Painting a two-tone pre-chromed rim ? strip the lot ?

Hi,

interested in how you would approach painting a two tone rim from a Tamiya kit e.g. Castrol Supra where the wheels are already chromed- is it best to :

a) attempt to part strip it ?
b) fully strip and repaint with alclad for the Chrome ?
c) try to sand and paint the two tone areas?
d) lightly dust prime the Chrome and carefuly paint on top, but then take good care for minimum handling of wheerls afterwards ?

Cheers

BIG"S"

Hi,

interested in how you would approach painting a two tone rim from a Tamiya kit e.g. Castrol Supra where the wheels are already chromed- is it best to :

a) attempt to part strip it ?
b) fully strip and repaint with alclad for the Chrome ?
c) try to sand and paint the two tone areas?
d) lightly dust prime the Chrome and carefuly paint on top, but then take good care for minimum handling of wheerls afterwards ?

Cheers

BIG"S"

I'm guessing you mean you want to leave the rims chrome and paint the spokes another color?

If so, use a liquid masking agent(I use MicroScale's blue stuff) to mask the Tamiya "chrome" and then paint over the chrome...no primer, no sanding. no nuttin'. Once dry, remove the masking liquid by pricking up an edge with a sharpened toothpick and viola'! The chrome underneath is still chrome.

That has worked very well for me in the past (i.e. on the SARD Supra's 2-piece, 2-color rims).

hth,

Bill

Alternatively, you can use Bare Metal Foil to mask it. I find I have best control with BMF as a mask.

These rims were masked of with Tamiya masking tape and sprayed with Humbrol enamel. It worked out pretty good. But I think you will have a sharper border with BMF or a liquid mask.

Niclas
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y25lfk&outx=600&oq=0

My recipie for liquid mask:

White glue- Elmer's or the like. Mix in a small amount of hand (not the machine stuff!) dishwashing soap (maybe 1:15, proportions aren't critical). Then, add food coloring of choice, so it will show up when dry- otherwise, white glue dries clear and is hard to see.

This works extremely well for those kits (like the GT2) where Tamiya calls for areas of chromed wheels to be painted. I don't bother with primer for this, but I handle painted/chromed wheels with care afterwards.

My recipie for liquid mask:

White glue- Elmer's or the like. Mix in a small amount of hand (not the machine stuff!) dishwashing soap (maybe 1:15, proportions aren't critical). Then, add food coloring of choice, so it will show up when dry- otherwise, white glue dries clear and is hard to see.

This works extremely well for those kits (like the GT2) where Tamiya calls for areas of chromed wheels to be painted. I don't bother with primer for this, but I handle painted/chromed wheels with care afterwards.

Excellent tip, I will try that one. I had no luck with Microscales liquid mask so I'll have a go on your method.

Thanks!
Niclas

thanks for all the info, I found this helpful.

So you can paint over the chrome without stripping it? Would this work with Revell chrome?

For revells chorme i strip it and then paint the striped part.