Painting landing gear wheels

[tecdes]

Had a look but can not find anything in the archives.

There have been a number of good ideas about painting wheels. The difficulty being the joint of tyre to the metal hub.

Any body who can share their ideas I would be grateful. At the moment the wheels are 1/48 on a Swordfish so about standard size for Mosquito & Beaufighter. On one side the metal part has a good rim which protrudes slightly infront of the tyre. Not os bad but the other side the rim meets the tyre with a very very slight ridge.

I would not say mine normally come out poor but very annoying when you have to go back to correct where the paint brush has had a mind of it's own.

Laurie

 

[yak face]

Hi laurie , what ive found to be a useful method is to first paint the hub in the required colour , then when dry mix some tyre black with a little thinner (or water if its vallejo or citadel acrylic) so its very thin . Take the wheel and wet it around the hub using just thinner or water whichever medium youre using, then wipe it , leaving some of the thinning medium around the rim. Take a brushful of your thinned tyre black and just touch it to the edge of the rim , it should flow all around the rim via the thinner or water giving a neat edge . While this is still wet just paint up to the edge with the normal tyre black, you shouldnt need to go all the way up to the rim to get the paint to mix and cover. Sounds a bit complicated but its really not , its just capillary action doing all the work for you. hope this helps , cheers tony

 

[CDW]

basically the same idea as tony.. I just use a thin paint and let it find its own way around the rim. it works in reverse if the rim is recessed to the tyre

 

[Dave W]

I bought a compass cutter for £5.I use it to cut discs out of Tamiya tape the same size as the wheel hub.Then I spray the wheel hub,let it dry,mask the hub with the disc, then spray the tyre colour.The only problem is I make 1/48 aircraft and the compass cutter won't cut discs small enough for fighters in this scale.

 

[backonthecase]

I also use the thinned tyre paint method. Reliable and consistent for when I don't have pre cut masks

Stuart

 

[stona]

Another for the thinned paint method here.

Steve

 

[phalinmegob]

a method i tried recently was to wedge a rod in the hole then stick said rod into my dremel with the idea that i would paint the black wheel slowly whilst rotating rather than moving the brush, if you know what i mean. problem was that i forgot to turn the speed of the dremel down first...............still havnt found the blasted thing.

 

[tecdes]

Andrew that is a prize admission. I woke Pauline up last night when I burst out laughing which I am now again. So funny.

Keep any new ones coming Andrew.

Thanks men for the down to earth solutions. Never would have thought of that in a thousand years. I will give the Dremel a miss Andrew Sorry !

Laurie

 

[CDW]

Ha ha Thanks Andrew ... that gave me a much needed chuckle this morning

 

[Vaughan]

Laurie

I tend to use the wheel on a cocktail stick method. I spray the hub the appropriate colour and then once dry attach the cocktail stick if there's a hole, if not I use blu-tac. Then holding the brush stationary I rotate the wheel.

As I only work in 1/32 scale usually the hub is separate from the tire or the tire is vinyl. By the way I've just sent you a PM re- the string bag

Vaughan

 

[backonthecase]

Haha brilliant! That;s never happened to me, although I have used that method as a way of sanding a REALLY bad wheel smooth

 

[stona]

Andrew you've just made me laugh so unexpectedly that my nice cold glass of white wine is now dribbling out of my nose!

I have to say I'd never thought of using a Dremel to rotate the wheel and I definitely won't be trying it any time soon!

Cheers

Steve

 

[tecdes]

Have you tried this method with a full size tin of emulsion paint.

Bit thick the paint that is (operative also bit thick) at the bottom. So put a large Allen Key in big drill. Big problems.

Started drill. Allen Key smashed through the side of the tin & fixed itself solid, really clever glue not needed.

Operative let go of tin in suprise which turned to panic as tin careered around end of drill spurting yes white emulsion all over the place including the operative.

Operative laughed at by wife. Not kind. Add operative young at time about 45 now grown up. Not now allowed Allen Keys.

Laurie

 

[Ian M]

Ha Ha good one Laurie. Have you seen the mess a grouting mixer does if you spin in the wrong way. It can grout a ceiling in about ten seconds.

Ian M

 

[mossiepilot]

That's rediculous Laurie, don't know whether to commisarate or laugh me socks off

Oh, already did that :funnypost::laughing:

Thanks for making my evening.

Tony.

 

[noble]

we get a lot of foreign coins at the office so i find one the same size as the hub hold it in place the paint around the coin.

Scott

 

[Mustang69]

a method i tried recently was to wedge a rod in the hole then stick said rod into my dremel with the idea that i would paint the black wheel slowly whilst rotating rather than moving the brush, if you know what i mean. problem was that i forgot to turn the speed of the dremel down first...............still havnt found the blasted thing.

Sheesh, I just bought a Dremel yesterday. Will try not to get too ingenious ... had a gut hurting burst of laughter too. Thanks.

 

[tecdes]

So right Frikkie. I have now laughed at this so many times. My wife had a good chuckle.

Have you recovered yet Andrew ?

Thanks Scott. Did a similar thing some time ago with those coloured stickers. They come in a variety of diameters.

Laurie

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Hi Laurie

I paint the hub first and then use a black felt tip marker pen to run around the area where the tyre joins the hub. This black line creates a safe area where the tyre joins the hub. I then just paint the tyre up to the black line. Gets a perfect result each time and any colour variation between paint and felt tip is barely noticeable.

steve

 

[tecdes]

Thanks for that Steve which is another great suggestion. Tried others on the main gear. Will try yours on the tail.

Laurie