Painting Brakes

[Dougboy]

Hi everyone,

I've painted brake discs and hubs before with thinned paint and a brush with limited success. Just want to ask if there is a specific method or technique you guys use for the brakes.

I'd like to try and use an airbrush for a better finish but I'm unsure of how to mask. They are tiny and the round curves are very hard to mask between the rotors and hubs. It's made especially difficult on Tamiya kits where the caliper is moulded to the discs so it's 3 different colors on a tiny piece.

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks

[MarcoSaupe]

First paint the whole part with the rotor colour, then mask them off with a liquid mask, like Micro Mask. As there is usually a step between rotor and hub you should get a good edge there, now airbrush with the hub colour.
I usually paint the calipers with a brush, or sometimes even a paintmarker, or I get the colour from a pintmarker and paint that per brush.

[stubeck]

I typically paint the rotor first. Then I'll mask the entire rotor/hub section and use this as the mounting point to paint the caliper. After this, I mask the caliper and rotor with tamiya tape and paint the hub.

I'm going to start using liquid masks more so I can get better lines and also simply be a bit faster.

[Dede]

As an altrernative to a liquid mask, try "Blu Tack", I find it very useful for masking off Callipers and hub centres, it is reusable over and over again also. cover where you want masked and use a scalpal to press, shape and cut it to the edge of the paint line.

[935k3]

I use a metal circle template. Get the appropriate size and lay tape across hole and a cut with a sharp blade.

[SteveNoble]

Paint the rotor. Use circle template to mask rotor and spray the hub colour. Then paint the caliper by hand, usually with an enamel based paint and a fine tipped brush, thinning the paint slightly to help it flow out better..

[Dougboy]

Thank you for all the tips and pointers. Seems like I need to add liquid mask and/or circle template to my arsenal