Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

Painting the vector wheels


Recommended Posts

Hey guys, does anyone here have a trick for painting the vector wheels with spray paint? I know they can be painted with brush but I would rather have a smooth even finish that is produced by spray. Just wondering if there is a way to mask them off?

image.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rattle can or airbrush?  If you're using an airbrush, you could paint it with Tamiya or other water based acrylic bottle paint, dampen a cotton swab with Windex, and wipe away the paint from the raised areas.

Tamiya rattle-can paints have a different formulation from the bottle paints, so I don't think this technique will work in them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm actually asking this, not only for the vector wheels, but also for the finned aluminum wheels found in the A-Team van kit. I'm really not wanting to paint the red over black, as it would need to be thick to be bright red.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's what I'm thinking on the finned wheels in the A-Team van kit. I'm thinking of stripping the chrome and then shooting the wheels with a bright red enamel. Then, after the enamel cures, I could brush paint some flat black, acrylic paint into the recesses and then, with a damp Q-tip, wipe the top surface of all the spokes clean, exposing the red paint. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the wheels on my A-Team van, I stripped the chrome, painted them flat black, painted the spokes flat red with a toothpick, and then clearcoated them to give them a glossy finish. The flat paints are thinner but layer better than gloss paints, and painting them wasn't nearly the headache I expected it to be.

ateam01.jpg

 

Edited by spencer1984
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I tried this technique in the video above and it works real nice.  I first painted a set of AMT 69 Riviera 1/25 Vectors using Testors MM Acryl Silver.  Then I waited one day and sprayed on some Tamiya acrylic flat black.  I used Testors Acryl since Windex doesn't affect it.  The Tamiya acrylic wipes off with Windex.  After the black was dry I used a Q-Tip moistened with Windex and wiped off the black around the outer edge.  Since they are 1/25 wheels I had to use toothpicks dipped in Windex to remove the black paint off the spokes.  

Here are pictures of the results.

Edited by crowe-t
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...