Armour - build then paint?

[Roland Pulfrew]

Gents

It's been many years since I last built any armour, and I had more time then. However one thing that has struck me about building armour, whilst perusing forums here and on ARC, is a trend to fully constructing the kit first and then spraying it. Yet I look at all those "road wheels" and see many of them seem to be rubberised (ie black) on the outer edges which means spraying would be done first with detailing later. Anyone have any views on the best way to do things?

Just planning how to start my Challenger 1 for the Armour GB!!

[Dave]

One way is to deal with the road wheels is to spray the tire colour first, then use a circle template (one of those plastic sheets with numerous sizes of holes in it, try WH Smiths or Staples) to spray the centres the suitable camo colour.

Or, buy a permanent marker and ink in the tire colour by hand, maybe one with a chisel tip would work best.

[Andy Mullen]

My method is similar to how I tackle aircraft wheels. Paint the Hubs first, then paint the rubber last.

On my Scimitar, this is helped by the fact there is a distinct ridge, between the rubber and wheels, I can run a thinned mix up to, then paint the remainder.

[Mandrake]

A good question and one I have been pondering myself alot recently!

I think it really depends on the model and particularly characteristics of the tracks. I know people who will paint the main tank hull and then add the wheels and track painted individually and touched up where neccessary. Some of the more skillful modelers will actually glue the track to the road wheels but not the wheels to the hull so the whole assembly can be slid off and painted seperated before being attached.

[Nev]

I tend to leave the wheels off, paint them and the main hull, then paint the rubber bits after that. Of course, it gets tricks for subjects like the Grant & Sherman...

[seanrgb]

I tend to leave the wheels off, paint them and the main hull, then paint the rubber bits after that. Of course, it gets tricks for subjects like the Grant & Sherman...

Thats the way i do it as well

[Beer Monster]

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Edited July 31, 2011 by Beer Monster

[plastic constructor]

The bits that are hard to spray are also hard to see! If you use a black primer, this tends to solve the problem! Remember, you're creating an illusion of reality, not reproducing a 100% scale copy, accurate down to the last shaded rivet!

But the voices Chris ... they tell me if it's on the kit ... paint it! ... No I'm not a rivet counter, far from it, it's a hobby and it should be fun. To be honest, if I know it's there then I have to do something with it, but in the end it's personal preference.

Nick.

[Osher]

My approach, with the Italeri (ex.ESCI) Merkava has been to paint the suspension units/wheels as one part, before attaching them to the plate. This is to allow me to correct the tyres, as when I removed them from the tree, the gates of course were not painted. I suspect that with most of the rest, I'll paint once finished, except those (tracks, suspension) which will be visible, but difficult to reach, once installed.

[bald eagle]

Roland its simple,so simple an idiot like what i am can do it!!!!!

Get yourself down to your local SMITHS and buy one of their clear plastic panels full of various sized circles.These things are used by draughtsmen etc....

Most of the circles will cover just about every wheel size you can think of!!

So spray your wheels black,then find the relevant size circle,place it over the wheel so that the inner edge fits right over the

inner of the wheel(you can place some tape behind the wheel to hold it in place)..

Then spray the camo colour or plain colour for the inner wheel,wait a few mins, remove the backing tape and....HEY-PRESTO!!!

you have a pefectly sprayed wheel with a perfect black tyre on the outside.........

Yes its time consuming but it looks the B----------------!!!!S.especially on the Panther and mid production Tigers..

you see.............SIMPLE!

Cheers Paul..

[AnonymousA667]

Bald Eagle is referring to circle templates. You can get templates that are a bit more swish from art supplies shops that also sell draughting equipment. They are more expensive but will have a greater range of diameters. Linex templates tend to be a bit cheaper but are not as robust as the ruinously expensive Rotring stuff. My own templates along with my pens are utterly redundant with regard to draughting, but somehow I can't bring myself to squirt paint all over my nice Rotring circle template that cost an arm and a leg.

peebeep

[seanrgb]

Another trick I use is on the rubber tracks , After I paint them etc etc

On modern armour they have rubber blocks for road use

just rub them over with sand paper ..gives the blocks a used look