extra track links

Depends on the vehicle. Most track blocks carried on modern U.S. armor are left covered in the black/brown preservative they come covered in. I've seen photos from WWII where the track blocks were painted right along with the vehicle, but I'm told those blocks were for protection not repairs.

In WW II, I have seen it done both ways, but I prefer to leave them rusty or metallic to give a contrast color.

I talked with a WWII tank veteran a couple of months ago and he said they were used for repairs but that they put them on the tank's weak spots for protection.

QUOTE: Originally posted by tigerman In WW II, I have seen it done both ways, but I prefer to leave them rusty or metallic to give a contrast color.

that's what I was thinking. the vet also said that they took the broken ones too and pu them on.

I wonder just how much protection they would provide against an ap round? They might have some use against a hollow charged weapon such as a bazooka. Anyone know?

Not much from what I have read although those can really scatter the impact of the round on a wider area reducing the applied pressure. Those are allegedly more effected against small anti-armor rounds.

But of course I don't have much info on this.

If we're talking WWII I would hazard a guess that on American and British tanks for the most part the extra links would remain in their original color. Seems like most of the sources I have show that relatively few paint schemes were applied in the field, other than the occasional white wash or local scheme. Now Germany would be a different matter IMHO. Tanks came off the assembly line in the base color, and were delivered to the field with tins of undiluted paint as a general rule. Once in the field, dilution of the paint, method of application etc would have varied I would think. Overspray and such on pioneer tools and track spares would have been the rule rather than the exception if I had to guess. I defer to others with more knowledge, but this is what my observations have shown to be trends.

Monktrade. What you say certainally makes sense, it would be nice to know more about it. It would save me a bit of time painting.

Depends on which extra tracks links you are talking about Chris. Some were stored in racks and these were used for repairs. Others were welded to the hull and turret of the vehicle for added protection. Most of the tracks used for protection were well used and salvaged tracks so they would retain the original track colour with a little added rust. If camo was filed applied, which was often the case, then they would have went right over the tracks.

yeah I threw a couple links on my crusader painted metal and I put some rust on them

On Abrams tanks, the extra links were painted along with the rest of the tank, and they did'nt even paint behind the extra ones. This was during preparations for the first Gulf War.