Favorite Track Technique

[CzarPeppers]

I suppose this is more a general era armour model question, but there didn't seem to be an area for the general topic. 

 

Anyways, I was wondering what everyone's preferred way of doing tracks is? So far I've been doing different methods on each kit I've done, and although I've been pretty happy with the results I haven't found one that I really like. On the last one I did, which was a 1/72 kit, I just airbrushed it with a steel metallic paint (Vallejo Metal Color), did an airbrushed light brown (XF-72) filter and added washes and pigments on top. I mainly did it this way since it was something that wouldn't have seen much service and more or less new. 

 

But I've seen a ton of ways to do them, so what do you guys all prefer? 

 

Edited September 4, 2018 by CzarPeppers

[Kingsman]

Most tracks of WW2 vintage were a high-manganese steel for wear resistance and long life.  This was most definitely NOT silver, nor graphite.  It was a goldy-brown colour, sort of like a light bronze.  Even late-war German tracks still appear to have had a decent manganese content.  They would wear out in no time without it, and it was being sourced from Sweden through Denmark until very late.

 

It's a hard effect to replicate and none of the paint manufacturers does a colour that captures it.  Since I got back into modelling in the last couple of years I haven't found the answer yet.  It's hard to capture on film too: flash glare can make it look silvery.  These photos of substantial Tortoise and Churchill links just about show it.

  

 

We've all just got used to using silver and graphite colours to show wear because that's all we had, and still have.  Just like we used to show bright worn metal on our tanks, before we all understood that armour plate is actually dark brown and doesn't polish to silver or graphite either.  I'm trying change that, but none of the major paint companies have taken any interest in trying to produce a more accurate colour.

 

So, why are all current Track Primer and worn track colours a very dark black-brown and why does everyone rave over chemical blackening of white metal tracks?  Neither of these are close to being realistic.  There has been debate whether track links were painted, and the consensus seems to be "no".  It would have been inherently pointless.

 

The oxide of manganese steel is a mid grey-brown colour, and it doesn't rust readily in the conventional sense to orange, red and dark brown shades. 

 

Of course, mud and dust would obscure the base colour quickly.  But the wear points on the spuds, guide horns, inside surfaces and where the sprockets mesh would remain bare metal of the afore-mentioned goldy-brown colour, as seen above.  It is physically impossible for manganese steel to be silver or graphite/metallic grey.

 

Many post-war rubber-padded tracks like those on US tanks do seem to be painted, show rust and wear to a silvery colour on contact points, indicating little or no manganese content (unnecessary with the rubber wear pads).  Modern all-metal tracks, as favoured by Israel and Russia, remain high-manganese.

[Kingsman]

Here's my latest manganese colour experiment, on a "live" model FT-17 tracks.  Metallic Vandyke Brown oil pastel.  FT tracks were actually a dark brown metal, probably hardened after casting, so the contact points should be dark.  They're also very small, just across the thin spuds - although I thought I'd pick up the casting numbers too.  Sort of works: hard to capture.  Need to try it on something more substantial.

 

I've tried coloured metallic pencils, but they're hard to get the colour down without taking the paint off and they don't really smudge like graphite.  Oil pastels are very adaptable: you can drybrush from them, use a fingertip or rub/draw them on directly.

 

 

[CzarPeppers]

That's some good information. I've seen a lot of people use a brownish tan colour for the base on tank tracks which then mostly gets covered by weathering and dirt, however they always still use either a steel pigment or dry brushed paint for exposed parts. 

 

That said, personally I'm thinking a way to replicate it may be rather than trying to use any kind of metallic paint instead use some browns and tans, maybe a little bit of grey airbrushed in thin layers. Then go ahead and do weathering as usual, this idea probably wouldn't look very good if one wanted to do clean tracks though. True it wouldn't have those exposed highlights quite as much, but I've seen tracks that look pretty good without that sort of thing. I suppose one could use an aluminium paint as a base then layer in the brownish gold look with highly thinned regular paints. I really just thinking out loud here. 

 

I think a lot of people just think that is corrosion rather than the natural colour, or at least I did. The following seems like a pretty good example of how they should look according to what you've stated. 

 

Edited September 8, 2018 by CzarPeppers

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I don't like metallics on tracks at all, I'm definitely of the paint them brown school and as a rule I've used graphite to give cleats & other areas of wear a sheen, but as @Das Abteilung has pointed out, it doesn't look quite right. 

 

PS - Don't be afraid of good old-fashioned dry-brushing on tracks, it's one place where the rough effect can do you favours IMHO.....Definitely agree with your suggestion of layers BTW, for everything from the basecoat to the weathering. 

 

[Kingsman]

8 hours ago, CzarPeppers said:

I think a lot of people just think that is corrosion rather than the natural colour, or at least I did. The following seems like a pretty good example of how they should look according to what you've stated. 

That photo of the Pz38 tracks is a very good example of the "normal state" of manganese tracks.  Yes, that grey-brown is the natural oxide colour.  So that wouldn't be a bad colour to start with.  You wouldn't normally see them as virgin metal except on very new tracks, which was my mistake with the Tortoise tracks.

 

As you can see from that and the earlier posts, the predominant colour on the wear points is brown.  There is a metallic element and a sheen to it, and this is what many people mistake for silvery or graphite shades - especially under direct flash photography.  Thus far, the metallic brown oil pastel is the closest I've found to date.  I tried a number of paint mixes  but none were really right.  My next models are a Schneider CA, which has the same tracks as the FT, and 4 WW1 British tanks.  I'm going to try the oil pastel on those.  The real ones are a dark brown metal, which some sources say is face-hardened armour plate.  The unpainted un-restored ones on Little Willie have aged to a similar colour to your photo.

 

Mike Starmer produced some mix swatches a few months back and I went round Bovington comparing them to the tracks on display there and letting him know which mixes matched which vehicles.  But those were non-metallic "base" colours - like the grey-brown in your photo.

[Troy Smith]

@Das Abteilungl

One of the most useful bits of information I have run across on here in ages.

Modelling 'conventions' and habits are funny things.... I still remember model tank tracks being black rubber

 

Just wondering about antique bronze paint maybe with dark grey added?

 

Cheers

T

 

 

[CzarPeppers]

Well, lots of good things to keep in mind for my Panzer IV. Keep em' coming though if you have them. 

[Kingsman]

This is the closest-up picture I could find on line of the tracks on the IVD at Bovington.  I don't do German WW2 so I don't have any of my own photos of it.  Note the colours.  But yes, it's a vehicle that's been indoors for decades.  The German manganese alloy seems to have been a somewhat darker brown shade than the British version.

 

This is a manganese nodule, which is what gives manganese tracks their colour.  

 

Now, before anyone jumps up and down about the PzIV photo and says "look, he lied - orange rust!", there is a reason for that.  It's only on the guide horns, which were cast integrally with the link and are therefore the same metal.  And it's transfer from the rusty metal wear rings on the inside faces of the roadwheels.  Last time this tank was moved - very slowly on tow - was just enough to pick up the rust transfer but not enough to wear it off again. 

 

I'm sure you're aware of this CzarP, but Pz III and IV had metal rings - essentially extended flanges - on the inside faces of the roadwheels to prevent the track teeth tearing up the rubber tyres and wearing away the normal wheel rim.  These may not have been present on the very early versions where they were still playing around with wheel numbers and sizes.  You can see them in the photo below and they are most usually noticed in photos of burnt-out tanks.  The rings also provided an element of emergency running surface should a rubber tyre be damaged or lost.  They were clearly a metal alloy which rusted, and would therefore probably have worn to a fairly bright shine. The lower photo shows the rings on Bovington's running PzIII.  Although they look black I think that's a trick of the light and they're actually quite shiny.  Both photos also show the same type of rings on the return rollers.  These wheel rings are not always depicted in kits.  Someone - Voyager, I think - does some etched brass ones.  The PzIII photo also shows why people can be forgiven for using shiny metal on the track spuds.  In that light it looks silvery, but isn't - whereas the wheel rings look dull but are bright!!  No wonder we get it wrong!

 

 

[CzarPeppers]

Thank you, I was not aware. German tanks aren't really my area of expertise. 

 

I found this video on YouTube that I think is onto something by starting with this field grey colour (he says RLM70 but that's not right). I would personally change a few things like adding a bit more thinned browns to it afterwards and maybe not do the chipping because that doesn't seem very realistic, but even though it isn't really intuitive the field grey seems to act as a good base for the effect. 

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2018 by CzarPeppers

[Kingsman]

That's turned out well.  These are the tracks on Bovington's KV-1, but they've been painted black in the past.  But you can see the metallic effect on the spuds.  RLM 70 is a Luftwaffe grey.  It doesn't matter what the paint is meant to be if it's the colour you want!

 

 

Here's an example of fairly clean worn T62 riveted links on a Sherman.  Here you can see the natural oxidised state as well as the worn appearance.  US tracks were perhaps a bit browner than UK, whereas German and Russian were darker.  There's no one single answer to what tracks looked like under the mud and dust.

[Troy Smith]

22 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said:

RLM 70 is a Luftwaffe grey

RLM 70 is Schwartz Grun (black green)  though the vid says medium green

the greys are 02, 63, 66, 74, 75 and 77.

 

I'm not about to go down the research rabbit hole now, but is there any actual Manganese powder/pigment available?  Managnese dust? 

 

Just a thought

 

[Kingsman]

Manganese is hazardous in sufficient concentrations, and powder/dust is of course easily inhaled or ingested.

 

Manganese poisoning effects occur mainly in the respiratory tract and in the brain.  Symptoms of manganese poisoning are hallucinations, forgetfulness and nerve damage. Manganese can also cause Parkinsons, lung embolisms and bronchitis. When men are exposed to manganese for a longer period of time they may become impotent.

 

Don't think I want to be going anywhere near that, then ........

 

I've been looking for dry pigments that might work.  There are no currently-available suitable modelling pigments.  There are no metallic dry pastels that I've found.  The metallic oil pastels are the best I've found.  I bought a set, but the Vandyke Brown is the only useful one for this job.  I thought metallic coloured pencils might work, but the "lead" doesn't readily "smear" like graphite does.  As I noted above, trying to use the pencils as pencils just took the paint off back to the plastic.

 

There is a wide range of metallic acrylic paints from a company called C Robertson and Co, available on line or in good art shops.  I tried a pot but found that it doesn't adhere at all to plastic and not well to other paint.  I imagine it's intended for use on paper and absorbent surfaces.

 

Hence why I contacted MiG, AK Interactive, Vallejo, LifeColor and others suggesting that they should look at more appropriate track colours.

[SleeperService]

I'd have a try with @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies if I were you. They're very receptive to new ideas and you clearly know your stuff. I've been trying to get mine to look right for a while since returning to the hobby properly, I'm glad you've done this work. 

 

As a huge fan of their paint and service I really hope Sovereign run with this. May need two or three shades but, in my experience, once you've used them you're addicted.