work for me as I see great potential to it.

Regards,

José

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I just tried this technique and ran into a few glitches. Even thou the ink saturated the space around the hub, as it dried, it left behind very minimal coverage as the ink is mostly carrier and little pigment. May I ask, what ink do you use? What size nib?

I would love to get this technique to work for me as I see great potential to it.

Regards,

José

Jose, I use Higgens brand black India ink and a very small nib pen. The ink is very black and covers well for me. It only takes a very little bit and can be teased around the rim with the pen tip. I got the ink at an art store but craft stores may carry it as well. You might try your ink again and do a second application.

HTH Bob

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Jose, I use Higgens brand black India ink and a very small nib pen. The ink is very black and covers well for me. It only takes a very little bit and can be teased around the rim with the pen tip. I got the ink at an art store but craft stores may carry it as well. You might try your ink again and do a second application.

HTH Bob

I appreciate your reply. The first ink pen I got this week used the cartridge system and the coverage of the ink was absolutely terrible. As it dried it left very little pigment behind. Yesterday I god a bottle of Higgens waterproof and it worked great!

Many thanks for this tip! Please keep posting any other tips you may have.

Regards and happy Fourth of July!

Jose

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Handpainting really is the easiest method and it yields the best, most consistent results. Very little equipment is needed, nor is masking.

First jam the wheel onto the handle end of an old paintbrush. No adhesive necessary, just a push fit. Paint the hub as required.

Load a paint brush with tire paint. Then, using the handle as an axle, touch the tire to the brush. Note that you touch the tire to the brush, not the other way around. Rotate the handle slowly between your fingers and you will find the paint flows into the groove between hub and tire.

No muss, no fuss and with minimal practice you can get a perfect tire every time.

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Handpainting really is the easiest method and it yields the best, most consistent results. Very little equipment is needed, nor is masking.

First jam the wheel onto the handle end of an old paintbrush. No adhesive necessary, just a push fit. Paint the hub as required.

Load a paint brush with tire paint. Then, using the handle as an axle, touch the tire to the brush. Note that you touch the tire to the brush, not the other way around. Rotate the handle slowly between your fingers and you will find the paint flows into the groove between hub and tire.

No muss, no fuss and with minimal practice you can get a perfect tire every time.

Been there, done that and it never works as well. I don't have a steady hand to do it your way, but it is certainly a valid option.

Regards,

Jose

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Been there, done that and it never works as well. I don't have a steady hand to do it your way, but it is certainly a valid option.

Regards,

Jose

The beauty of the method is that it takes no particular steadiness or even skill. Rest your wrists on the edge of your desk and all that moves are the fingers of one hand, slowly revolving the axle.

I've been doing it this way for forty years, it works every time.

Edited by Bob Perry
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this the way i do it

i use tamiya thinner

dip afine brush in tamiya thinner

and put the thinner around the rims you will see the thinner will flow around the rims

then dip the same brush in the paint

and then put it on the thinner round the rims

you will see the paint will flow around the rims

very easy

no masking

no blu tac

no hand painting

happy modelling

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Handpainting really is the easiest method and it yields the best, most consistent results. Very little equipment is needed, nor is masking.

First jam the wheel onto the handle end of an old paintbrush. No adhesive necessary, just a push fit. Paint the hub as required.

Load a paint brush with tire paint. Then, using the handle as an axle, touch the tire to the brush. Note that you touch the tire to the brush, not the other way around. Rotate the handle slowly between your fingers and you will find the paint flows into the groove between hub and tire.

No muss, no fuss and with minimal practice you can get a perfect tire every time.

I have found this to be the best way. I have used masks when they come with a kit but have had underbleed.

Julien

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I use a similar technique...

First I stick the wheels on to toothpicks...

Then I airbrush the hubs...

I handpaint the tire by using thinned paint and quite lot of it ....the surface tension makes the paint follow the groove that often is there between the hub and the tire, and while painting I rotate the toothpick. It´s almost like the brush is a pickup and the tire is a old reccord.

It´s not a flawless technique and often needs touchups if the border between the hub and tire is diffuse.

cheers!

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Jose, I use Higgens brand black India ink and a very small nib pen. The ink is very black and covers well for me. It only takes a very little bit and can be teased around the rim with the pen tip. I got the ink at an art store but craft stores may carry it as well. You might try your ink again and do a second application.

HTH Bob

As my high school calligraphy teacher used to say, "Quink isn't ink."

Some "inks" are actually "stains." I used to hate something called "Quink" which was sold in stationary stores as (cheap) fountain pen refill for the "got a pen for Chrismas" brigade. When you wrote on some types of paper with Quink the edges would "feather" and look horrible. If memory serves (it's a long time since I was at school) I was told that these "stain" type "inks" work by soaking into the paper and leave the pigment behind on the surface, because they are basically water based. "Proper" inks are solvent based and work more like paints in that they sit on top ofthe surface of the paper, then the solvent evaporates (fairly quickly) leaving the pigment behind.

From this explanation, it's not to much of a stretch to see that applied to plastics the cheap "stain" type "inks" would leach away to nothing whereas "proper" inks would perform much more like a paint.

For calligraphy I switched to using "Indian Ink" and never looked back. You should be able to ge it in art & craft shops. In the UK I always used to buy Windsor & Newton, (though I hasten to add I've never used it on plastics yet, only paper.) If you're really hard core, you can buy Indian Ink in solid sticks and grind it yourself :-)

Mick

Edited by mickevh
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this the way i do it

i use tamiya thinner

dip afine brush in tamiya thinner

and put the thinner around the rims you will see the thinner will flow around the rims

then dip the same brush in the paint

and then put it on the thinner round the rims

you will see the paint will flow around the rims

very easy

no masking

no blu tac

no hand painting

happy modelling

I do like this also, and it works like a charm for me! To clear things up:

1. Paint the hub.

2. Take the thinner you normally use with the tyre paint and let it flow around the hub rim.

3. Dip your brush in the tyre paint and simply add it to the thinner. The surface tension will

make the paint flow around the hub. You might have to add paint on a few spots around the

rim actually.

4. Paint the rest of the tyre.

Some day I will take photos when I do this, so I just can show the photos next time.. ;)

Good luck!

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