Hello all,
I want to paint the hub caps on my MKV. It looks like a very fiddly job masking it all up. I know that there is a stencil tool to assist with painting Mercedes metal hub caps as in this YouTube clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS1g2rPCR38&t=2s&frags=pl%2Cwn
Does anyone know if such a thing exists for Jaguar hub caps or would someone be prepared to make a few to sell?
Cheers,
Tim
Timothy
When I made the alloy brake drums and had to mask off the alloy face to paint the iron rim, I went to a place in Mitcham in an industrial estate off. Mitcham Rd, near Canterbury Rd, and the cut out vinyl adhesive sheet to the required drawing, they also later did a much more complicated cut out.
Otherwise it’s an hour or two with masking tape.
The factory paint shop probably had one since they were doing hundreds per week. I noticed on mine that it wasn’t very good, some missed places and paint on places where it shouldn’t have been.
Hi Ed,
It might be worth going to the place in Mitcham and have them make a stencil for the hub caps. I’d be happy to share it with Jag Club members.
Cheers,
Tim
Timothy Fox
Hi Rob,
I wonder if someone ended up with the stencilling tool or if someone has made one since then? It would certainly be a great tool to keep in any Jag club you belong to for members to use or take to a spray painter. It would save quite a bit of money not having to mask it up.
Cheers,
Tim
Timothy Fox
Well, the factory stopped painting hubcaps around 1955 or so on all models. I’m not sure if we ever established a more precise date, but I think I’ve seen a 140 with them. But 2.4 Mark 1s never had them.
I once worked at a plastic molding factory that made badges for Evinrude, and they painted the letters with a stencil setup. You have to hold the stencil tight against the work piece and control your spraying carefully or you get runs.
The stenciling setup at Jaguar was probably a workbench where the operator set the hubcap on a fixture, with a pneumatic foot pedal to bring the hubcap and stencil tightly together, hit another foot pedal to spray, then release and put the painted hubcap on a roller track into the oven.
They probably did one color all day, then cleaned it for doing another color the next day. In 1950 they built 7206 cars (ref Clausager), so taking 250 working days means they were building about 29 cars a day so would need 116 hubcaps a day.
But the stencil workbench probably went for scrap long ago, unless somebody wants to look in the back lot at Browns Lane.
Hi Tim.
I’ll be interested in what you find out as I have a set to do in black shortly.
Cheers, Graham.
Hi Graham,
Even if you only had a stencil tool for the centre of the hubcap and just masked the outer part of the rim with tape that would save huge amount of time.
Mine are black too.
Cheers,
Tim
Timothy Fox
If you have a relatively simple colour like black (yes I know there are dozens of blacks) you could use a touch-up pen to do the edges, and then a fine brush to fill.
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the suggestion.
I was hoping to make something or have something made that I could use and that others can use to make life a little easier. It may not happen and I just end up taking it to the spray painter!
Cheers,
Tim
I didn’t think it was all that big a deal, to cover the whole thing with masking tape, then use an Exacto knife to cut away where you want the paint.
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the tip!
Often when you are looking for a solution you can overthink things too much!
Even using one large piece of adhesive plastic and trimming it with a sharp knife or razor blade would do the trick!
Cheers,
Timothy Fox
If you mean kitchen plastic wrap, it might react with the thinner in the paint and shrivel up.
I did a light coat, let it set for a few minutes, then another coat. Can’t remember if I did a 3rd coat. Let it dry overnight before removing the masking.
No, not kitchen plastic something much heavier like the stuff they put on the exterior of new cars to protect the paintwork during shipping.
I’ll try a few things and see how I go.
As it turns out a friend has three painted black by a spray painter which he said he’s never going to use, so only one to do! Lucky me!
Cheers,
Tim
Rob there is a similar issue with SS1 wheels which have a narrow band of chrome around the edge of the rim…which has to be masked off.
Normally the masking tape is carefully removed fairly quickly after painting while the paint is still not hard so as to get a clean edge.
Would liquid masking tape with the hubcap mounted on a turntable work for the bands?
I would have thought it was easier to get an accurate paint edge without any masking.
Peter
What is liquid masking tape?
Never heard of such a thing. Sounds good. 
Cheers,
Tim
Google it to find a local supplier.
I’ve used liquid latex a couple of times, mostly because it’s what I had to hand. I just brushed it on to provide the boundary I wanted, then only painted a bit over the edge. The latex was easy to just rub off once the paint had cured.
Thank you very much, Andrew.
It sounds like a great idea!
Cheers,
Timothy Fox
