How do you paint and weather your trucks and wheels?

[doctorwayne]

For painting wheels, I use a brush - just small enough to fit so that the visible portion of the wheel's face and rim can be covered without getting too much paint on the sideframe as the wheel on the opposite side is turned.  I usually use the same brush to do the back of the wheel and the axle, too, although a wider one would be faster.  You can do this while the trucks are still on the car, but in most instances, I do it before installing the trucks.
In most cases, I don't paint the sideframes, although for those roads that did, a brush works well enough.  Most paint doesn't stick well to Delrin sideframes, but trucks don't get handled too much, so it shouldn't be a problem.
I have, on occasion, used a sandblaster to put a little "tooth" on the sideframes, using baking soda as a medium.  For this, I remove the wheelsets.  I generally stick with the wheels which came with the trucks, and do prefer plastic ones, mostly because the overly-wide wheel treads are less noticeable in black (they're also quieter).

For paint colour on wheels, use a rust-like colour for cars with roller bearings - front and rear faces and the axles.  The same shades are suitable for cars with solid bearings, but only on the backs of the wheels and the axles.  For wheel faces, black, brownish-black, greenish-black, etc., etc. are all suitable - the wheel faces get covered in oil from the journal boxes, then any dirt and dust kicked-up as the car moves generally sticks to that.

When I weather the car, I may use any combination of brushwork, pastels, or airbrushing, but the final step is almost always, for any method, airbrushing.  For this, the paint is thinned using about 90% thinner.  The car itself is weathered as desired, then I put the car on a piece of track in the spray booth, moving it back and forth with my free hand while spraying the wheels, trucks, and underbody.  Keeping it moving prevents having only portions of the wheel faces receiving the paint.  
This weathering will adhere to the Delrin well enough under normal handling.

This Athearn car has airbrush-painted trucks, then some lightly airbrushed weathering - I should have darkened the springs a bit, using a brush:

The trucks on this one aren't painted except for some airbrushed weathering.  I did use a brush to pick out the springs with a rusty colour, even though it's not usually prototypical:

Same treatment on this modified Athearn car:

As you can see, the trucks aren't really all that noticeable once they get a bit of weathering - kill the shine and they simply don't stand out that much.

Wayne

[Catt]

First thing I do for the truck side frames is hit them with a coat of Dupli Color adhesion promotor (the stuff used on real car plastic bumpers).This kills the shine and leave a finish that acrylic paint and weathering powders can stick to.

I usually just use a micro brush and rust coloured paint to do the wheels.

[slammin]

I cut down a piece of 1 x 2 pine. The trucks fit down over the pine, a small finish nail locates them thru the bolster screw hole and keep them in place while I turn the wood and spray the trucks. I can paint 2 pairs at a time.

[riogrande5761]

To avoid unrealistic brush marks, I've shot mine with grimy black paint using an airbrush.  There are some jigs you can buy to make spraying wheels faces easier.

[CBT]

For weathering, I use a paint pen from my local craft store. I just use a brown and it looks good enough for me! It isnt the most professional way to do it, but it works out in the end!

Hope this helps,

                   Chris

[BRAKIE]

Dave,First I try to find a easier way of painting wheels and trucks.

So,I use a Minuteman Scale Models wheel jig and a rail brown paint pen. For trucks I use a light rust paint and a small flat paint brush. I use a old Testors brush handle for holding the trucks. I lightly push the trucks down on the handle until it is snug.

[fourt]

 I use a fine paint brush on them, starting of with a grimy black color, then a wash of a couple differnt rust colors. Only used a airbrush a couple of times to spray light coat of dust on some. You could put a piece of tape over the axles holes to keep out paint or use a spare pair of wheels to keep out the paint also.

I use acrylic paint and have no problems with it sticking.

 

[hon30critter]

Hi guys:

I seem to be full of questions tonight.

How do you paint and weather your truck side frames and wheels?

I recall seeing Cody Grivno using a micro brush to paint wheels as opposed to putting them in a masking jig and spraying them. How do you do it?

Also, what techniques and paints do you use for painting side frames? If I used my airbrush I'd be concerned about gumming up the moving parts especially with sprung trucks.  

How well does paint stick to Delrin (acetal plastic) trucks?

How do you keep paint out of the axle holes if you are air brushing the side frames?

The reason I am asking is that I just finished painting a small fleet of stock cars, but the trucks and wheels still need to be painted.

Thanks

Dave