Let's Get Started

The basics: (1) Spray paint in a well-ventillated area and wear protective gear, (2) Wash and thoroughly dry your parts before painting, (3) set aside a paint-drying location so dust/hair/kids/etc. don't disturb the finished product, and (4) consult model building web sites for more advice.

 
Wheel Covers    
The hub caps (technically, wheel covers) from the '58 Edsel kit include four tiny spinners.  Carefully use the Exacto knife to cut the parts off the "tree", and shave off any flashing.  This takes some patience, and a magnifying glass helps.  There will be spots on the edge of the wheel cover where the chrome was shaved off.  Use a detail brush to touch-up these spots with chrome paint.
After cleaning the detail brush, paint the center of each tiny wheel cover a flat black.  Once this dries, you can even etch a tiny "E" in the paint with the Exacto blade, lined up with one of the spinner prongs, for an insanely accurate model.
To simulate the spinner disk applique, use a detail brush to liberally paint the center of the wheel cover (carefully avoiding the black center dot), the body color of the car.  (If your main body color is white, use the secondary roof color for the wheel covers.)  While this paint is still wet, position the spinner on the cover.  Once the paint dries, this will hold the spinner in place without you having to mess with shaving the chrome and glueing the tiny prongs onto the cover.
  You can also try using the detail brush to paint the 12 little indentations around the center cap with a gray paint, if so inclined.

Undercarriage A true 1960 Villager undercarriage will have a flat black frame, and flat light-green undercoated body panels.  Or you can go the route I went and assume this car was treated with a nice flat black rustproofing all around, which lets you avoid figuring out how to mask off the frame for multiple colors.

Start by gently forcing one wheel off of each axle and remove them from the undercarriage.  Spray the whole base a flat black.  Once it's dry you can add aluminum metal foil strips to the exhaust pipes, muffler, gas tank and transmission case.  I took thin strips of electrical tape and made gas tank straps, which give it a 3-D effect.  You're probably better off gluing on strips of styrene painted black, as the tape will certainly sag and leave residue over time.

Tires/Axles If the rims and axles of your Country Squire are all there and straight, it's a good ldea to use them as a starting point, since they already fit nicely through the holes in the undercarriage.  But the rims that come with the car are a molded combination of rim and wheelcover.  When we add the tires and wheel covers from the '58 Edsel kit, the length of the completed axle is too long for the body of the car, so we have to cut it back.

Rather than try to cut the metal axle, I found it easier to use the Dremel tool to grind down the plastic rim.  Take about an eighth of an inch off the base of each rim, grind down the hubcap so that the Edsel one will fit flat on top of it (this also removes the chrome plating so the plastic cement will work in the next step).  This can even be done with the rims still on the axle, if you can't safely get them off.

Finally, drill a hole from the wheel cover side, through to the axle.  This is so the metal axle has room to push further through the rim.  With the axles positioned through the holes on the undercarriage, use a vice to carefully pressure the rims onto the axle, test fitting frequently to insure the tires fit into the body while minimizing side-to-side movement.  Paint the back of the rims a flat black.  Once dry, fit the 1958 Edsel tires onto the rims.  They will be a little wobbly since they're not designed to fit exactly, but once the Edsel wheelcovers are glued onto the existing rims, it will give the tires more stability.
 
Interior The Ford seats have a simulated pleated material that go across the entire front of both bench seats, while the Edsel material doesn't go all the way across - the middle is vinyl with an embossed oval "E".  This is where your Dremel tool comes in handy, especially if it comes with a pointy grinder attachment.  First carefully grind down the center of each seat with the Dremel (or sandpaper/emery boards), and finish off with a 600-grit sandpaper to get it smooth.  With a marker, sketch out the oval "E" on the seat.  And if you're like me, wipe off and repeat until you get one you like.  Then with the pointy grinder thing, score the design into the seat.  Not too deep - just until the marker is gone.  Even if it's not perfect, once it's painted this will look awesome.

The Ford dashboard is close enough to the Edsel to not have to modify it.  For painting this car's black and silver interior, I ran through a 3-color process.  First, remove the steering wheel and column, mask off everything except the dashboard with masking tape and spray the dash with a high-gloss black.  Use this same paint on your steering wheel and column, too.  Allow this to thoroughly dry, then cover the painted dashboard and paint the interior with the German Silver.  Once this is dry, use masking tape to cover the leading edge of each seat cushion, the center "E" sections, the backs and sides of each seat and the insert of each door panel.  Then spray the interior with a satin black (everything you covered will remain silver).  Carefully remove the masking and let it dry.

With a detail brush, paint the horn ring of the steering wheel a chrome silver, along with the inserts on the lower dashboard on both sides of the steering wheel.  Carefully paint a spear-and-shield on the glove compartment door, and don't forget the door and window handles.  Wipe the paint off of the brush and use this "drybrush" technique to highlight the guages and radio details by gently running the nearly paint-free brush across the parts.  Finally, for an added bit of realism that model companies frequently forget, fabricate an ash tray on the back of the front seat by cutting a small rectangle of sheet styrene and painting it satin black before gluing it on.

Now you're done with the "easy" part...
Let's move on to The Body.

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