Wheels

[Padefc]

Am becoming obsessed with wheels well the technique of  painting them I just can't get them to a point were I say yes there good iv tried all kinds of ways tyre first,drum first ,masked,unmasked free hand,brushed,airbrus,rattle can now I've jus got a circle stencil I find them so hard to perfect,I've just gone through the pandemic thread an viewed virtually every planes wheels zoomed in the lot some are way better than mine some similar and some not as good,what's your techniques?

[Peter s]

I hate wheels  😢 even when they look good they're boring to paint. There's usually a few hanger queens on my shelf waiting for tyres and canopy lines to be painted..

Best I've found is to paint the discs first, then Tamiya rubber black paint with quite a bit of extra alcohol to thin. Let the paint flow around the disc almost by capillary action and you normally get a neat effect. It dries very fast too so doesn't stick when you put the model down. Newspaper adhering to the wheels via wet paint isn't a good look! (I don't paint on newspaper for this reason: Wilco oven trays are great) A thin dark wash on the disc and legs helps pull out detail too.

[peebeep]

I spray or brush paint the tyres, use a circle mask to spray the hubs, then use the wash method described by Peter. In fact if you're using the wash method then painting hubs freehand with a brush shouldn't be a really big deal, If the hubs are a metallic colour then spraying is a no-brainer. Rather than use tyre colour I go for a good stark black wash. As well as concealing the multitude of sins it gives a little more ping by creating a false shadow. But whatever takes your fancy.