Tips or tricks?

I'm working on my wagon wheels and would like to replace the red stripe. Any suggestions??? I've got the base coat on...

 

Your masking skills leave something to be desired - if you grease the lug studs, the paint will wipe off. The hub would be easy to mask with paper.

I expect they paint the stripe by spinning the wheels.

 

A good spraydown witrh lacquer thinner will take care of the overspray on non prepped areas.

However.....look at that seam between the inner disc and the outer rim.. See all those spots of chipped paint/dirt/sand? That will come back to haunt you...Unless you live in a really dry place expect to see rust streaks starting there in a few months.

To prevent that...make sure you have sandblasted the area as much as possible. Clean out the joint between the two pieces with a sharp tool like an awl or a pocket knife. Get all that loose material out of there. Then, with the wheel horizontal, seal the area with an etching primer, then a filling primer. Use a small brush to get it in there, or a detail gun. Once you have the areas fully coated, and they have dried out, you can sand any irregularities , and refinish the rest of teh wheel the way you have already done.
On the backside of teh seam you can do teh same thing, and dribble the seam with rustproofing when you are done, wiping off any excess on the front of the rim. It is a hard thing to do to stop rusting there once it starts, so you gotta really make an effort to keep it slowed down to an acceptable level. Some guys actually use a bead of seam sealer or paintable caulk there, which I don't have experience with. Powder coating after good blasting is another good option, except powder coating is usually not repairable if you scratch it later.

And on the stripe, a striping brush with one shot enamel will do it, while spinning the wheel.. There are a couple posts over at the 2A page about striping rims, one involves a Home Depot bucket and a paint marker filled with good paint, the other talks about usng a striping brush. You won't get the stripe perfect, nobody can.. Close to perfect, yes.