What is the best/recomended method of painting tracks. I am planing on painting them flat black as a base color and then red dirt then dry brushing a silver or metal color. I’m just not sure how to get the look of sorta used. Not really looking to make it dripping chunks from the fenders but also not wanting to have it look fresh off the show room floor at the local armor dealership. Any suggestions would be very appriciated.
Paul
Results may vary.
Hi Paul. Try taking a look at this thread:
www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18473
The response you’re looking for is 3rd from the top. Good luck.
There are a lot of different ways to go about doing it. I’ll stick to mine and let the others give you theirs. I spray mine a light, uneven coat of hull red (or Model MAster Rust) over the tracks (assuming they are black already. If they are another color, base coat of black or gunmetal first). Then I give a heavy wash of black and brown, which covers some of the rust color. Dry brush steel on last then give it a slight mist of Tamiya buff or some pastel chalks for dust. I use less rust on modern armor. Also make sure if your tracks have rubber pads to make sure they aren’t rust color. A darkgray with some lighter drybrush then again the dusting of Buff of pastel chalk
Hippiedude,
Lots of ways to go about this…some depending on whether you are painting one-piece vinyl types or individual links, and whether you want to paint the tracks before putting them on the kit or paint them in place. I personally prefer to paint them off the kit. Base paint is MM Steel, followed by a highly thinned wash of Gunmetal, then another thinned wash of Rust, then another wash of Gunmetal. The three washes first darken the base Steel, then combine a rusty look, then darken the rusty look to give it more weight/aged feel, at least IMHO. [:D] Then I’ll weather with pastels or AB overspray depending on what look I want in terms of dust/dirt/mud, etc.
HTH.
I agree with those who have already posted. There is no “best” or “recommended” way of proceeding…it’s all personal preference. For myself, the decision to paint before or after installation is not determined by the track material so much as the difficulty in installing the tracks. If they are going to be a real pain to install, I’ll usually wait to paint them until after they are installed.
Regardless of whether they are painted before or after, my “formula” is the following: I base coat the entire track in flat black acrylic. Then I apply a generous wash of a brown/burnt umber enamel. Once this is dry, I apply a light wash of rust enamel. Finally, I dry brush steel enamel on the exposed metal components. As a last touch, I will rub graphite on the raised/worn parts with my finger. This is just a “basic” system that I will adjust depending on the type of track, environment the tank is in, amount of weathering I will be doing, and several other factors.
Hope this helps…
As per the above, you can chose whatever happens to float your boat. I generally basecoat in the actual colour of the track.
If it is a steel track:
Basecoat in some metallic colour, silver, or gunmetal, or something similar. After that, I use layers of thin washes to build up rust and dirt variances onto the track. Using several shades of browns, reds, and oranges, this can be done easily. Once everything is dry, I use either the basecoat colour or pencil lead powder to drybrush the track to represent rust and dirt scrubbed off by the motion of the track.
If it is a rubber track, I’ll paint the rubber sections flat-black, then drybrush with tamiya neutral gray, paint the steel portions appropriately, then weather the same as above.
Use the search function to search for other threads, as this particular topic has been discussed many times before.
Good luck…
I just added a wash to the tracks from this Dragon nashorn I’m doing. Waitig for the wash to dry.
I prime tracks with a automotive ‘sandable’ lacquer based primer (gray). Then painted the tracks with Testors Gunmetal metalizer paint. Then sprayed a coat of clear acrylic lacquer over. Now adding a oil wash, half burnt sienna and about half cadmium-orange, thinned with mineral spirits. This wash is a medium orangish-brown. When dry will give the tracks a slightly rusty look to them. Then I’ll highlight track with a dry-brush of some sort of flat silver of some sort.
Glenn
[:)] thanks for all the great info. i should be doing the tracks today.