Painting Locomotive Wheels

[douglas]

Hey all,

What method do you recommend for painting locomotive wheels safely (as in without damaging any other parts of the locomotive) ?



I ask because, as you can see, Bachmann's James the Red Engine has light gray wheels and axleboxes on the tender where these should all be matte black, and I don't want to mess up my brand-new model. Black Sharpie has been recommended to me in this case, but it doesn't get in all the nooks and crannies and comes off when it's overwritten.

[James in FL]

https://www.micromark.com/Neolube-2-fl-oz-

[Trainman203]

I'd leave the wheels alone.  The grey is a lot more realistic in that railroad locomotive and car wheels and running gear are never clean.  Plus the grey shows up the spokes and details better in normal indoor light.  If they are black, the detail becomes obscure, you can see much less detail.  Many serious model railroaders paint their steam engines dark grey in total for that reason. 

[Terry Toenges]

In the pic from the show, they look darker. I guess that is how he wants it to look.