Painting Aircraft Spinners and Tires

So the tip of your spinner needs to be red? It can be difficult painting a conical object evenly, even if you try masking it. At 1/72 scale, it gets even harder. What about the tires on the landing gear? Do they always come out looking sloppy when you free-hand paint them?




Spinners and tires can be difficult to
paint, but this tip makes accurate
results easily achievable. Even
the 'whitewall' tires on Clarence
Anderson's "Old Crow" are a snap!

There is a simple solution. Cut the tip off of a toothpick so that it fits snugly into the hub of your wheel, or wrap it in tape until it will support you spinner and then chuck it into a portable electric drill motor. Now you have yourself a 'painting lathe' that can be used similar to how a potter uses a potter's wheel.

Apply paint to the tread of a tire first with the drill spinning so that the top of the tire is moving away from you. To paint the sidewall of the tire, just reverse the direction of the drill so that the bottom of the tire is moving away. By doing this you will be able to see as the paint is applied and roll your brush right up to the rim of the wheel. Voila! Painting in the round made easy!