How? Paint vinyl tracks

[Dick Montgomery]

I've got a 1/76 German Gesturmshatiz and I want to do a decent job on the tracks. This is just for practice so I'm not too worried about tightening all the bolts and twiddling the deamers.

 

Suggestions on primer?

Suggestions on base coat?

Suggestions on dirtying up the gear?

 

Wouldn't mind adding a little mud but that's not a major concern.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Mark Aldrich]

Dick,

 

Speaking from 1/35 scale all vinyl tracks are different. Some seam to take paint and others not so much. Mine almost always start with a black wash. This allows the thinner sometimes to bite into the vinyl. Then if it is all metal, a brown colored paint. If you are shooting for rust, make it a little redder. Then another black wash followed by dry brushing with lighter tones.....red brown mixed with yellow and finally drybrushed with silver, steel, jet exhaust, or aluminum.

 

 

[Dick Montgomery]

Thanks Mark. I'll give that a try.

[Ron Bell]

Only caveat to Mark's reply is "it depends on what color they are molded in." In small scale they could come in grey, black or various shades of silver. The order in which you apply the washes would depend on what color they are molded in. For example, putting a black wash first on black molded tracks would not be effective. (that's one word). Also, be careful with your dry brushing. Don't dry brush rubber padded tracks (not a concern in your case) silver. I've seen it done many times.

 

In small scale another rule is a little is plenty. It's very easy to get heavy handed or go too far. Use less pressure than in larger scales, less paint on the brush, etc.

 

An effective mud in small scale is mud. Get some garden variety dirt, dry it really well (break up clumps and put it in a low temp. oven), and run it through a tea sieve so all you get is really fine almost dust. MIx this with water and a drop of white glue for adhesion. Apply VERY modestly. Let dry and see if you need more. If you want different colored mud, add water colors for tint. Be careful, however, as they will look different when dry. Try a test piece on some scrap. For wet mud, I mix in Future. It adds a gloss, wet, look.

 

As for dust, I just use non-oil charcoals. They come in every shade in the rainbow. Either whittle off some "dust" or rub on sandpaper to build up a little pile. Make sure your model is over-coated with either Dull or Gloss coat of some sort to seal the paint and avoid over-staining it. Get some of the dust on a soft paint brush and apply it to where you want it. Again, a little goes a long way, but it is easily removable. After I'm done, I take my airbrush and set it on a low pressure and gently blow off the excess. You're left with a nice over all coating of dust. However, be careful when handling the model after this as fingerprints are easy to get. Also, do not over coat with dull/gloss coats as the dust will either "go away" or turn into a messy goo.

 

And if this is for the challenge, don't do any of this. Just paint it bright fuscia drybrushed with pink. Yeah, that's how they did it in real life.

[Mark Aldrich]

Hey,

Fuscia ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have it on good authority that all the best dressed German panzers rolled off the factories with fuscia tracks!!!!

[Dick Montgomery]

The treads are silver. Nope, its not for the EB Challenge Build, although if I finish it soon I'll add the images to the album. ( http://www.ipmsusa3.org/gallery/v/Challeng...d+Group+Builds/ ). It's just me trying to expand into another area and learn something new. Besides, I've found that much of what I do when I weather spacecraft also works on some of the armor I've done in the past. Having a large library of technique adds to the enjoyment of the hobby.

[RONBO]

You also might want to try Testors grey primer lst dry then Testors flat black. Then a dry brush of red brown then a drybrush of MM steel on the raised portions of your metal tracks. Good Luck......

 

RONBO

 

 

[Dick Montgomery]

Thanks Ron. I've got an old 1/48th Panther (at least I think its a Panther) that I'm restoring, and I'll try out your paint suggestions on the tracks. This item came from an estate sale and was really in nasty shape. I removed the paint with a bath of hydralic brake fluid, cleaned up the parts and bagged them. During a reorganization of the Man Cave the kit was "unearthed" and I decided, since I was in an Armor mood, to give it a try.