Ok Im a DORK

Your not a Dork!

I definitely wouldn't put any rust on them. The sand would polish that off in some name of a hurry!

I'll now bail and let the people who operate the real things (or who know better than me, I'm mainly WWII) answer your question.

Bustedhart,

If you've come to the 'dark side' (armor) you are not a Dork (isn't it some part of a whale or something...?) and your question makes prefect sense. I know there are a few threads just about tracks on the other pages you may also want to look up.
Anyhoo, yes, no rust on the tracks. The end connectors would be steel and even burnished to a shine where the drive sprocket hits them (and the center guides).. I use graphite or pencil lead to 'burnish' my tracks. The track shoes are rubber so a dark gray works nice. If it's in some sticky soil, just weather away and have fun!

Ron

Like ron said above, and the tracks are like a dirt,rust,tannish hue, even on ones here in germany but like ron said they do get worn on the insides of the end connectors and the pads get beat up as well as the road wheels.

Pastels ( chalky ones ) work like a champ on doing tracks.

Your not a dork, and they have prettymuch covered all you need to know about that.

yeah, like they said...your not a dork...just takes time to learn (alooooooooonnnnnggggg time :P ) anyways, what i've done is give my tank treads a matallic finish then spray with an airbrush some "sepia" acrylic ink. i think it tones down the metal look real good. then i usually give an oil wash of raw/burnt umber. i like the results.

Welcome to the forums Bustedhart
and your not a Dork

Valid quesion to ask so.....

Not a Dork!

Welcome to the forums!

dude wtf, ur not a dork because u asked how to weather a piece of rubber. ive asked alot more wierder questions. if you want to go for the clean look just spray it in matt black, dry brush with metallic silver, then use pastels matching ref. pics. keep the tracks relatively rust free though.

welcome to the forum bustedhart.

Welcome bustedhart. The person who doesn't ask the question is a dork. There are no stupid questions. As you will soon see, we are a lively bunch.

Hey Everybody, Thanks for the advice. I have my M1A1 on hold afew days for "dry time" Im not building this model for myself Im doing it for a brother of mine who actually drives along side them. Hes a Bradly Driver for Bravo Company 2-8 4th Infantry currently in Iraq. Ill try to get pics of the Bradly and post them I took about 5 months on it.When he was on leave in Nov He was very proud of it. Anyway while i have my tank drying im working on my first Diaroma, its small 2 figures and some ground cover i hope it turns out right. But seriously Everyone thanks for the info and support I think im going to like my stay here

Andy

As we say in the army , The only stupid question is the one you don't ask.