Trumpeter Tiran vinyl tracks

[Osher]

Chaps,

two questions about the tracks:

1. How does one straighten vinyl tracks? Does the twist I left make a huge difference?

2. What do you chaps think of my track colouring? First it was painted silver. When hard, it was painted brown, then roughly washed stone (Humbrol 250). It was then wiped with kitchen tissue, leaving more silver on the exposed bits (where the wheels keep it dirt and rust free). After this, it was roughly brushed silver.

[Guest snipersmudge]

To get the twist out of the tracks i would suggest gentle heat with say a hairdryer or a bowl of warm water failing that super glue the tracks to the road wheels.

Your track colour looks a bit too metallic to me. my method is to first spray/paint the tracks in a dark brown/black mix then i add pigments mixed with tamiya thinners or white spirit. once this is dry the excess can be brushed off. for the metallic parts i use a graphite pencil. rub the pencil on rough sandpaper to produce powder then apply to the track faces with your finger, for the inside surfaces which come into contact with the road wheels i shape a pencil to a blunt wedge shape and rub it straight onto the tracks.

I'm going to be starting my tracks for the E100 I'm building today so I'll post up some pictures on the build thread for you

cheers

Pete

[Osher]

Thanks Pete! I'll try that technique next time.

[eoin6661]

Osher

Another variation on the method mentioned by Pete, and which I've just used on some vinyl Tiger tracks and the individual link set that I actually used is to, base colour them black or brown, then thin some brown or rust coloured acrylic paint and paint the track, then while wet liberally shovel on various pastel powders browns, greys, yellows, sands, orange and pink (yes I know but trust me) in a random way and with an old stiff brush get them into the recesses. Wait until dry and brush off the excess, gives a wonderful look of old rust (where the orange and pinks came in!), and dirt ground into the track links, I find the acrylic paint binds the pastel/pigment better than just thinner, just a personal thing.

I repainted an old Tamiya T62, my tracks were also badly twisted, I tied down the tracks with cotton around the wheels to get the sag but couldn't completely eliminate the twist

another thing you might consider is that T55/Tirans often had well worn wheels and tyres, just give them a going over with a square needle file

Edited August 29, 2008 by eoin6661

[Osher]

Thanks for the advice, and that's a damn fine looking T-62 there! I might attack the 'rubber' a bit. One question, if I may. How does one paint the rubber bits, post assembly?

[T-Tango]

Yep, I'm the same as Pete, I use a soft (4B or 9B) graphite pencil on my tracks as well.

[eoin6661]

Thanks for the advice, and that's a damn fine looking T-62 there! I might attack the 'rubber' a bit. One question, if I may. How does one paint the rubber bits, post assembly?

Cheers for that, was just having a go at a different scheme instead of Russian green

Do you mean the tyres? If you already got the wheels on and they don't come off, you could use a mask (disk cut out and mask over the inner wheel), or if they rotate, a steady hand and brush (that's how I did those, different shades of grey originally), or if you're going down the road of weathering which for a Tiran I'm guessing you'd have to apply at least some dust/sand then I wouldn't worry too much about tyres and careful painting as by the time you're applying sand washes/pigments it pretty much covers over it.

[Osher]

Thanks Eoin!