Great update Pawel. You're really dressing up this old Bulldog! 

As far as what paints to use on AFV CLub soft tracks, I'd say use a water based acrylic. I have not had good experiences with those tracks when I've painted them. They have tended to "self destruct" once paint goes on them.

That is looking really good.  Great job on it.

stikpusher

Great update Pawel. You're really dressing up this old Bulldog! 

I agree. This kit is one of the classic kits of our youth, like the Monogram Patton.

I'll never not recommend this kit to someone looking to build their first tank model kit.

It just looks like a tank, big, green, with a white star.

Revell also did a snap tite Abrams kit that I've added to this list of recommended first tank kits.

Stik, Gino, Rob - thanks a lot for your kind words, I'm glad you like my work.

Stik - what paint brands do you have in mind?

Any other ideas for painting those "rubber" tracks with?

Have a nice day!

Paweł 

If you were in the US, I'd tell you to head to Walmart and grab a brownish color of spray paint, zap both sides and use some dark and light gray paints to pick out some color on the details.

Old tank tracks sort of take on the color of dark metal like storm grates and manhole covers on city streets.

These tanks didn't see a long service life in the US Army. They never really got a chance to become old, worn out jalopies like some of our other medium tanks.

Thanks for the idea, Rob! I might still try it with the paints I have locally. Did you have any particular brand in mind? I actually thought about doing it with brown first, just using an airbrush, it's just that I heard about paint flaking off those rubber tracks, even had it start happening on the Sherman I have built some time ago - luckily I wrapped the tracks up before it got really bad. At that time then I used old Testors metalizer for base colour, I heard that it's supposed to stick, but that was problematic.

I think I'll give it a try unless somebody has another idea?

Have a nice day!

Paweł

Pawel: I carefully wash the tracks in detergent and then spray them with rubber bumper paint. It should be available at an auto parts store. It should provide a primer to paint over with other paint types.

This is what I use, not sure what brands you might have in Poland.  

The paint I use is an earth brown made by Rustoleum and designed to be used to paint resin lawn furniture and window shutters. Basically designed to stick to vinyl andexposre to weather.

Gamera, Rob - thanks again, great ideas, I'll look up my local hardware and automotive stores and I'm pretty sure I can find something similar here. I'll keep you posted, have a nice day!

Paweł

Rob Gronovius

The paint I use is an earth brown made by Rustoleum and designed to be used to paint resin lawn furniture and window shutters. Basically designed to stick to vinyl andexposre to weather.

 

That sounds good, if you can start with earth brown it seems easier than my using dark grey as primer and then painting a second coat over it. If it's designed to stick to vinyl lawn furniture it should work fine on rubber tracks. 

Good luck Pawel, and yeah please let us know how it goes. 

Pawel, you're using the AFV Club one-piece tracks, right? I used Vallejo acrylic on the ones I did about five years ago, no issues with reactions between the paint and plastic  yet, and the paint adheres well, still on.

Hello everybody!

Thanks again for your comments.

I made a test using Vallejo directly on the track - while it felt that it could work, the paint was very fragile - first scratch with a fingernail took the paint right off.

I was looking for a suitable spray paint and I have found a transparent plastic primer used in automotive. I applied Humbrol on top of that and that holds better. Let's give it some time now...

And I have some time now, so I decided to start painting. Here's all the stuff that had to be painted:

As you can see some parts are already primed, and some Humbrol 113 is already on. The mufflers are painted my custom-mixed rust.

On the photo above there's preshading done with Humbrol 113. There's hairspray and salt on the mufflers - this is about the only opportunity for me to try some serious chipping on an OD - painted vehicle!

And finally a layed of OD - here I traditionally use Humbrol 66. With some future on top of that the color is almost exactly spot on:

OK, so there will be some more weathering, a was ad maybe some streaks.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel, your M-41 is looking very good.  I like how the primer is barely visible through the OD.  Can't wait to see your next update.

tjs

Hello MR TOM,

Thanks a lot for your comment!

That's not quite how I meant it, though... This red brown is supposed to be iron oxide, all right - but I wanted it to look like the red Vietnam earth deposited in the crevices of the hull... It's a bit like with a joke and having to explain it...

Have a nice day!

Paweł

You've really done great at imitating the red dirt in Vietnam! 

Thanks a lot for your kind words, Chad!

Hello!

On the other forum it was pointed out to me, that the scratches on the turret side were just too extreme, so I smoothed them out a little - it needed some repainting after that:

I have also chipped the mufflers and started some further weathering, also painted the yellow rectangles that will become the ARVN "licence plates". As you can see the tracks are on, too - the photos will follow, soon:

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Its coming along nicely.  Good job on the paint.

I'm with Gino; it looks like it's coming along nicely. It's one of those kits that's quite aged, but is still worth building. I feel the same about the old Monogram Patton. Kits people build who just want to build a tank.

Yeah, she's coming along great Pawel, the mud and dirt looks good and ground in! And really nice work on the mufflers. 

Gino, Rob, Gamera - thanks a lot for your kind words, you really keep me motivated!

And in the meantime I have put the tracks on. I primed them with automotive plastic primer (funny stuff - its clear, I mean no colour) and Humbrol 113 went on top of that. I painted the silver and grey details on them with Molotov markers:

I still want to dirty the top up a little more, and I'm also working on the stowage and maybe a figure or two...

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel, those chipped mufflers look great!

Real G

Pawel, those chipped mufflers look great!

It's actually sheet metal that covers the muffler. They got heated and rusted a lot because of rain/water on the sheet metal.

Looks great, the mud and dirt looks good and worn it. 

Hello everybody!

Real G, Rob, Gamera - thanks a lot for your comments!

I went on with the weathering - I tried putting on some oils for the second time in my career and I have put on a red-brown wash. Here's what the turret looks now:

How do you like it?

I think I'll concentrate on the stowage and some crew now.

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello again!

Like I wrote I put some work into stowage - still a lot to do... Here's what I have so far, some painted, some still waiting for it:

I have also worked on the crew... Here's some frankensteining going on:

The grey parts are Dragon, the green ones are Tamiya and the yellow ones, including nice Vietnamese heads is MasterBox. And I have actually painted them boys and here's how they turned out:

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day!

Paweł

Lookin' good Pawel!!! Fantastic work on the figures! 

Hello Gamera!

Thanks a lot for your comment!

I slowly started putting "stuff" on the tank, I have also made the antennae out of a guitar string:

I have also finished up the "Ma Deuce":

Thanks for lookin', have a nice day!

Paweł

Hello!

On the Polish forums one of the colleagues expressed a thought, that the M2 could be better. Normally I would allow that as an opinion and move on, but he went so far as to send me some parts and PE and even paying for the postage, so I thought I kinda own him to build that MG better. Here are the results:

And after painting it up:

Now I'm really on the home stretch - I hope to be able to take the "done" pictures and post them here soon! Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł 

Fine work here Pawel. I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together.