Painting Tracks

I like using a small bottle of Testors steel to do my wear areas and depending on whether the vehical has been not moving for awhile i use a base of gunmetal with a light wash of rust, or if it has i don't use as much rust if it's been on a road. But if it's been running in dirt (such as a field ) i use mostly a steel color. take a look at a CAT crawler on a construction site and you'll see how the dirt will clean and polish the tracks of any rust.

QUOTE: Originally posted by seventrs Painting sounds like the way to go, but how do you get an even coat on something like a track link with all those little nooks and crannies? seventrs

Airbrushing multiple passes from different angles with a very thin mixture. That's on the sprue, if they're just a pile of metal links, I don't know, double-side tape 'em down maybe?

What's the general opinion toward staining metal tracks with Blacken-it or some other solution that causes white metal to become darker? I tried it once and was less than satisfied with the results--too spotty and uneven. Painting sounds like the way to go, but how do you get an even coat on something like a track link with all those little nooks and crannies?

seventrs

A frequent topic, to be sure. If you wish, I would suggest doing a forum search, as there have been enough posts about this very topic.
ANywhoo, my two cents:
All steel:
I assemble in portions as much as possible, then airbrush the whole thing either steel or gunmetal (chainmail and gun metal from the Citadel acrylics range). This is followed by a rust wash, then a dust and dirt wash. I apply each as either watered down artists acrylics or pastel chalk powder and water. After fully dry, I drybrush lightly with a steel colour.
As for rubber-pad ones, I hand paint (very carefully and time consumingly) all the metal portions by hand, then wash with a rust shade. The rubber pad portion, I usually leave as is, as vinyl is close enough to the colour, then drybrush lightly with Tamiya neutral gray.
In both instances, when the tracks are on the vehicle, they receive a dustcoat that is airbrushed over the whole running gear and tank.

On this StuG, I painted the indies on the sprue a light metal, then rust. The metal coat was too light in my opinion, Gun metal would be a better choice. I washed with a very dark brown mix to try to save it because I didn't want to Airbrush in place. Too dark actually but I figure the snow will lighten it and balance it out.

This first pic shows one side without the wash, the other with:

Here's a closeup:


I would paint the rubber tracks the same, just a darker base coat, gunmetal as the guys have already mentioned.

As you can see there are many ways to get to the same place. A magician once said to someone who asked how he did a trick "Don't try to figure how I did an illusion, think of how you would do the illusion". Not all tracks look the same. Different conditions lead to different looks. Had the tracks been wet? How long had the tank sat? I like to start with dark metalic gray but my last tank won best armor and best military vehicle, and I did something different. I had some good color photos of a T-62 in the desert and I tried to reproduce what I could see. I painted the track steel with a just a little black added for a base coat.Then I thinned some unber and lightly oversprayed the track until the steel track had a slight rust tint. Then I dry brushed steel over the cleats and edges. I followed that with a good dusting.

You can pick up a can of auto primer at any auto parts store. Its cheap and is the same color as tamiya's Rust. Also try using a silver pencil to high lite the wear marks around road wheels and drive sprokets. A silver or sharp #2 pencil works great around hatches and grab handles ti similate wear

So MM enamels work on Tamiya vinyl tracks?

QUOTE: I spray Model Master acryl rust.

D'Oh! I can't get that anywhere near where I live.

I spray Model Master acryl rust. Tamiya Hull Red is sorta close. I have used it as German red-oxide primer.

What brand rust do you guys spray? What would be the closest Tamiya colour? Thanks.

Hello, as for tracks I always start with auto primer red. When this dries over night, I consider what terrain my tracks will be most likely be in and paint accordingly, This way I can controll the amount of rust I wish to show. Don't forget to use a silver or some kind of metal color dry brushing on areas that wear like drive wheels. If you get a chance look at a bulldozer. You can tell where its been by the color of its tracks. Clean tracks are for museums and sitting in front of the VFW. have fun

i first prime black. then i cut some brown pastels with an exacto and thin it down to an ink with paint thinner. i apply that to both sides of the tracks. after that dries, i drybrush heavy in steel. if that is too heavy, i apply a thin coat of black ink (very thin). i hope this helps. good luck.

Yea its the dragon t-34/76 mod. 1941. For the sag i built the tracks and then when the glue was still wet i placed the tracks aroudn the wheels and added crumpled paper between the fenders adn the tracks to get the amount of sag i wanted. Just be careful, if you make too muhc sag you may run short of links, or may have to modify one to fit.

When I paint tracks I use a mixture of steel,rust and ft.black.When I put on the steel first then with a wet brush of rust,I go and paint the rust into the tracks while the steel paint is wet.I work it in good so that the steel still shows throught.After I have done that I wash it down with a thin wash of ft.black,the results are amazing.Digger

Here are some more ideas.
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18473

Paint tracks with Testors Gunmetal. Let dry.
Then add a oil wash of raw umber and cadmium orange mixed roughly 50/50 to tracks.
Then dry-brush silver, of some sort, over raised surfaces to indicate wear.

Glenn

As awsoda pointed out, gun metal is a good base paint for steel tracks although a mixture of black and dark blue is also applicable. The wash you use is dependent on the kind of weathering you want to simulate. Tracks often travesing muddy and wet surfaces tend to get rusty and muddy while those in desert conditions just get worn and dusty.
Dry brushing with silver to highlight raised areas will be agood way to simulate worn out areas.

For rubber, flat black can be used as the base paint and drybrushing with paint of greyish tone is good to simulate worn out edges.

I prime with black, then spray rust, add a heavy burnt umber wash, tone it down with buff and highlight with metallic-grey.

Awasoda, nice dio, is that a dragon kit? if it is, can you tell me if theres a trick to getting the sag correct or does it just take care of itself?

Well for the steel tracks i paint mine gunmetal then wash them with a rust color wash. When that dries i dry brush will silver. You can see this in my T-34 Dio.

As for the rubber and metal tracks i will do the above for the metal parts and for the rubber paint them a blackish blue color and dry brush with a lighter blue black color(just like on the box art)