painting tracks

[pastafarian]

I'm finishing up my first tracked vehicle. A Tamiya M113a1. What's the best way to paint the tracks?

I'm thinking an overall gunmetal paint, with rust brushed on lightly, then steel drybrushed on where the metal hits the road, and then going back and painting the rubber (?) pads black.

What do you folks think?

JOhn

[Icehound]

Dont use rust unless your 113 has been sitting for a while.When I used to crew a M-113 the only time we would get rust on the tracks was when we did not move it for a while. Use your gunmetal and depending where your 113 has been driving you could use browns for mud or even buff for a dusty look.For the rubber track pads try either Tamiya Nato black or even a very dark grey as the only time the track pads where really balck was when they where new and the new look did not last long once we got driving on them. Most of the rust if the vehicle sat for a while would usually be on the end connectors which are on the sides of the tracks.

Hope this helps

Mark

PS ,Dont know how the double post stuff happened, must be cyber magic

J

Edited January 25, 2009 by Icehound

[Icehound]

Was a double post . Ignore

Mark

J

Edited January 25, 2009 by Icehound

[HeavyArty]

I agree, don't use rust. I also wouldn't use gun metal. Its too shiney. I start w/flat black, then weather with washes of braown, grey, and sand, followed by steel highlights where they come into contact w/the ground or other suspension parts. Lastly, paint the pads a black color, and drybrush with dirt or sand color.

Here is a good post at Armorama that explains it well.

[madmike]

Flat black undercoat, followed by a heavy dry brush of chocolate brown, then dry brushing of polished steel to simulate wear on the contact points.

After that I use weathering powders to add baked in mud and dirt.

MikeJ

Edited January 25, 2009 by madmike

[pastafarian]

Thanks guys, I think I've got some pretty good ideas of how to get started. I'll go pick up some more paints tomorrow. -Dang, I hate going to the hobby shop

Gino, did you have that bookmarked on armorama or did you do a search? I didn't think they had a decent search over there.

Thanks again folks,

John

[HeavyArty]

Gino, did you have that bookmarked on armorama or did you do a search? I didn't think they had a decent search over there.

I did a quick search. If you know what to search for, it works. You just have to have the right search terms.

[Wayne S]

Depending on where your aiming it to be stationed might depend on the look of it. Find a picture and just run with it.

Personally I like the typical Europe weather look

[jugjunkie]

I think rust if done properly and with reserve always looks good on armour subjects. It doesn't matter if it stood for some time or not the idea is that these are are huge chunks of Steel used in the most ardeous of conditions, and generally not too well looked after in the asthetics department. I use Gunmetal mixed with about 20% matt black - this gives a good result, i then use a weak oil paint rust wash, when dry (24 hours) I use a matt over-coat with a 10% mixture of my dirt colour (the colour of the mud, soil or sand from the area of ops) with a final dry brush of silver. I don't mean to hijack your thread but i thought i'd add a pic for you to see the result.

[pastafarian]

I think rust if done properly and with reserve always looks good on armour subjects. It doesn't matter if it stood for some time or not the idea is that these are are huge chunks of Steel used in the most ardeous of conditions, and generally not too well looked after in the asthetics department. I use Gunmetal mixed with about 20% matt black - this gives a good result, i then use a weak oil paint rust wash, when dry (24 hours) I use a matt over-coat with a 10% mixture of my dirt colour (the colour of the mud, soil or sand from the area of ops) with a final dry brush of silver. I don't mean to hijack your thread but i thought i'd add a pic for you to see the result.

Looks great! What do you thin your oil paint with? I usually use mineral spirits but I've heard that will attack the tracks.

John

[jugjunkie]

When I said oil paint, I meant artists oils - sorry for the omission. Any decent art store will stock Dahler artists oils thinners or any other brand will probably do just as well.

[madmike]

MIG pigments are great for tracks.

:)

MikeJ

[HWR MKII]

Another way to do track is to paint them an earth color overall. Tracks are very rarely clean unless they get pressurewashed. Once you have the earth color on if the tracks have rubber pads on them lightly drybrush the pads with a german grey or nato black to show exposed rubber(this is mainly if they have driven on a road surface). For the metal sheen scribble on some fine sandpaper with a pencil to get graphite dust. Then using your finger burnish the powder onto the end connectors and the guide teeth to give them a sheen. If your track is all steel like WW2 german track or russian track skip the rubber pad step and go straight to the graphite. Once thats done dust them with pastels to taste. This will give you the effect of track that has been covered in mud and dirt then run "clean" on a paved surface.