Tamiya lacquers and a paintbrush are all you need to achieve awesome paint-and-chrome wheels
Ever want a wheel with a painted center and retain the chrome outer rim? Here’s a simple way to accomplish that and create the illusion of openings where there are none on the kit part.
Obviously, the more crisply defined and well-molded the wheels are, the better this process will work. Here are wheels that appeared in a series of Revell 1/25 scale Camaro Trans Am kits in the mid-1990s. A little soft by comparison to more modern kits but workable.
It’s easy to do this with a brush and no masking. If you’re using a bright final color, like red, yellow, or white, start with a white undercoat. I recommend Tamiya Flat White (No. LP-4). The paint covers and adheres well, and it dries uniform and smooth. Let this coat dry for at least 12 hours.
On the other hand, if you have wheels that you want gloss black or another dark color, start with a black base, like Tamiya Flat Black (No. LP-1). Because those molded recesses, which would be open on the real wheels, will be painted black later anyway, the lacquer adheres well, so I painted them at this point.
After the base coat dries, apply your gloss colors over the flat white or flat black with a brush. Again, I recommend brushing Tamiya lacquers. Enamels can be used, too, but allow more time for drying. Paint the recesses the wheel color and allow the paint to fully dry before the next step.
Paint the recesses in the wheels Tamiya Flat Black acrylic (No. XF-1). Using acrylic for this step is the key to the process. Paint as cleanly as possible, but if you get a little on the face of the wheel, don’t sweat it. Let the acrylic dry for about 30 minutes, but not much longer if you can help it.
After the acrylic has dried to a uniform sheen, wet a paper towel with glass cleaner (moderately wet, not soaked) and wipe the flat black off the face of the wheels. A cotton swab wet with glass cleaner helps clean-up the outer edges and deeper, recessed wheels.
If you need to touch up the gloss color, apply just enough to cover the needed areas. When it fully dries, the gloss shrinks considerably and blends in. The final touch is Tamiya Metallic Gray (No. LP-61) for the center nut color.