As the Thanksgiving holiday weekend comes to a close, I was able to get quite a bit done today even though the weather outside was cold and miserable! Yesterday when I painted the exterior I also painted the road wheels. These were mounted on toothpicks with small amounts of blue-tack poster putty for ease of handling and received the same primer-and-base coat treatment as the rest of the vehicle.
Since these are all-steel wheels, I needed to create a bare metal surface where the wheels contact the tracks. To do this, the first step was to apply some Non-Buffing Metalizer Gunmetal with a square tip brush to avoid getting any on the exposed exterior.
Next I dry brushed some enamel Steel with a round 0 sable brush to lighten the effect of the metalizer while still retaining the darker underlying tone.
The last step was the application of a roughly 90/10 thinner/Raw Umber enamel wash with the same round 0 sable brush. I applied the wash with careful strokes in the direction the wheel would travel in order to smooth out the previous dry brushing a bit and avoid lifting the paint in the process.
The wheels were then mounted to the suspension on both sides. Not much of the wheels are exposed once the tracks are mounted but what is visible has a very convincing look relative to the DY painted exterior surfaces and will provide a good platform for the later pigment weathering.
Speaking of that platform, I also added some pre-weathering preparation in the form of some dry brushed Steel to the sprocket guide teeth followed by some dry brushed Burnt Umber. I also lightly stippled some Burnt Umber on the lower hull sides and the road wheels to simulate some light scuffing/wear. The wear on the hull won't be too visible but it's there for the curious.
I had assembled the MK replacement tracks a little bit at a time here and there over the last couple of weeks and the MK-recommended 108 links was spot on. I test fit both sides just to be sure and while one side is slightly longer than the other, the adjustable idlers are able to take up the slack where needed vs. adding extra links.
The tracks were removed and I dared the cold in the garage to paint them. I applied a primer coat of enamel Flat Black by airbrush and followed that up with the main coat of Non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal. The metalizer is lacquer-based so the enamel coat helps insure the lacquer doesn't attack the delicate hinge pins and cause the links to separate unexpectedly. The tracks were given the same treatment as the bare steel surfaces of the road wheels.
Once the wash had dried, I fitted the tracks to both sides and completed their installation.
It will now sit for the week until next weekend and that should give the paint plenty of time to cure up before I finish up with the remaining details and then start the weathering process.