Painting the tires

1-I've used Testors enamel successfully,  Use gloss or flat or mix as necessary.

2-A small brush, steady hand and magnification if called for.

Yes a steady hand. I like to prop up the engine and  run it. You can do a really good job on the drivers making them very fine or whatever you want by holding a thin brush to the driver while it's running. I use a water base paint just in case   it gets  messed   up. You may need a helper or second set of hands.

I put the engine upside down in a foam cradle, hook up some jumpers and run it vary slowly. I use Tamiya acrylic paint and a flat brush. Use a carton or something as a hand rest wile applying the paint. The pilot wheels I had to spin by hand.

The white wheels do look good. Is there no kind of adhesive strip that a person can bend in a circle to mask all but the outside strip to be painted?

go to your local art store and you can get white marker pens with paint in the in various widths and use that while the drivers are turning.

Thx for the good tips so far.  Once I figger out how AVOID the drive & connecting rods, I shall give it a try!

If you put the model up on blocks and rein it slowly, you can steady your arm/hand on the bench, and holding the small paint brush or marker, simply let the wheels turn.

Thx, HOT H2O!  I think I now understand.

The paint pens/markers sound like the way to go:  No wondering about the quantity of paint in the brush, and more stability than brush bristles.  I'll try that next time.

I have also used the white paint pens on steamer wheels with good results.

I recently finished a Seaboard 4-6-0, but after seeing these posts I might have to put some stripes on it like in this photo:

The handrail on the boiler appears to be painted also, but I have no way of knowing if it's white or yellow (I suspect white but I could be wrong, Seaboard didn't go in for a lot of show).

Also need to paint the cylinder heads and pilot handrail.

I just bought one, but don't like it.  You must push it 'downward' in order to get the paint to flow.  Can any one give me a brand name so i can search the internet?

That's the way most paint pens work (I haven't come across one that doesn't.).  But you can push the tip down a few times on paper or cardboard to get the tip really soaked with paint and then apply it to the drive wheel, doing this for each wheel.  At least that's how I'd try it if I were to do this.

What about a white Magic Marker?

Yes, Sinclair....That's just the way I've been doing it....Engine running slowly, inverted in a cradle.  It does seem to be OK, I was just wondering.

I reopened the thread....

Alan

These were done the hard way before any of you guys revealed your tricky tricks.

You can put it on a roller stand, or invert it in an engine cradle as stated above. I normally give my bare tires a coat of black during maintenance, smoke unit repair/upgrade, or when installing Kadee couplers to the tender.

 You can use a paint pen, Sharpie, or paint with a brush while the wheels are rotating. You can also paint them whatever color you want, or just touch up the white walls. I've always hoped for blackened tires from the manufacturer, but it's a 5 minute job to do it myself.

BEFORE:

After:

Big Boy BEFORE:

Big Boy AFTER:

For me, it's one of those little details that makes a HUGE difference in appearance.

Never thought of powering the lokey while painting the rims. I just turned the wheels by hand. I good fine brush and acrylic craft paint is what I use.

I may try powering one up the next time I do the "whitewall" thing.

I took advice from Joseph Stachler from TM of using a paint marker for quickly and relatively neatly painting small areas, from handrails to steps.

Yeah I have been know to paint a few...

Oh Driver tires...

I like the paint pen idea. I have a few engines with small chips on the tires.

Really like the white walls...

You'll notice the paint pen in my 1st photo. I tried that for painting the tires while the wheels are turning but it wasn't as effective. You have to push down on the pen to get the pint to come out. So pushing down, while holding it on the tire didn't work out very well. I couldn't get enough paint out with one push of the pen, it needed continuous pressure for an even flow of paint. Phil mentioned this same issue above over a year ago.

I went pack to the fine tip brush, as it was much quicker and easier for me. No pressure required on the rotating wheels, just touch the brush to the tire.

I have been using paint pens from Michel's craft store for painting the sides of my gargraves track to represent rust, I see no reason they would not work on drivers....

You push down on the paint pen while paint your rail right?

Try doing that to your locomotive while running on a roller stand and you'll see what I mean. The tire surface is a much smaller area to paint than the side of the rail, not to mention a paint brush is a lot easier to get in the small areas wihtout getting hit by the side rods while moving  

That was my experience also.

laidoffsick:  I enjoyed your update #6.

Well, I have some acrylic white by Grumbacher leftover from art class. Will that work for this?

I use testors, or Rustoleum glossy white enamal is good, too.

I put the loco on rollers on my workbench, power it up and get the drivers spinning slowly, then hold the paint up to the rim and apply it that way.  This makes the paint go on nice and smooth and even.  

For non-powered wheels (pilot truck, etc) I put the loco on its side on the workbench use clamps or wood blocks to anchor the truck and spin the wheel by hand while holding the brush to it.