How to paint spokes on wheels

[Guest]

This probably sounds rather silly, but I'd like some advice on how to go about painting spoke wheels on this model. I'm a beginner (obviously) and have so far had luck in building this model, but don't know how to do this. I assume that I should paint it almost entirely black with a brush/airbrush, and then wipe off the paint on the spokes, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to go about it. The parts I should paint black that are closer to the center of the wheel are too tiny for me to paint even with a 5/0 brush, so I'd like some advice. Because the wheels are chrome, I do not know how they will react if to paint thinner if I try to remove paint if it dries fast. Also, scraping the paint off (if I continue with the way I described) might result in removing the chrome and ruining the whole wheel. I have spent a great deal of time on this model, but am finally stuck here. Any help is appreciated. Also, I have included the links to some pictures that should be self-explanatory. Thanks in advance.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/BMW_633_CSi_Front-Side.JPG

Here you can see what the wheels should look like

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg308/chrufctr2/DSC04422.jpg

[Guest]

there are two ways you can do this.

you can either paint the whole thing enamel black. then with a slightly moistening cotton but in white spirit.enamel thinners remove the paint from the spokes

dont worry, the thinner will not remove the chrome plating.

the other way is to simply appply a black wash to the wheel. this will fill in all the gaps between the spokes and leave the spokes paint free.

try searching the forum for "wash" or try this site out.

Weathering. - Welcome

and welcome to the forum!

Richard

[Guest]

Thanks for the help. If you've tried it yourself, which would you recommend for someone who doesn't have a lot of skill (and obviously experience) with this?

[Guest]

I'd recommend using a black wash to bring out the detail in the wheels. If you paint the wheel black and then drybrush with silver it'll lose a little of the detail as you'll have more paint thickness on the item.

I purchased a Product called Rustall, they do a set of 4 bottles, one of which is a black wash, it's nice stuff. Alternatively a coat of thinned black paint run into the detail areas will have the same effect.

I'd recommend using enamel paint and make sure the silver has had a long time to dry prior to applying the wash otherwise the paint might still be a little soft.

Hope that helps!

[Guest]

I would try to keep it simple and easy. I would make a wash of say 50-50 matt black enamel and enamel thinners. Paint the centres without letting it run onto the rims so just keep it in the middle.

Then, when it has dried, wipe it away with a cotton cloth, almost dry but with a small amount of thiners on it. You will find that the matt black will come off the chrome quite easily and you will be left with nice shiny chrome rims and spokes and a matt black shadow behind.

Easy to do and very effective.

[Guest]

Thanks for the help, I have a set of chromed wheels from another model that had different rim types, so I'll experiment on those first.

[Guest]

good idea.

let us know how it turns out!

Richard