Outer Limits 4x4 Board

What do you guys think? I have wheels like these:



... but without the black paint. They have a bit of gold paint instead but not in quite the same pattern.

To paint them would it be better to mask up the unpainted parts really perfectly, or to mask them up just reasonably well and get sharp edges by sanding a bit of excess paint off later?

I hope this question makes sense.

I would try a thin coating of something like vaseline or candlestick on the surfaces you don't want the paint to stick to. You have so many curved edges that masking is going to be difficult. Try it out first to make sure the paint solvents don't eat through the vas or grease. I have done this out in the field in industry with good effect. It cleans up easily and as long as you are careful with the coating, the edge quality is good.

I got the idea originally from my days in the gravure printing environment when we would liquid mask the areas we didn't want to be etched and plated. All the fine work was finished off with paint brush. It was time consuming, but the results had to be 100%.

Maybe a professional painter opinion should be sought, perhaps from an automotive paint shop? They might have a better product to use.

Painters tape (blue stuff from bunnings etc) and a exacto razor knife to trim to all the fine edges for masking will do the trick. I do this when powdercoating except that I use a high temp tape. Takes a little while to do but well worth it.

Globes look best with no paint at all and polished rim, spokes and centre.