discussion Tamiya 1/6 Harley tyre white beading Help!

[Guest]

So these big tyres (3 as it's with a sidecar) have 2 white beads each side. These need to be painted on. They are about 1.5mm wide with a 1mm gap. To do this by hand and make it look good is IMPOSSIBLE! Has anyone got an idea? I thought about some sort of tape. Then I thought about putting the tyres onto the wheel and making a slow-spin device so I can lower a paint pen onto the tyre. I have noticed that any builds online of these Harleys have not got the white-walls (Even the brilliant builds) suggesting it's bloody difficult. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Gern]

Can't you cut a series of circles into wide masking tape - much like the aircraft builders use a series of circles for painting roundels? I don't mean trying to cut a thin strip, but starting from the inside and making your circles successively larger. I know it will be time consuming as you'll need quite a few circles of different sizes, and I'm not sure how the tape will stick to the sidewall profile, but maybe it's a possibility .......

 

[Guest]

Yes would be a job...I also thought of sign-maker cad-cam with a knife-plotter on vinyl

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Karl
Another idea is to use a compass and bow pen on the assembled wheel, putting the point in the axle hole. It’s what some railway modellers use to line out wheels on engines.....load the pen with a brush though, don’t dip the pen, and probably better to use process white or ink rather than model paint because it will flow better....